This morning I was most privileged to attend the Reception Year 2 Halloween Presentation, along with many adoring family members. I mentioned at the time that days like these are often the ones that sit in the memory banks for all students as they continue their journey through school. The boys looked incredibly scary too, so I think they met the objective for the day! Opportunities and events like this morning provide wonderful opportunities for our boys and their teachers to show off their learning from multiple subject areas and I know our audience of family members took great enjoyment from the mornings activities. Well done staff and students an awesome display of learning and sharing!

The commencement of Term 4 almost signals the beginning of the end for our Year 6 boys, as they slowly begin to immerse themselves into life as Year 7 students at Rostrevor. We have worked hard in recent years to ensure that the bridge the boys cross to Year 7 is as smooth and familiar as possible, with the firm view that boys moving into Year 7 from Year 6 should be absolutely 'advantaged' at having commenced in the Junior Campus. The next few weeks provide many opportunities for the boys to start the journey by familiarising themselves with class locations, meeting key people and having key questions answered along the way to remove, where possible, any anxieties they may have.  This will culminate in their wonderful 'Rite of Passage' event held at the end of our final week at school for 2018. We wish the boys every blessing as they kick off this process later this week.

On culture, one of the most important aspects of Co-Curricular teams at Rostrevor College is having a unified approach towards training, attendance at matches and effective communication. At the minute, some of these aspects are not being met across all teams and this can make normal processes difficult for coaches and other members in the team. Additionally, we have had to forfeit a couple of games recently simply due to a lack of numbers which does not reflect well upon the school. It's imperative that we have the support of parents and guardians in encouraging students to attend all trainings and matches throughout the duration of the season. We are always supportive of legitimate reasons for a certain absence, but these need to be communicated in advance to avoid last-minute chasing or cancellations. Certainly an area we can improve upon moving forward!