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• Karratha FeNaClNG Festival
• Sock it to Sarcoma
• Building Good Men breakfast

This weekend, our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Coordinator, Sam Wallace, is travelling to Karratha to take part in the annual FeNaClNG Festival. It’s always a pleasure to engage in these vibrant field days and connect with our rural and regional communities. We’re fortunate to have a network of old boys spread throughout the state, and events like this provide a wonderful opportunity to reconnect, meet future and prospective parents, and deepen our understanding of the unique character of WA’s regional centres. If you’re in Karratha over the weekend, be sure to stop by and say hello to Sam.

Back on campus, our Year 12 Prefects will be hosting a sausage sizzle this afternoon for Senior School students, with proceeds supporting Sock it to Sarcoma – a charity founded by Perth local Abbie Basson following her diagnosis of Ewings Sarcoma at age 17. Philanthropy is a cornerstone of life at Christ Church, and it’s always inspiring to see our students champion causes that truly make a difference.

Tomorrow, our Year 10 and 11 students will participate in the Building Good Men roundtable Leadership Breakfast. This event has quickly established itself as a highlight on our annual calendar, giving students the chance to interact with a diverse group of accomplished leaders from our community. We’re delighted to welcome the following speakers:

Gary Johnson – Founder of Alcolizer Technology; Co-Founder, Kimberley Regional Service Provider
Michael Veletta – Former Australian Cricketer; former Senior Director, CBRE Residential Valuations
Matt Keogh – Minister for Veterans’ Affairs of Australia
Paul Begley – Adviser and Partner at Koda
Simon Raybould – Retired Finance Executive; Diocesan Trustee
Ryan Lasscock – Head of AFL and First XVIII Coach, Christ Church Grammar School
Geoffrey Alagoda – Director of Information and Learning Technologies, Christ Church Grammar School

Our Friday will also see the much-anticipated PSA Chess Tournament, in which Christ Church has proudly held the title for the past 15 years. Riding high on last term’s success at the Four Schools Chess Tournament, our team is well prepared to continue this impressive tradition.

Friday evening promises fun for our parent community with the Friends of Music Quiz, hosted by Music Teacher John McPherson. It’s a fantastic opportunity for parents to connect, celebrate shared musical passions, and enjoy a lively evening together.

Alan Jones
Principal

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• Leadership development
• Prefect selection process
• Parent/Student/Tutor interviews
• Safety concerns with eRideables

At Christ Church our focus on leadership development begins when a boy joins his tutorial group. Our vertical tutorial group structure promotes the concept of ‘boys mentoring boys.’ In his tutorial, a boy will be guided through a wide range of opportunities, all of which can provide degrees of leadership growth.

The process of nominating for prefectship is well underway with the Year 11 cohort after its launch last week. It is important that all students understand these responsibilities prior to completing a nomination form. The process of selecting students for leadership positions is conducted in a democratic and thorough manner that engages all students in the Senior School. My reason for outlining this process is to emphasise that the responsibility for selecting and ensuring a high quality of student leadership does begin with the boys. This year they have had many fine role models to look up to including Captain of School, William Lewis and Vice Captain, Oscar Males.

A reminder that Parent/Student/Tutor interviews will be held on Monday evening. Bookings for these face-to-face interviews close at 12.00pm on Friday 1 August, and we ask all parents to ensure they have made a time to meet with their son’s tutor, along with their son, so that a meaningful discussion can take place around Semester 1 report feedback and Semester 2 goals.

We continue to have reports of students riding eScooters and eBikes in a way that causes concern for both their safety and that of pedestrians. In the media there have also been reports of serious incidents involving eRideables. It would be appreciated if you would take some time to review the following WA Government links related to the eRideable and eBike rules around age-appropriate devices and possibly what your son is riding.

eRideables
eBikes
eRideable definitions and buying guide

Upcoming Senior School Events

• PSA Sport v Trinity – Friday 1 and Saturday 2 August
• Music Quiz Night – Friday 1 August 7.00pm
• Year 7 to 12 Parent / Student / Tutor Interviews – Monday 4 August 3.30pm to 7.00pm
• Year 12 Parent Information Evening / Sundowner – Monday 4 August 6.00pm to 8.00pm
• PSA Sport v Aquinas – Friday 8 and Saturday 9 August
• ‘Shakespeare in Love’ MYTC Production – Wednesday 13 to Saturday 16 August – 7.00pm
• PSA Sport v Guildford – Friday 15 and Saturday 16 August

Mark Morrissy
Deputy Principal/Head of Senior School

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• Mobile phones and smartwatches
• Parental controls
• NAIDOC Week

Recently, all parents received the Term 3 welcome letter where expectations about mobile phone and smartwatch use across the Preparatory School were outlined. We continue to educate our community about the use of technology both at school and at home. Additionally, parents have been provided with a practical session about setting up parental controls. A recent journal article published by the American Psychological Association titled: Screen time and emotional problems in kids: A vicious circle? suggests parents might want to be cautious about how much time they allow their children to use devices at home and consider using parental controls to set time and app limits.

Social Psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation provides some insights about what he calls the shift from play based childhood to the onset of phone-based childhood and “the great rewiring.”

Haidt presents 4 steps for parents to consider:

(1) No smart phone before high school. The goal here is to delay access to smartphones until at least the age of 14.
(2) No social media before age 16 to protect developing brains from the addictive, performative, and comparison-driven nature of social media.
(3) More independence, free play, and responsibility in the real world as a way of rebuilding childhood as a time of exploration, autonomy and social learning.
(4) More sleep and more in-person time with people.

For those families requiring more information about setting up parental controls please feel free to contact the Preparatory School.

Next week, we celebrate NAIDOC Week which is an opportunity for all Australians to learn about First Nations cultures and histories and participate in celebrations of the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth. We are very fortunate to again have Mr. Olman Walley visit to share the stories, history, music, dance and knowledge of our wonderful ancient culture.

Dr. Steven Males
Head of Preparatory School