Principal Report

Student Achievements

Firstly, in wonderful news, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Melbourne has announced that one of our Year 12 students, Mahnoor N, will be awarded the Hansen Scholarship, which is a highly sought after financial scholarship that is awarded to only about 20 students in Australia each year, following the announcement of ATAR scores later this year. Congratulations Mahnoor—we are delighted for you and we know that you will have thoroughly earned this valuable scholarship. 

In this edition of the newsletter, we are publishing all of the student recipients of the Coburg High School subject awards in semester one. The awards have even greater meaning this year because of the significant upheaval of the first semester. In each subject area there are awards for students who are the highest achievers in each class as well as the students who have shown the greatest growth and improvement across the semester. I extend my congratulations to all award recipients (who are each listed in the Awards section). 

I would also like to give a special mention to Mia P who has recently received a Highly Commended at the Darebin Mayor’s Writing Awards. Congratulations, Mia. 

Adapting to this Lockdown

Unfortunately, last week we had to move to stage 4 lockdown restrictions here in Melbourne and our VCE students have now returned to learning from home along with our Year 7 to 10 students. This COVID year continues to test our mettle as a community. We know that the lockdown is critically important in stopping the spread of the coronavirus but we also recognise that this will be a really tough period of time for many students, families and staff. We all want this lockdown to be over with and we look forward to gradually moving on from it, as some other states have been able to do. At this point, this is the hand we have been dealt and even though it is an incredibly difficult time for us all, it is so impressive to see and hear about the resilience and adaptability of CHS students. Together, I am confident that we can and will get through this difficult winter.  

To parents and caregivers, at this time I cannot emphasise enough just how important the partnership is between you at home and the staff here at school. We are counting on your support in checking in with your children and letting us know how they are coping. There will inevitably be difficult patches due to the dislocation of learning from home and so when things are not going so well, we need to hear from you. When you reach out to year level student support teams, rest assured that we will do all we can to support your children. Our prime focus is their health, wellbeing and learning. 

For direct wellbeing support, please contact our CHS Wellbeing Team: Nicole (mob. 0400 935 425 or nicole.neale@coburg.vic.edu.au) or Tina (mob. 0400 929 370 or tina.le@coburg.vic.edu.au).

Coburg HS staff will continue to check in regularly with students who need extra support and we expect those students who are feeling isolated, disengaged or simply needing to touch base with school to contact their Student Support Team or the Wellbeing Team and let us know so that we can provide wrap-around support and assistance.

This is a testing time for families. Let me also draw your attention to the Respectful Relationships & Wellbeing section of this newsletter which includes a range of strategies for getting through this period together at home. 

Clearly, many of us are finding it difficult to cope with the lockdown restrictions and that is a normal response because things have worsened for us at the moment. Perhaps one of the best ways we can cope with these circumstances is by focusing on what we can do instead of what we can’t. This can be difficult because our lives have been significantly disrupted this year and we continue to watch a procession of milestones and important activities pass us by, including weddings, religious celebrations, funerals, birthdays, travel plans to visit family overseas, and even sporting events, concerts and other special events, and this can be heartbreaking. In time, we will eventually catch up on most of these important things. At the same time, I know that many students are proactively finding ways to cope with the restrictions by focusing on their studies as well as developing a particular skill in a certain area such as learning to play a musical instrument, dancing, working out, writing, coding, making art, speaking another language, and even just mastering a range of card games, board games and video games even while court and field games are temporarily on hold for us. 

It is wonderful that so many students are participating in the online enrichment activities that we are running, including 'Great Moments in Isolation', online inter-school chess tournaments, reading e-books through the CHS library, and taking part in the National History Challenge, and a range of fun House challenges (including the upcoming House trivia program). 

Another way that we can cope is by searching for the ‘silver lining’ in this experience, even though this can also be hard to do at times.  In her newspaper article yesterday, "From the wreck of the pandemic we can salvage and resurrect an inner life", Nyadol Nyuon describes her perspective on the lockdown and her struggles to remain positive for her family. Nyadol has resolved that, when this is all over, she will strive to live her life more fully, not by cramming more ‘busyness’ into her days, but by focusing on what really matters. I am sure that we will all learn something valuable about ourselves as we get through this challenging time. 

