Hello everyone,
Stranger Danger
At times, given the nature of our grounds and the Macedon community, we find that people stop along the fence of the school during recess or lunch. Most often this is secondary school students on a curriculum day or a local resident throwing a ball back to our students. The staff on yard duty, wearing high visibility vests, are vigilant and when they see someone stop on our fence line we approach them, introduce ourselves and ask them if they need help. This is more often than not a pleasant interaction with a local resident.
In recent weeks, a man has stopped along our fence with his dog a number of times. On every occasion staff have approached this person, however he has moved on before we have been able to interact with him. As a reaction to this staff have increased their vigilance around anyone stopping along the fence line. Staff have also reminded their students about the best way for them to respond to someone stopping along the fence line. We have reminded the students to come and find a staff member on yard duty if someone stops along the fence during recess or lunch and to not to talk to people they do not know who stop along the fence.
I must stress that this person hasn’t posed any threat - this could be an innocent local resident. I do however see the potential for this to be concerning behaviour and as an additional precaution I called the Gisborne police station to seek their advice about the matter. They advised us to seek their support if this continued. No patrol cars have been called to the school, however staff have been briefed - we are on a higher alert than usual.
Please remind your children about the importance of seeking a teacher’s support if they see someone along the fence line.
