Middle Years Update

Welcome to Term 2. I hope everyone had a restful break.

Holidays are great time to catch up with family and friends. With a large proportion of our children’s social interactions occurring online, it is also a great time to have an open dialogue about staying safe online. Staying safe online is more than just cyberbullying: online grooming and internet addictions are becoming real issues in today’s society. I strongly encourage you to discuss current internet/social media use with your children. It may be time to re-evaluate how much online time is available, the majority of social media interaction occurs not on computers or tablets but on mobile phones. Most telecommunication companies have parental controls that will allow you to monitor, filter and limit the amount of data and text messages that are being sent.

Koonung Secondary College's aim is to educate students on their role and responsibilities as a digital citizen, including awareness of dangers and managing their online identities (digital footprint). All Year 7 students will be taking part in a Cyber Safety session run by the Victoria Police later in the term.

Cyber safety education for all parties charged with the responsibility for student safety online is vital. Cyber safety is a community responsibility. The safety of students from primary school all the way through secondary school cannot be simply one stakeholder’s duty. Unless all parties are educated and vigilant about cyber safety, children cannot stay safe online.

Cyberbullying is the use of technology to bully a person or group with the intention to hurt them psychologically, socially or physically. — Office of the eSafety Commissioner

Parents and carers need to take immediate action if their child is involved with cyberbullying.

What does cyberbulling look like?

Cyberbullying can include using instant messaging, social networking sites, blogs, online games, phone calls, video calls and SMS or MMS to:

post or share embarrassing videos or images of others
exclude or intimidate others online ö repeatedly send threatening messages or harassing others online
send or share hurtful or abusive messages or emails
participate in nasty online gossip or chat

Why do people cyberbully?

People might cyberbully others because they:

think it’s amusing
don’t like the person
think “it’s just words”
don’t believe there are any consequences
think they can remain anonymous
are doing it in retaliation

None of these reasons, or any others, can justify cyberbullying.

Extra-Curricular Excellence

Gold Medals for Pole Vaulter Johnny Suares 7G

Year 7 student Johnny Suares started with the Box Hill Athletics Club when he was 10 years old. He trains 5 days a week plus competing in little athletics every Sunday. Johnny started training for high jump and 100 metre events after having success in the Little Athletics competitions.

His coach encouraged him to try pole vault. He started off with drills on the ground with the pole and he admits it was hard to learn at the start. Johnny could jump over the bar and he got better and better. He started to train regularly for the pole vault with coach Mark Stuart. In competition season there is a meet every Saturday. In primary school Johnny won a gold medal for pole vault representing his school. Recently he attended the Australian Track and Field National Championships held in Sydney.

Johnny won the Gold medal in the Under 15 Pole Vault on Tuesday 2 April 2019 with a personal best of 3.5 metres.

He then won another Gold medal in the Under 14 Pole Vault on Wednesday 3 April 2019 breaking an 8 year old national record.

Johnny has met Steve Hooker many times, he gave him the following advice: “Once you grow a little bit more you, something will click and you will start to jump even higher.” Johnny said “He is still waiting for the growth spurt!”

Johnny admires Armand Duplantis who is the current world champion and only 19 years of age. Jonny’s is goal is to represent Australia in the LA 2028 Olympics.

Congratulations Johnny - what an outstanding effort!

Swimming success - Keira Tait

Year 8 student Keira Tait swam at School Sport Victoria State Swim Championship and won gold in the 13 year old women’s 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle.

Keira swims with the Surrey Park Swimming Club and trains 7 times a week (6 days). The training involves 2-3 hours sessions. Keira started swimming lessons as a baby and joined the squad team when she was 8. She then started to compete at club meets and for her Primary School Ascot State School in Brisbane. When Keira was 11 she first medalled at the State Completion in 100 Butterfly and 200m butterfly. Since then training has continued to grow and her determination is unwavering. She is very proud of her achievements at the latest National Competition.

Keira trains before and after school and is very thankful to her mum who drives her to all the training sessions. Keira admires all the Australian swimming stars and loves to watch the Olympics and World Championships on TV. She wants to be “the best in the world”

Keira is too young to specialise in an event so she is enjoying trying the different strokes and distances. Keira eats a lot! She needs the energy to sustain all the exercise; a typical day for Keira is 6-10 Weetabix for breakfast, for lunch she has 2 sandwiches and 2 pieces of fruit. Dinner is a big bowl of pasta and a lot of snacks during the days like muesli bars, nuts, beans and the occasional donut. Keira is the age group champion following the Koonung Swimming Carnival and the Whitehorse Division competition. With all this training, Keira works very hard in class to maintain her high grades and she get as much done as possible to limit the amount of homework. We can’t wait to see what Keira can achieve in the future!<

Koonung Secondary College Newsletter

Issue 6 · 03 May 2019

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