Welcome to the final week of Term 3, 2023. I know many of our students and staff are looking forward to a break for the next couple of weeks. The weather has certainly turned, and there is a warmth to the days as they begin to get longer.

A reminder that we will be in Summer Uniform in Term 4 and that we have a two-week change-over period when our students can wear either full Summer Uniform or Full Winter Uniform, but not a mixture.

Our students have been busy again this week with our Foundation students going to Swimsafe lessons, before heading out on an excursion this Friday. Year 2s have a mobile Planetarium coming into school on Friday, and our Year 6s are having a special sleepover as a part of their refugee studies. Friday will also be a Casual Day raising funds for our sister school in the Philippines.

I hope that the school holidays provide some special time together with your children. We will be back at school on Monday, October 16, for the start of Term 4.

My thoughts this week might be a little controversial, but I am finding it really hard to say nothing in the context of raising respectful young people of integrity. There was a story in the local newspaper about 20 Year 11 students who chose to leave the school camp and walk 3 kilometres to a service station around midnight because they didn’t like the food at the camp.

It is not the fact that the students left the school camp that I would like to comment on. Although, I think the inherent risks and intent involved there obviously needed addressing. The part of the story that I would like to comment on is the full-page advertisement the Service Station chain chose to run. In essence, the ad offered a free hotdog and drink to any of the students who presented their suspension letter. I don’t mind some good humour, but I am really struggling with the idea that some in our community see this situation as an opportunity to somehow reward high-risk, disrespectful and unsafe decisions of our teenagers with not just food but social recognition and social capital.

I recognise the Australian larrikin image and its importance in our nation’s historical development, but at what point are we going to recognise the challenge this presents to us as parents and educators, and, therefore, future Australian society?

We spend many hours working with our kids to encourage a respectful attitude to those around us, to encourage thoughtful risk-taking, and to develop integrity in our kids. To have our young peoples’ poor choices monetised and their mistakes rewarded with newspaper ads resulting in popularity and free junk food must surely beg the question of what we genuinely value for our kids. The veiled disapproval and rebuke with satire in the advertisement do little to hide the obvious encouragement and monetisation of disrespectful risk-taking. That, in my opinion, oversteps the boundary of ethical, responsible advertising.

I guess what I really want to do is encourage parents and educators to realise the challenge of raising kids in a society that, at times, creates currents that flow contrary to the depth of morality and responsibility we are trying so hard to have our children lay as the basis for the good, beneficial, socially conscious foundations on which they make future decisions.

. . . and in response to the Service Station advertisement’s question of, “Who wouldn’t think to themselves, I could go a hot dog at midnight from a servo?” Even hungry, junk food-inclined Mark would have to say, “Not me, thanks.”

Have a great holiday with our kids.

Mark B