SECONDARY NEWS
From the Assistant Principal

Miss Kim Bailey
kbailey@arm.catholic.edu.au

Welcome Back

Welcome back to all students; the year is certainly passing very quickly. Students are reminded that this term in addition to regular homework the semester exams are scheduled for Week 5 for Years 7 - 10. It is essential that each student apply a serious and committed effort to all areas of his/her work in this final semester. This should ensure that each student achieves the best possible results in their end-of-year report.

Term 4 is going to be very busy with students involved in a myriad of activities in addition to the day-to-day lessons. It is essential that students employ efficient time management skills to ensure that all tasks are completed on time regardless of their participation in any of these activities.

Year 10

Transition beyond Year 10 is continuing this term. Most students have submitted their subject selections to either Inverell High or Macintyre High Schools. Each student now needs to complete the enrolment documentation and return to the school of their choice. Thanks to both schools for their assistance in this process; in particular, Mrs Snaith and Mr Peter Dal Santo have been very generous with their time. We are appreciative of the excellent support and information provided to our students for this final stage of their school education.

Work Experience

At the end of last term some of our Year 10 students completed a very successful week of Work Experience. We are indebted to the local and out-of-town businesses that generously offered work placements and valuable on-the-job training to the Year 10 students of Holy Trinity School. Mrs Townsend & Mrs McLachlan worked closely with the students and various workplace supervisors to enable each student to gain maximum benefit from the Work Experience program. Evaluation reports already received have documented the excellent efforts of students in a variety of workplaces – Congratulations Year 10!

Excursions

Students in Year 9 returned safely from their Sydney excursion at the end of last term. Accompanying staff were pleased to receive compliments on the excellent manners displayed by the students at several venues.

Similarly, Year 8 students returned from Tea Gardens and also had some tales to tell. The instructors at the camp made congratulatory comments about the behaviour and attitude displayed by the students. Well done to both groups; you were great ambassadors for Holy Trinity.

iDisorder

Dr. Larry Rosen, professor of psychology at California State University has a must-read book for parents called ‘iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us’. In this book, he discusses changes that occur to the brain´s ability to process information and the ability to relate to the world due to daily consumption of media and the use of technology. This obsession with technology can result in signs and symptoms of psychological disorders (which Dr Rosen has labelled iDisorders) such as stress, sleeplessness, narcissism and a compulsive need to check in with our technology.

However, it is important to note the word ‘obsession’. Dr. Rosen is not anti-technology, far from it. Instead, he argues that we need to become more aware of issues that can arise from the overuse of technology and then implement strategies to deal with these. Self-awareness and a move towards restorative balance are essential.

Some of the ideas Dr. Rosen discusses are:

Ensure your child gets a full night’s sleep and that mobile phones are switched off during the night and ideally in a different room. If a student wakes in the night and checks their phone, however briefly, this will interrupt the sleep patterns for that night and disrupt essential memory processing.
Convene regular family dinners (3-4 times a week for 30-40 minutes) where technology is forbidden at the table – parents included! Dr Rosen points to the fact that many parents are also obsessed with technology and are modelling these behaviours to their children, for example not paying full attention when their child is talking to them, instead answering email on their smartphone at the same time. Rosen believes we are massive self-interrupters and we are training our children that if something buzzes, beeps or vibrates, we should jump and immediately check to see if there is something we should attend to right now.
Given the pervasiveness of technology in our lives as well as the fact that technology evokes high levels of mental activity, we need to start taking technology ‘time-outs’ to reset our brains and refresh our capacity to process information. It is important to recognise that the constant lure of multiple technologies and our obsession with them is overloading our brains. If we want to avoid iDisorder and ensure our use of technology does not make us exhibit signs and symptoms of psychological disorders, then we need to reset our brains on a regular basis. You may decide to take a 10-minute break from technology every 2 hours, or you may even decide to allocate at least one day a week where you focus your attention 100% on real life and shut off your technology for a significant portion of that day. During this time you could laugh or talk with friends or family, experience nature or do something active. The aim is to give the brain a chance to slow down and rest by doing something that does not involve electronic devices.

We live in a connected world, and we can’t turn the clock back and take away all these fun new technological tools. So, the message is, we need to learn to take care of our brains and take some small proactive steps to avoid a potential iDisorder.

Google Classroom Guardian Summaries

Remember to accept the invitation to sign up for Google Classroom Guardian Summaries. Please contact Miss Bailey if you have any questions or problems.