BACKCHAT IN BRIEF Week 10 Term 3Thank you to everyone involved with Asquith Boys High School over the past term Students staff and parents have all collectively worked side by side to ensure that the studentsrsquo and sonsrsquo learning was not interrupted or significantly impaired throughout the term of online remote learning An excellent effort from everyone and a credit to the entire community for your determined and diligent efforts to ensure that our students and your sons were successful School will return on Tuesday 5 October with Term 4 resuming with online learning If there are any changes to the Public Health Orders and Directives over the holidays I will communicate this information with you via the Parent Portal and SENTRAL emailOne important member of staff will not be returning next term to Asquith Boys High School Ms Kath Howe has been appointed to the position of Head Teacher of English at Terrigal High School We are sad to see Ms Howe leaving after 10 years at Asquith Boys High School supporting the English Faculty and Literacy needs of our students over this time however the appointment is well deserved and is importantly closer to home I know the community will share with me in wishing her the very best in her new positionThank you to Summers Ave Family Medical Practical for their allocation of 100 Pfizer vaccines for Asquith Boys High School With a large number of our Year 10 11 and 12rsquos being able to book in and receive their vaccinations locally Year 11 and 12 Presentation We had a guest presenter Rod Matthews talk with Year 11 and 12 students on Wednesday 15 September via Zoom Rod was extremely motivational and intuitive and presented some very useful well-being and motivation strategies to our senior students as they head into the HSC for Year 12rsquos and into the beginning of HSC coursework for Year 11rsquosThis was an extremely important presentation for our students providing them with strategies on how they can remain motivated and importantly positive over the upcoming 2 week holiday lsquoFortune favours those who show uprsquo So a positive mindset and a lsquocan dorsquo attitude over this break will ensure that they can return for Term 4 refreshed and focused on the tasks ahead It was very good to see almost all of Year 11 and 12 attending this session Thank you to Mr Broome for coordinating this presentationCCTV InstallationWe have had the school toilets renovated in preparation for your sonsrsquo return to school next term The two major concerns that were repeatedly raised with me regarding the state of the toilets has been that students do not wish to use them because they were so deplorable and that they felt uncomfortable to enter them With the renovation I believe that these concerns have been addressed With this $350000 renovation invested in the toilet facility we have installed smokevape detectors To support the ability to monitor when these alarms are activated and identify the offenders it is necessary to install CCTV surveillance

There are 3 cameras installed to monitor the following areas of our school with their focus solely on preventing any unlawful actions that may occur and protecting the safety of all students staff and visitors to our school They are located -

bull the Canteen area across from the Canteen service area to monitor the service lines

bull 25 metres from the entry to Senior toilet for monitoring students entering and exiting and

bull 25 metres from the entry to Junior toilet for monitoring students entering and exiting

When the detectors signal that something inappropriate is occurring in the toilets we can review the CCTV footage at this time to identify the persons of interest This will be ready to be implemented from the commencement of Term 4The following important points need to be outlined with respect to the implementation of CCTV at Asquith Boys High School

bull the CCTV footage is being collected by the school (the notice will provide the schoolrsquos address)

bull the footage will be held by the school or other unit of the departmentbull the footage may be disclosed to any person undertaking an investigation

or taking civil or disciplinary action on behalf of the department or to a court in relation to any allegations of or reasonable suspicion of unlawful activity on school premises

bull the footage may be provided to the police or another enforcement agency for the purposes of investigating criminal behaviour and prosecution and

bull any individual whose personal information is included in any CCTV footage recorded at the school may apply for access to that footage

The schoolrsquos Parents and Citizens Association have been advised of the details of the installation of the CCTV cameras and are supportive of its implementation

Principalrsquos ReflectionsIn my final reflections for this term it is important to let everyone know how amazing you have all been throughout the challenges that presented you across this term and during remote online learning Doing your own jobs from home while your son or sons worked online and you acted as teacher supervisor and parent was a juggle but one that many of you have completed with aplomb Over this holiday period I would love everyone to be as positive and happy as they can building and reflecting on positive and helpful stories to prevent those all-consuming and unhelpful thoughts from entering our mindsThe following link to a short video will assist you your son and all of your family to remain lsquoabove the linersquo over the break ndash please watch and enjoy this 3 minute clip httpsyoutubefLqzYDZAqCI

Please also view the amazing video below which is a compilation of some of the wonderful activities that our students your sons undertook on the recent Well-Being DayThank you to Ms Gibson (SASS) for her work on complying this YouTube video for you to watch ndash ENJOYhttpsyoutubeC5rCVkzhy30

Mr Bryce Grant Principal - Asquith Boys High School 17 September 2021

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