At Whitefriars, we use a saying when it comes to student leadership. We want our student leaders to be ‘Co-creators of our school’. In other words, we aspire to involve our students in developing and improving our great school for the betterment of the whole community.

This comes in many shapes and sizes. All Student Representative Councils meet regularly to discuss key events in our school. For example, with the upcoming Whitefriars Day, a Student Leadership workshop involving 60 student leaders was held Thursday 25 July after school with the focus being on students developing ideas and activities to make this a special day for our community. I have formed a committee planning the introduction of a Commendations System at Whitefriars – the composition of which includes staff and students. Furthermore, student played a key role in the introduction of the Whitefriars College scarf. These and many more examples reflect our commitment to students actively and practically improving their school.

At times, we have students who go above and beyond in the pursuit of improving the experience of their peers. Some even take it upon themselves to support the development of their fellow students by educating them about important issues. Our College Captain, Tom Petrowski, recently took on such a task.

Over the past few years, Tom has spoken to me about his passion to educate males about healthy relationships and respect for women. He took this to another level when he approached the Student Empowerment Leader, Laurissa Parastatidis, about presenting to his peers on this issue. Tom also put a call out to any interested staff to meet with him and get some guidance from them to curate his workshop and ensure he was hitting the mark with his peers.

The Year 11 workshop took place Tuesday 13 August. Tom had the students sitting in table groups made up of the students they went to Kairos with. This was a wonderful addition to the workshop as it enabled the boys to continue to foster a deep connection which they did on Kairos. The workshop focussed on 3 major themes – Language, Actions and Responsibility. He provided a number of prompts for discussion which included discussing scenarios which they have experienced where women have felt uncomfortable and situations where men and women are treated differently. Tom also challenged the boys to call out behaviour that is discriminatory or demeaning towards women. Tom will also be running a similar workshop for his Year 12 cohort soon.

Tom is a wonderful example of a Whitefriars gentle man which the aspiration of our College for our boys. Thanks, Tom, for the courage you shown and the example you have set for your peers.

Mr Mick Lafferty

Deputy Principal – Students