Director of Students
Year 12 Retreat
Our intrepid band of Year 12s and several teachers headed to Philip Island last week for the long-delayed Year 12 Study Retreat.
The Study Retreat is a long-held tradition at South Oakleigh College. It is designed to balance the academic rigour and stress of year 12 while promoting teamwork and resilience in our students. A jam-packed 3 day program was developed for our students, with a focus on team building, study habits, resilience and post-Year 12 pathways.
Wednesday's session started with Team Building – we focused on supporting each other in tricky situations and while under pressure. Team balance beam and 8 legged races were the highlights of this session. The School Captains ran a session to organise how the common room will be used during the year. Wednesday evening featured a guest speaker, Tristan Miller, who ran 52 marathons in 52 weeks. Our Year 12s were rapt with attention. Tristan showed how challenges are often mind over matter. It is important we focus on what is happening in the now, not what could or might happen. He suggested we break the problem into smaller workable parts and overcome those one at a time. He stressed that we all have the ability to overcome and to succeed within us, no matter the challenge.
Thursday's session focused on resilience, one of South Oakleigh College key values, and it was also the first session in an ongoing series on study skills. A huge ‘thank you’ to Mr. Colombus and Ms. Chait for running our Resilience through Character Strengths session. Mr. Colombus and Ms. Chait shared the stories of their own journey through VCE, and the directions they took to become teachers. Students had an opportunity to ask questions about overcoming challenges and gaining valuable insight from two very different pathways that led to the same occupation. The study-skill sessions looked at how we define study and how we go about studying. Everyone has a different method of studying; these sessions aimed to consolidate for students what works for them. Students were asked to consider what is important to them - a non-negotiable - that supports their resilience. From there students were asked to define “studying” in their words, to create a definition they can turn into an effective practice. Students also broke their study down into what is effective study and ineffective study. These sessions will continue throughout Term 1 at the college.
On Thursday, the excitement continued with the Inaugural Beachside Fish and Chip dinner: an evening stroll to the beach was followed with the classic favourite, fish and chips. Though the temperamental Melbourne weather did follow us to Philip Island, Thursday finished with another camp tradition: our students burning their fears in the bonfire. A special thanks to Ms. Close and Cooper Wilson for getting the soggy kindling alight.
On Friday, a very tired cohort participated in Ms. Chait’s Party Safe session. This is a program designed to support our students to make safe choices as they enter adulthood. Unfortunately, the Melbourne weather forced an early departure from camp.
A very large ‘thank you’ to Mr. Blattman for driving the minibus of students to and from camp, Ms. Clrupso Liu, Ms. Close, Mr. Columbus and Ms. Chait for joining myself and the students on camp.
Grace Terdich
Director of Students
Senior School
Social Media, Cyber Safety & Computer Addiction
Following on from students experiences during lockdown one and two, a number of parents have expressed concern over their child’s increasing dependence on computers and other technology to entertain and inform them as well connect and communicate with people. Students are less and less likely to moderate their own computer usage to the detriment of their relationships, sleep, motivation and school work. In response to this growing concern, South Oakleigh College, in conjunction with Michael Carr-Gregg, is working to provide students and parents alike with constructive intervention strategies and support systems to manage ICT usage and break the cycle of addiction. ‘Screen addiction’ is a term that we are seeing more and more often in the media, and has been used to denote various types of screen-related bad behaviours.
According to the eSafety Office, children spending too much time online is one of the top online safety concerns for parents. While undoubtedly there are many benefits to video gaming and smartphone technology (e.g. keeping in touch with family), parents don’t have enough information to know how much access to tech is good or bad for our health and wellbeing.
On Thursday 25 February Michael Carr-Gregg will be presenting the latest research and concrete advice as to how to manage screen time. Please check the South Oakleigh
Facebook and website for ticketing details. We will provide both on-site attendance and access to a streaming link.
Damien Landini
Director of Students
Middle School
