Dean of Students | Mr Damien Cuddihy

Over the first four weeks, I have spoken about creating an atmosphere of care in many forums at the College. The Atmosphere of Care framework that we use tries to connect our pastoral framework to the Charter document and our Strategic Plan. 

I am sure many of the Year 5 parents would agree that the Inter-House Futsal competition held at Waterford last Friday was a wonderful display of an Atmosphere of Care. The Year 11 buddies running the event did a fantastic job, and the Year 5s participated with great enthusiasm. Many thanks to Mr Ganley for organising the afternoon and congratulations to Mahoney House Year 5s for remaining undefeated throughout the afternoon.

Last week, we held the Year 8 Father/Mentor/Son evening online. The opportunity to be present and engage in conversations with not only your sons but other boys in Year 8 was an enriching experience for all. Anna Machin, an evolution anthropologist, wrote the following article about fatherhood found here. The article explores the question of why only humans have involved and empathic fathers, compared to our other close relatives. Machin concludes her research stating that a father’s special role in preparing his child to enter the wider world outside the family – shaping emotional and behavioural development, teaching the rules of social behaviour and language, helping to build mental resilience by dealing with risk, confronting challenge and overcoming failure – is arguably more important than ever before, when we are beset by a crisis in adolescent mental health, and live in a world that operates on new social rules, shaped by our digital, online lives.

SchoolTV this month also explores the topic of raising boys. Unsurprisingly, Michael Carr-Gregg highlights research suggesting that a boy’s behaviour is learned by watching their father or other male role models. His physical maturity is at odds with his mental and brain development. Although he may look like a mature young man at 16, he doesn’t yet think like one. We shouldn’t see this as an excuse for why some boys make poor decisions at times but rather as in important reason why we need to continue looking for opportunities for boys to reflect on their actions well into the latter years of their schooling. The link to the raising boy’s article can be found here.

Finally, Week 6 is Hair Week at Terrace. House Deans have been tapping boys on the shoulder who need a haircut this week. We are generally talking about those boys that only had the bare minimum taken off when they returned to school in Week 1, and now five weeks later, the fringe is quite long and well past the eyebrows at the front. I expect all boys to have their hair in an appropriate state by the end of the week. I have advertised this in the daily notices as well. If you think I can assist in this communication, please don’t hesitate to contact me.