Grandparents’ Day (Term 4, Week 1) – Friday 17 October, 10.40am, Centennial Chapel

The registration form is open for our annual Grandparents' Day. All visitors need to register to attend. This will ensure that the children are released from class to meet with them. Please register grandparents for this special day by clicking here. 

2026 Class Placements

We plan to place the children in their 2026 classes before the end of this term. Please note staffing for next year is not yet finalised and there will be some changes. The process is same as last year:

1. Your child's current teacher (Years 1–7) is the contact point for any information you would like to be considered. 
   Please submit information via email only.
2. Only submit information that you consider crucial or new. For most children, the classroom teachers will be able to make informed and appropriate choices.
3. Restrict your information to one consideration. More than one consideration or requesting a specific teacher will not be able to be met. If suggesting friendship considerations, please give three possible connections, and we will endeavour to accommodate one.
4. The closing date for receipt of information is Friday 12 September. 

This year, the teachers will again use a computer program to assist the process. At each year level, the teachers will work together to enter the information (their own plus other sources i.e. parents, learning support, pastoral support, etc.) and the program will generate the class lists. The College's database does not have the facility to compile future classes, so to have an option that doesn't allow double entries or missed names is helpful and quicker.

StACTalk Café: Technology, Smartphones and Well-being

We held our second StACTalk Café morning on Tuesday, bringing parents of Year 7–8 students together to discuss technology, smartphones, and student well-being. Our leadership and Guidance teams led the session, with Preparatory School representatives joining the conversation.

Many parents shared feeling overwhelmed by today's digital challenges, similar to what we heard in last week's discussion. The conversation highlighted common struggles families face with technology, especially as children move from Preparatory to Secondary School.

The group came up with some practical ideas:

• drop-in tutorials at school to help parents set up and use parental control apps;
• a dedicated Facebook group where parents can share technology strategies and continue discussions;
• the use of mobile phone family agreements to set clear boundaries.

Parents shared what is working in their own homes to manage screentime, offering real-world approaches that have been successful for their families. Everyone agreed that consistent boundaries are particularly important during the transition to Secondary School.

Based on the feedback from this session, we will be sending paper copies of our Mobile Phone Family Agreement template to all families in Years 7–8 next week. We hope this will help start meaningful conversations about responsible technology use at home.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this valuable discussion. We look forward to our final Café talk next week, details below:

Tuesday 2 September, 8.45am–9.30am | Preparatory School Library 
Years 1–3, hosted by Tom Matthews, Heather Orman and Meg Feller

If you would like to sign up to the Hold the Line 'til Year 9 Family Mobile Phone Pledge, use the following link: Sign the Pledge.

Regards

Jonathan Bierwirth
Principal of Preparatory School
Deputy for Rector