I urge all parents to exercise caution and courtesy on James St during the morning and afternoon peak traffic times.  We have a dangerous mix of factors that we need to take into account.  These include:

• A large volume of pedestrian, public and private transport,
• A narrow road with the crest of a hill and parked vehicles restricting vision and space.
• Young people whose capacity for connecting consequences to actions is not fully developed.

As previously published in the newsletter, we ask parents not to block traffic on James St - this creates a traffic hazard and disrupts the flow of buses exiting the College.

• Please drive forward as far as possible before stopping to let students out or in.
• Vehicles are directed to turn left to exit to minimise danger.
• Aim to arrive at a time when your child will be waiting for you rather than you waiting for them.  (If your child has not arrived at the loading point and you are requested to move on, please be courteous to other drivers and leave and re-enter the grounds, by which time your child may have arrived for pick-up.)

We are fortunate in that we sit on a spacious block, giving parents additional options for picking up and dropping off your child if they don't catch a bus to and from school.

• Sorell Street, while narrow, does have a footpath.
• Nicholls Street is wide and spacious.
• George Street is another option but we ask that parents do not enter the staff car park in George Street (or the Student/Staff car park in Percy Street during the school day).
• While Percy St is also wide and spacious, it does have a high volume of P-plate drivers at peak times and is also a high volume traffic zone.

Thank you for your cooperation in ensuring that traffic flows as smoothly and safely as possible in and around our College and helping us to protect our most valuable resource - our students.

I omitted to mention all staff movements in last week's newsletter.  We welcomed Mrs Gemma Ziesel back from maternity leave at the beginning of the Term.  Kaoru Sherriff has also returned from maternity leave and is working on special projects for this year.  Mr Rory Kirkwood will return next week after he and his wife welcomed their first child who was born just prior to the start of term.  And Mrs Margaret Shearer returned this week after the death of her mother.

Stay safe and happy and I'll keep you in my prayers.

Frank Pisano

Last week Jasmine Walker travelled to Hobart to compete in the Australian Junior Championships for Tenpin Bowling. Jasmine won the U14 Junior Master, also coming in 7th place in the Junior Masters and 15th in the U21 Masters. Congratulations, Jasmine, on the outstanding work!

Our Outdoor Education students recently visited Derby where they took on some challenging trails in wet and muddy conditions. Everyone had a great time!

Some of our Year 8 students had a blast getting their hands dirty recently making a sculpture of one hand. The exercise is one of patience, teaching the students steadiness to prevent cracks. The end product could come in handy! 

At the time of publication there are only a few tickets left for the Thursday night and Saturday matinee sessions.   Don't miss out!

Purchase your tickets here:

https://www.paranapleartscentre.com.au/events/we-will-rock-you/

2021 Subject Selection Information Evening will be held in the Westcourt Building at the James Street entrance on Tuesday 3 August for all students and their parents/guardians.

The evening will be divided into two sessions. Year 7-9 students and Year 10-11 students. Below are the times for each year level.

Current 7, 8, and 9 students for 8, 9, and 10 choices:

3:30pm - 4:15pm or,
4:15pm - 5:00pm

Current 10 and 11 for 11 and 12 choices:

5:00 - 5:45 or,
5:45 - 6:30

Current Year 10 students – TASC and UTAS Information Session:

Current Year 10 students will have an additional information session held at the College during school time run by Mr Stocks.

This session will involve a seminar with information about TASC, ATAR’s, TCE and general Senior Secondary Information. 

There will also be a zoom session ran specifically for parents of current year 10 students.

All students will receive a hard copy of the Subject Selection handbook relevant to their 2022 year level tomorrow.