Yet another way we can deal with this challenge is by keeping in mind the vital role we are all playing in combatting the spread of the coronavirus. With no efforts to stop the spread, there would have been many more people getting horribly sick and even more fatalities, particularly among older people with underlying medical conditions, and our hospitals would have been even more overwhelmed with cases. We can see that COVID-19 has become like an out of control forest-fire in many other countries around the world but here in Victoria we still have the chance to avert that and suppress this outbreak. 

Let's continue to support each other to focus on what we can control, mastering new skills and taking up new interests, looking for the 'silver lining', taking care of each other and keeping on following the government and CHO guidelines. 

Tragedy in Lebanon

The massive ammonium nitrate explosions in Lebanon last week were truly horrific. They caused widespread damage to the city of Beirut and there have been many casualties. Our hearts go out to the many Lebanese-Australian families and students of Coburg High School who have family and friends in Beirut caught up in this tragedy.

It has been an exceptionally difficult year in Lebanon because this incident comes off the back of significant political strife and upheaval which has been compounded by the devastating health and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic there. 

For those of you who have loved ones in Lebanon, please do not hesitate to reach out to us for wellbeing support by phone or email.

Science Week

We are coming up to Science Week and there will be a number of online activities for students to take part in next week as we celebrate the sciences. This pandemic has thrown into sharp relief the value of science and technology in our everyday lives.  During pandemics in the past, there were no computers and no internet available to work and learn remotely or to maintain virtual connections with family and friends. Families had to shelter at home for even longer periods of time and were even more isolated. 

In the past, there were also fewer preventions and treatments for disease epidemics. Epidemics spread in four different ways—contaminated water (e.g. cholera, typhoid), mosquitos or fleas (e.g. malaria, bubonic plague), sexually (e.g. HIV or syphilis), or through respiratory transmission (measles, influenza, coronaviruses). Due to scientific breakthroughs, we are now able to suppress most epidemics from becoming global pandemics, except respiratory transmission (such as COVID-19). We now have fairly effective preventions and treatments for many of the others—we can treat cholera outbreaks with antibiotics, syphilis with penicillin, and there is a pre-exposure prophylaxis medication (PrEP) and antiretroviral therapy for HIV—and with the right medical developments it seems that we may eventually be able to stop epidemics of respiratory infection as well. 

At the same time, even though the world continues to become a better place in many respects—e.g. the number of people living in extreme poverty has more than halved since 1990—there are still a number of diseases that plague millions of people each year, including malaria and AIDS. Malaria is a mosquito-borne infection that has been eradicated from Australia but is prevalent in many of the poorer parts of the world and children under 5 are particularly susceptible. Distributing long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) is an effective way to prevent malaria transmission but there are millions of people who do not have access to these bed-nets nor to anti-malaria medications or insecticides. Here in Melbourne, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute is actively contributing to the development of a malaria vaccine in order to hopefully eradicate malaria altogether: "Malaria vaccine development at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute". 

In terms of tackling COVID-19, there are various anti-viral medications being trialled and used as treatments and some seem to be aiding the recovery of patients. In terms of prevention, there are also several vaccines in phase three of trials, including one being conducted by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute here in Australia. It seems that they will eventually be successful in developing a safe and relatively effective vaccine but this may take a little while longer. 

Remote Learning Plan

The updated remote learning plan has been posted to all students and families on Compass and is also available for reference on page 2 of this newsletter.  Amongst other things, this term we are introducing Anything But Screens Days. We encourage students to turn to other 'screen-free' pursuits on those days to balance out their own health and wellbeing.  

Finally, the 'key dates' section of the newsletter is included again this month but I urge families to continue to refer to the Compass announcements as many important dates will continue to be fairly fluid, depending on further government announcements. 

Take care, stay warm, and keep going—onwards and upwards—everyone. 

Stewart Milner

Principal 

Coburg High School