The Cancer Council and Eftpos Officially Open the Shade Sails over the College Amphitheatre.

For all societies around the world a place to gather together is essential in order to build community, celebrate successes and acknowledge milestones, conduct rituals, hold political rallies, and tell the stories of past generations. Throughout history these gathering places have taken the form of town squares, piazzas, malls, forums, plazas and halls. As a new and establishing College with considerable building still to come we are fortunate to have the College Amphitheatre to gather as a whole school community.

The College Amphitheatre is used extensively for assemblies, Masses and Liturgies, music and drama recitals, and awards nights. Additionally, the College Amphitheatre is a place for students to socialise at recess and lunch.

Until recently the searing summer sun limited the capacity to use College Amphitheatre to particular times of the day. Often, gatherings were limited to the early morning and assemblies were kept short to avoid sitting in the sun for too long. Moreover, the pavement would be too hot to sit on. During recess and lunchtime a small number of students would cling to the edges of the amphitheatre to find the only morsel of shade.

Thanks to the generous support from the Cancer Council and Eftpos we now have much of the area covered with brightly coloured shade sails. While the area is visually stunning it has created wonderful opportunities for the College to gather in the shade and build a unique community without the adverse impact of the sun.

During the opening ceremony students were quizzed about their knowledge in regard to the SunSmart message. SunSmart recommends using a combination of the five sun protection measures:

1. Slip on sun-protective clothing that covers as much skin as possible.
2. Slop on SPF30 or higher sunscreen – make sure it is broad spectrum and water-resistant. Put it on 20 minutes before you go outdoors and reapply every two hours. Sunscreen should never be used to extend the time you spend in the sun.
3. Slap on a hat that protects your face, head, neck and ears.
4. Seek shade.
5. Slide on sunglasses – make sure they meet Australian Standards.

Knowing and understanding UV levels was also highlighted. UV levels are the highest during the middle of the day. When the UV Index is forecast to be 3 or above, the SunSmart UV Alert with sun protection times, is issued for that day. This can be checked:

• on the free SunSmart app
• online at sunsmart.com.au or bom.gov.au/weather/uv
• in the weather section of newspapers.

Live UV levels for capital cities are available from arpansa.gov.au/uvindex/realtime

Students were excited to receive SunSmart prizes for correct answers.

Sally Blane from the Cancer Council addressed the gathering and officially declared the installation of the shade sails open. With the assistance of College Captains, Taya Horley and Connor Francois, Ms Blane was joined by colleagues Alicia Simmons and Prue Lane to cut four ribbons, one colour representing each House.

We are sincerely grateful to the Cancer Council and Eftpos for the generous financial support in providing these shade sails. Without their support the College would not have been able to undertake such as large project. We are also grateful to Mrs Carolyn Jess, Public Relations Officer, for her energy and enthusiasm in securing this project and bringing it to fruition.

Peter Collins

Vice Principal

22 April 2015