Principal's Comment

 Kia Ora Kevinians and Supporters of the College,

Today we celebrated Pink Shirt Day in the College which is an international movement aimed at bringing attention and awareness to bullying.

Bullying is a problem in all schools to a greater or lesser degree as young people work through the complex emotions that come with transitions, discovering who they are and navigating friendships.

In the teenage years, the brain goes through what is known as a 'pruning process' which is like a shutting down of parts of the brain. This process means that young people, much more than adults, are driven by the emotional centers in their brains rather than the frontal cortex, which is the place where our ability to reason is located.

In a nutshell what this means is that teenagers are more likely to react emotionally to perceived slights and so in turn may bully others back using aggressive emotions or they may withdraw and feel persecuted accessing those emotions which make them feel as if everyone is against them. Our job as teachers and parents is to help our young people to deal with these processes by helping them to reason through the issues as they present them, for example asking "Are you sure that that is what that person meant?" or encouraging them to speak face to face with others rather than relying on impersonal methods such as texting.

Our school runs a Restorative Practice discipline system which supports young people and families to work through these issues. This system takes time and is forgiveness based which is in line with our Catholic character. It is sometimes hard for families and even teachers to understand why we can't just move directly to punishing young people if they do wrong, in other words, "bully the bullies". In our College we focus more on the mantra of "hurt people hurt people" and we respond in that spirit. For more information on Bullying please look up our Pastoral Tab, look up School TV and click on the Bullying tab.

Have a great weekend

God Bless

Jo