Mental Health & Wellbeing

Consent Education & Deep Fakes

The teaching of consent in all Victorian government schools is mandatory. Schools should teach students about consent in an age-appropriate way from Foundation to Year 12. At Jackson this is taught as part of our Independent Learning Curriculum through RRRR, Sexual Health Victoria and eSMART programs.

Students will learn that consent must be given for all types of intimate contact, including kissing, hugging, and touching of more private areas of the body, as well as sexual activity. They will learn that sexual assault is a crime, and that it includes any form of unwanted or forced sexual behaviour, including unwanted kissing, touching, and sharing of sexual images and text.

Students at Jackson are particularly vulnerable at school, in the community and online. Our students are also very capable in using technology and with the use of generative AI tools, students can easily create Deep Fakes. A deepfake is a digital photo, video or sound file of a real person that has been edited to create an extremely realistic but false depiction of them doing or saying something that they did not actually do or say. Deep Fakes are very easy to create and one photo can have life-long impacts on students or staff. Please keep your personal social media profiles set to private and if searchable don't use a photo of your face which could be used by others.

For more information, please visit: https://www.esafety.gov.au/industry/tech-trends-and-challenges/deepfakes and Artificial intelligence in schools.

Behaviour Flow Chart 2024 and EM Codes

Staff should continue to redirect a student, re-teach expectations using the language of the skills on our PBIS posters, and repeat this process three times to reinforce our expected behaviours. In the fourth instance, staff should write a minor incident "office referral" form. These are managed by the teacher in the classroom with the support of your team.

Major behaviours are initially managed within the classroom where possible, but leadership may be required to support the behaviour and de-escalate the situation. It is vitally important that you keep yourself and other students safe at all times. Where required, remove the other students from the zone.

Thank you to everyone for reducing the amount of PA announcements throughout the school day. This is disruptive to classroom learning, neighbours and meeting with families and external visitors. For Behaviour Support, staff should continue to call 301. Following staff feedback, we are now setting up virtual extensions so that this calls leadership mobile phones instead of office phones. Where possible, your sub-schools leading teacher will be the first to respond to ensure consistency aligned with the student's behaviour support plan. Where they are not available or dealing with another behaviour, other members of leadership can also attend to support. Do not intervene physically or verbally if the student is escalated.

For major or critical behaviours, a PA announcement can be made using #40 for "Orange Annoucement to class/location please". Staff may also call an Orange Lockdown during an emergency management situation.

The Jackson Student Leadership Team (JSLT) have given quite specific feedback about their experience of the change to the new codes. These have caused some confusion and distress due to the confusion between Orange Announcements and Orange Lockdowns where they both relate to major/critical student behaviours. Please ensure you have explicitly discussed these changes with your students. There is a social story below to support students' understanding of this.

lockdown social story.docx

Reminder about Student Mobile Phone Use

The Department of Education's Ministerial Order mobile phone ban requires students who bring mobiles phones to school to have them switched off and securely put away during school hours. Before school students should also have their phone switched off and kept in their bag until they can place this in the classroom safe. Please use the safes provided in each classroom to ensure that they are secure during the school day.

As part of our upcoming School Review, the Department is requiring all schools to ensure this ban is in place and enforced. The ban applies equally to all government schools right across the state. This helps ensure that school is a learning environment free from unnecessary distractions and disruptions.

By ensuring mobile phones are kept away at recess and lunch times, students can interact with each other face-to-face, without the distractions and social pressures that mobile phones can cause. This includes wearable cellular devices like Apple Watches connected to the internet or student's phones.

I ask for the support of all staff in continuing to support the implementation of this policy in our school.

Student Transport Buses: Mobile phones are permitted when travelling to and from school. However, SDTP Bus Supervisors must report any inappropriate use of or behaviour in relation to mobile phone use by students (inappropriate context, videoing other students, taking photos on the bus). This does not include school-owned buses and travel training. On arrival at school, mobile phones and wearable devices should not be used before (8:45-9:00) and after school (2:50-3:00pm) whilst on school grounds.

Exceptions: For a small number of students with particular health needs, an exception to the policy may be granted. Year 11/12 students should continue to abide by the mobile phone ban while offsite at VET programs, unless the RTO dictates that mobile phones are required for learning purposes.

School mobile phone policy: A copy of our school’s local mobile phone policy, which implements the government’s mobile policy in line with our local context, is available here: https://newsletters.naavi.com/i/kNVR13N/mobile-phones/page/cover

Download guidance for parents in different languages: https://www.vic.gov.au/mobile-phones-schools#download-guidance-for-parents-in-different-languages

Reduce - Reuse - Recycle

Jackson School Recycling (For Print).pdf

Last term, Jackson School partnered with Premiere Waste to provide services for our waste and recycling requirements.

Under the new arrangements, additional sanitary and nappy bins will be deployed throughout the school. In addition to the two 3 cubic meter general waste bins, a green and co-mingled mixed recycle bin will be delivered and serviced fortnightly. These will be located in the rear car park to increase staff car parking at the front of the school.

As part of our Sustainability Plan, new indoor and outdoor (general waste and mixed recycling) have been ordered and will be installed during the term. To support our students with ongoing education about how to reduce waste, re-use what we can and recycle correctly we will distribute posters and resources with our new classroom bins. This will support your daily teaching and learning of how to recycle with our students. Please find some resources below:

Please see Sharon if you require further guidance about the new waste and recycling partnership with Premier Waste.