Boys get lesson in manners

Sixteen-year-old Guy Miles looks surprised and a little nervous to learn there is a right way and a wrong way to eat a bread roll at the dinner table.

The trick, apparently, is to break off bite-sized pieces of the roll as you go.

But, nerves aside, the Aquinas College student is looking forward to a lesson in modern-day manners in the hope, he says with a grin that reveals a flash of braces, he can "learn to be a gentleman".

Perth etiquette expert Louise Percy has trained diplomats and politicians. Today she will turn her talent to teaching Aquinas' teenage boys the ins and outs of etiquette, which they can then put into practice at a formal mothers-and-sons dinner at the college.

On the agenda is everything from table manners and whether it is acceptable to ask someone out by text message to what constitutes good behaviour on public transport.

Ms Percy said good manners were ultimately about knowing how to make other people feel comfortable.

"It's not just about knowing what fork to use, it's about making dinner a social experience and being able to communicate with people who are not part of your peer group," she said.

"I hope to let them know it's not old-fashioned to be well mannered."

She said the trend towards more casual attitudes was not necessarily a bad thing "but with that casualness has come a casualness in manners".

Ms Percy hopes to give students more confidence in social situations and to teach them how to adapt their behaviour to different situations. For example, she said, if they were speaking to an older person, they should avoid "text speak" and if they were speaking to someone for whom English was a second language, they should avoid using slang.

Aquinas headmaster Mark Sawle said the idea was to educate students on social etiquette and to give them "some clarity and confidence going into social situations".

Boarder Dylan West, 16, said he thought it was a great idea.

"It teaches you something that your parents are not teaching you," he said.

The students' parents have welcomed the lessons.