Assistant Principal - Pastoral Care
Love Bites Respectful Relationships Progam
Last week, twenty SJRC staff were trained as facilitators of the Love Bites Respectful Relationships Program. We look forward to sharing this program with our Year 10 students later this year and embedding the program into our school. More information about the Love Bites Program can be found at THIS LINK This program is part of our school-wide focus on respectful relationships and consent education.
At SJRC, we actively challenge students to acknowledge their strengths, build their resilience and develop confidence. There is a range of accessible and relevant reading outlining the importance of actively developing resilience in today’s teens. The Weekend Australian Magazine published a recent summary of Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation. The article outlines 20 specific “rules” for building resilience in teens in an adolescent world characterised by over-exposure to smartphones and a social trend of “virtual” connections. Read the full article at THIS LINK or a sample of Haidt’s “rules” for 14 - 18 year olds below:
Rule 15: Rely more on your teen at home. Teens can cook, clean, and run errands on a bicycle or public transport. “Relying on your teen is not just a tool to instil work ethic; it’s a way to ward off the feeling among Gen Z teens that their lives are useless”.
Rule 16: Encourage your teen to find a part-time job, or volunteer work. Having a boss who is not you is a great experience, even if it’s not a pleasant one. Even one-off gigs are good. It’s empowering for a young person to earn their own money – and have control over how it is spent.
Rule 19: Bigger thrills in nature. Let your teens go on bigger, longer adventures, with their friends or with a group: backpacking, rock climbing, canoeing, swimming, hiking – trips that get them out into nature and inspire real-world thrills, wonder, and competence.
Cybersafety Presentations
Managing social media and online activity is one of the biggest challenges in parenting today’s adolescents. Next week we will welcome our Schools Liaison Police Officer who will deliver Cybersafety presentations to students in Year 7 and Year 8. For parents, there is a lot of useful reading available to support you to open conversations and negotiate boundaries with your teen. The “Raising Children”site and the Office of the eSafety Commissioner are great starting points for parents:
Jennifer Furney
Assistant Principal - Pastoral Care