From the Principal

Our School has approximately 20% international student population, most of whom are living in homestay arrangements away from their families for an extended period of time. The cultural adjustment, homesickness and political concerns for many are difficult enough, but then throw in a health pandemic and consider how tough this must be for these young people. The resilience, perseverance and flexibility shown by our international students who are living away from their families in a foreign country is inspiring. I thank our international students for their contribution to our school and encourage them to remain strong in adversity and to be reminded that we are their family away from home and always here to support them. Music Configuration As most of you know, St George’s provides an incredible and unique music suite, including a co-curricular program that caters for at least two thirds of our school population. To permit access to our peripatetic program, the School has recently re-furbished the Music Studio to increase the number of tutor rooms to five. Students

appear to be thrilled with the outcome, as are the staff.

If your child is not involved and is keen to learn an instrument or join an ensemble/ band, please contact the Music Department.

Interhouse Athletics Carnival Congratulations to House Mandela on their win at the Interhouse Athletics Carnival on Tuesday August 4. Having had to reduce co-curricular activities in recent months, an enhanced appreciation of the value of such occasions when the entire school gets together as one was certainly noted. Thanks to Ms Scheele and her team for coordinating

such a wonderful event.

Open Day The 2020 St George’s Open Day is scheduled for Friday August 21, with tours departing every hour. Whilst advertising will be implemented for this event, existing members of our school community are requested to share the information with friends, families, clients etc. to permit potential new families to visit, see and consider our school for their children. Students are also encouraged to take the opportunity to help during the day, whether this be welcoming families, participating in mock lessons or other. Parent/Teacher Interviews How wonderful it was to see so many parents back in the School building last week for the second round of parent/teacher interviews. Whilst Semester One interviews

that were phone based served a purpose, the personal connection of face to face cannot be underestimated.

COVID-19 Update Due to the delay of Phase 5 within our State, the School continues operations as we ended Term 2. This means we are working fairly close to normal conditions, which we feel very blessed about. Our increased cleaning regime continues, as does our diligence in maintaining a safe and healthy environment for staff, students and visitors.

Your continued support with keeping your child/ren home if they are unwell, have a cough, fever or display any of the symptoms of COVID-19 is appreciated.

Gary Racey Principal

Blessings

From the Head of Curriculum Ms Victoria Kelleher OLNA Year 9 spoke to several parents on the night who As a result of appeared to ask the same question, ‘how has my educational once sweet child, morphed into a lazy, moody, disruptions due to the sometimes unlikable adolescent?’ This question current health is nothing new, in fact Shakespeare, in A Winter’s concerns, Year 9 Tale, complains that a couple of teenagers have students who have not frightened the sheep away and he says, ‘I wish been able to sit there were no age between 10 and 3 and 20’. NAPLAN, will have We can go back even further to Socrates 2,000 an opportunity to sit years ago who wrote, ‘Children; they have bad OLNA this year manners, contempt for authority; they show instead. Students who disrespect for their elders and love chatter in demonstrate the required literacy and place of exercise…they contradict their parents numeracy standards in these tests, will prequalify and tyrannize their teachers’. for the literacy and numeracy requirements for the Western Australian Certificate of Education. The online test dates have been scheduled for Monday August 10 to Friday August 14. Students will have an opportunity to complete a practice test this week and will be well prepared for Monday 10.

Assessment Schedules Assessment Schedules for Years 7 – 12 have been sent to all families through SEQTA this week. These schedules are a good indicator of your child’s busy periods this term, as they provide an overview of all assessments and due dates in every subject area. Where possible assessments have been scheduled so that students are not over assessed on any day. If any changes occur, class teachers will endeavour to work with their class to find an alternative date.

Parent Teacher Interviews I would like to take this opportunity to thank the large number of parents who took time to attend our Parent Teacher Interviews on Thursday 30 July. It’s always a wonderful opportunity to meet with our families and discuss goal setting with our students as we move into Semester Two. For our parents, I hope it was a good opportunity for you to be reassured and supported, as you navigate your way through the challenges of adolescence. I 4 Of course, a lot of research has been conducted around brain science which informs us about teenagers and what goes on in their heads (or rather what doesn’t go on!) A lot of their behaviours can be explained and there are three aspects of this neuroscience which we know impact on those teenage years.

The first is the prefrontal cortex, the PFC. This part of the brain, the decision-making centre, is the last part of the brain to mature. Which is why, when you are asking your teenager why they lack the organisation skills to submit an early draft or why they did not seek help and clarification from their teacher, you may as well be asking your puppy why they messed on the carpet. Teenagers are bad at making decisions. The second aspect of neuroscience, which casts even more light on teenage behaviours, is their ability to process emotional information. Again,