Dean of Students | Mr Damien Cuddihy

Welcome back to Term 3. I trust that everyone enjoyed the holidays and has returned safely this week. Over the holidays, I had the opportunity to attend the International Boys’ School Conference in Montreal. Many of the workshops I attended centred around wellbeing and student leadership models being used around the world. It was refreshing to hear that many of the processes that we run here at Terrace are also employed by many other boys' schools at the conference. The concept of developing a strong sense of connection within the community was the common thread.

Terrace does community well but we need to keep very conscious about developing authentic connections within our community. We have some excellent structures within our Pastoral Care, Identity and co-curricular programs that aim to develop and enhance the connectedness of our community. Whether it’s the traditional entry points of Years 5 and 7 or the gathering of Year 10s at Waterford and then life as a Senior student, all year levels have unique challenges that provide opportunity for growth for our students. Many behaviour psychologists refer to these incidents when the brain detects challenges or threatening information as the “mammoth moment” stimulating a fight or flight response. Whilst we are not literally fighting for survival it may well feel that way for a number of our boys. Our role as educators is to provide a safe, controlled environment that promotes processes to enable a sense of connectedness for our students. It can be a tricky road to facilitate and navigate at times but it is one we are very conscious of at the College and always re-evaluating.

Term 3 is always a crucial time during the academic year for students. Our Year 12 cohort are steadily building towards the QCS tests in Week 8 at the same time the Year 10 students commence their Immersion program. These events combined with a significantly high portion of our students involved in co-curricular events means that the boys can sometimes “burn the candle at both ends” during Term 3.

This week has been characterised by the need to quickly re-establish normal routines within the College to ensure that class time is as effective as possible. Our approach in “sweating the small stuff” assists staff in establishing a productive tone. I congratulate our students for their ability to settle quickly and focus on the core business of learning in the classroom.  

This weekend we enter Round 1 of the Rugby, Basketball and Chess competitions against the Toowoomba Grammar School. The College’s expectations are that the boys enter into competition this weekend with the highest level of commitment and respect for our opposition both on and off the field as players and supporters. All students remaining to watch the 1^st XV or 1^st V this weekend will be required to wear the formal College uniform (including the white shirt, blazer and red cap).