Cranbourne Campus News

ROMERO RED BULL CAR RACE

The inaugural Romero House Red Bull Car Race was run on Tuesday.  For the prior fortnight, numerous students spent hours constructing, painting and decorating eight cardboard cars for  the big race day.  Eight houses fielded five teams at Years 7, 8, 9, 10 & seniors to compete in this race around the track marked out on the soccer pitch.  Each team “driving” their car ideally consisted of two males and two females. 

The judges, Jonathan D’Rozario (College Captain), Damon Quirk (Sports Captain), Ms Mansfield and Mr Hansen scored houses on how well the cars demonstrated the house theme, displayed a unique design, accurately represented the appearance of a car and demonstrated structural integrity (ie. did they remain in one piece).

MacKillop House was particularly impressive with their police car, complete with siren and flashing lights.  Marian and Romero Houses also produced cars that scored well for production.

Penalties were applied where teams were not well represented across all year levels or lacked gender balance.

When the race finally began, it was pure chaos, comedy and controversy as teams jostled for position in the five lap race.  Only 3 cars were able to finish intact and and when Marian House crossed the finishing line first but in the pit lane, Romero House got the chequered flag.  A passionate protest was quickly lodged by Marian House and the judges relented after consultation with the Grand Prix Referee, Mr Mark Sinclair who demonstrated incredible generosity in upholding the protest.  The race was awarded to Marian but with the other factors and penalties taken into account the final placings saw Romero win the competition.

McGUIGAN SHIEL

With the completion of the Romero House Activity, we saw some small movement in the House Ladder.  Marian closed the gap on MacKillop and Marian and Romero jumped into fifth place past Assisi.

There are still points to be awarded this term for the Environment Trophy, the new Arts Trophy, punctuality, attendance and uniform. 

VISIT FROM MAGISTRATE – HONOURABLE TARA HARNETT

This week the Casey Titans basketball and Casey Eagles soccer teams celebrated Super-Tuesday. They had a shortened homework club (4pm - 4.30pm) and training (4.30 - 5pm) before their guest speaker Honourable Tara Harnett addressed the students.  Ms Harnett is a magistrate of the Dandenong Magistrates Court. It is not easy to get judges to come as guest speakers but Ms Hartnett, was interested in the work that our Pastoral Associate, Mr Deng Chuor has been doing with a number of our students. Ms Harnett talked about topics relating to the justice system in Victoria and her experiences as a criminal lawyer. She also touched on the rights of our students as citizens as well as their duties and responsibilities.  The talk was greatly appreciated by all who attended. 

ARTS COLLECTIVE

This year, our Arts Captain Mikayla van der Velden has been working hard with some key staff to revitalise the St. Peters Arts Collective.  With over 40 members from all year levels meeting they have established a goal of running at least one artistic activity each term. To this end, the group proposed and it has been approved by the House Leaders, that they award an Arts Trophy each term in the same vain as the Environment Trophy. This will be an incentive for students to get involved in the visual and creative arts as we open up more opportunities for students to win house points towards the McGuigan Shield.  It cements in our structures the opportunity for our artistic students to express and develop their art and creativity and it supports the hard work of our art teachers who encourage and nurture an artistic culture in our school.  This will no doubt be enhanced even further when the new Arts Precinct opens at the end of the year.

The aim is to ensure all students can participate in the arts and work on collaborative artworks in the courtyard or participate in learning workshops. Next week the Arts Collective are to collaborate with the Environment Group on a sculpture, and plan to organise the Lip Sync Battle in another term.

GAMING: KEEP CALM AND CONTINUE PARENTING

On Wednesday, 41 people joined us in the Multipurpose Hall to listen to a presentation about online gaming, how it affects our children and what we can do as active parents to reduce the risks.  It was pleasing to see the crowd was made up of 6 children and 7 of our St Peter’s staff eager to learn and also share their knowledge.  One of the valuable learnings from the evening came not just from our presenter but indeed our parents who were very supportive of one another.  Just realising that online gaming and our teenagers use, and in some cases over use of technology, is a broad issue affecting very many parents.

Some sobering statistics about how much Australian children are gaming included:

• 97% of homes with kids have video games.
• 89% of those have more than one game device.
• 67% of the population play video games of which 23% are under the age of 18.
• 54% of video game players are male. (It’s not just a boy issue!)
• 81% of Australian children aged 8-17 years have played an online game in the 12 months prior to June 2017.
• 60% of Australian children aged 8-10 years have played online multiplayer games, and half of them played with people they have never met in person.

One area of concern that was explored was the link between gambling and gaming.

• Up to 20% of young people aged 15-17 years had bet on sport in the past 12 months.
• Around 10% of young people under 18 gamble online.
• 20% of adolescents play social casino games.

Gambling is particularly a problem for the adolescent brain that is going through the process of restructuring.  Research has shown that people who start to gamble under 18 year of age are 4 times more likely to develop an addiction.  As parents, we have a responsibility to protect our children from this.

So what are some of the warning signs your child is gaming too much?

• Talk about a game non-stop.
• Play for hours on end.
• Are defensive when told that they game too much.
• Are angry or explosive when asked to stop.
• Will sacrifice basic needs (like sleep) to keep gaming.
• Hide or downplay the amount of time they spend gaming.
• Seem preoccupied, depressed or lonely.

What can you do about excessive gaming?

• Set healthy time limits for gaming and stick to them. 20 minutes a session is advised.
• Talk to your children about what they are playing, when and with whom.  Playing behind closed doors in a bedroom is NOT recommended.
• Encourage children to spend more time with friends in person.
• Encourage other activities that will get them away from the screen.
• Promote family time. For example, turn off screens during meal times together.

If you need support, the contact our Student Wellbeing Leader, Ms Anita Carter, or the school counsellor, Ms Nadia Picinali.  There is also help online, and if you are concerned about the effect that digital technology is having on the mental health of your child, please see the Be You website and read the fact sheet on Technology and Mental Health. This can be found at: https://beyou.edu.au/fact-sheets/wellbeing/using-technology

David Hansen

DEPUTY PRINCIPAL – HEAD OF CRANBOURNE CAMPUS