Welcome to Term 4!

We have a busy term ahead as we farewell our Class of 2024 this week. Student attendance at the optional revision sessions over the holidays was very high, and all VCE students sat mock exams in Week 1. A big thank you to our generous and dedicated Year 12 VCE teachers who volunteered their time over the holidays to run these sessions.

After Celebration Day this week it is time for our VCE students to knuckle down and prepare for their exams. Our wonderful Year 12 teachers will continue to support and assist students throughout this period and the Study Centre is open for students to study at school.

Our Vocational Major students are busy finalising their work requirements and required hours as they too prepare to mark the end of 13 years of schooling.

Congratulations to students who participated in the State School Spectacular at the commencement of the holidays and a big thank you to the staff who made it happen and supported our students. Particular congratulations to

Alexia	Moxon	11	Principal Dancer
Dion	Sanelli	12	Principal Dancer & Specialty Act
William	Ryan	12	Vision

for Daring to be Excellent!

School Access on Wednesday 23/10

Due to Year 12 Celebration morning on Wednesday, access to school for all students will be via the front gate (next to the General Office) or the side gate (from the carpark) ONLY. Apologies for this temporary inconvenience.

Raffle Tickets

There is just a month to go for the selling of our Cool for School raffle tickets. Please ensure you return unsold tickets/ticket stubs and money to the general office as soon as you can. While sales have been strong they have not been fantastic, and I encourage you to take a book of 10 to sell at your workplace/sporting club/with family and friends. You don't have to sell the whole book, and every ticket sale helps!! Books are available from the General Office, and you can also purchase tickets yourself.

A big thank you school council members and staff (and family members) who assisted us in selling tickets at Greensborough Woolworths this weekend. I enjoyed meeting members of the public who were so supportive of our efforts to provide a comfortable learning environment for our students.

40th Anniversary Celebrations

Tickets are on sale for our 40th Anniversary celebrations on 30th November. Check your inbox for details re purchasing tickets via a Compass Feed. An open air cinema, food trucks, live music and market stalls all promise a great evening's entertainment.

"Strong Start" coming in 2025

Our student body has strongly expressed the desire for a daily touch point with a teacher who is their key point of contact through the recently held Student Forum, and made a strong recommendation for a "form assembly" type structure. Our Student Attitude To School Survey data also shows us that many students do not feel anchored to a particular teacher they can ask key information from, and anecdotally teachers report that, in general, students are not well organised and do not regularly access the platforms where they can get key information about school events and policies such as Microsoft Teams, email and Compass.

In 2025, every student will spend the first 12 minutes of the day in "Strong Start" with their Strong Start teacher. It is our aim that almost every Strong Start teacher also teach their Strong Start students for a subject, although we know this won't always be possible The aim of Strong Start is to provide a key point of contact for students, and to set them up for the school day. Strong Start will look the same for every class in terms of structure with checking Teams, email and Compass being a strong feature. Every student will be expected to attend Strong Start if they are present at school for the day.

To create the room for Strong Start without compromising learning time, there will be some small adjustments to recess and lunch and movement breaks. Because these are spread across the day, the impact should be minimal.

To further support students with their organisational skills, the College will provide every student with a Student Planner that they will be expected to take to every class as part of being "ready to learn". Teachers will assist students to record upcoming events, due dates, and homework. Students who lose their planner will be required to purchase a replacement from the General Office.

More information about Strong Start and our Planner Policy will be forthcoming.

Important Warning: "Zyns"

“I’ve got a friend who’s trying to quit vaping and he’s now using a product called ‘Zyn’. He says they’re nicotine and they help him with his cravings when he really feels he needs to vape. What are Zyns and are they legal in Australia?”

‘Zyn’ is a brand name for a relatively new product that appears to be gaining popularity across parts of the world – oral nicotine pouches. With cigarette smoking becoming less popular, tobacco companies have moved into producing and marketing what are now referred to as ‘smokeless’ tobacco products.

Looking like small tea bags, these small sachets are usually placed in the mouth, between the upper lip and gum, providing the person with a ‘nicotine hit’. A similar product known as ‘snus’ has been around for a while, with those pouches supplying the nicotine via shredded tobacco leaf. What makes these new products different is that instead of containing oral tobacco, which has been banned from sale in Australia since the early 1990s, these use synthetic ‘tobacco-free’ nicotine. This powder is produced in a laboratory and due to this change the manufacturers claim that they can be legally used in this country.

Like e-cigarettes (or vapes), these pouches were originally developed to be nicotine replacement products, similar to patches and gum, helping people to quit or reduce their smoking. Unfortunately, what we have seen here and around the world, is that young people, many of whom have never smoked a cigarette, have started vaping. Although the manufacturers of brands such as Zyn claim their products are marketed as an “alternative to smoking for people who are already consuming nicotine”, due to their packaging and the fact that they come in a range of flavours such as ‘apple mint’ and ‘black cherry’, they have been criticized for making them attractive to young people. It’s also important to note that the nicotine concentrations of the different brands can vary greatly, with some containing much higher levels than cigarettes.

The law in this area is extremely complicated, although it is clear that smokeless tobacco products that contain tobacco are banned from sale in Australia. People are able to import them for personal use but that is dependent on the weight of the product being brought into the country. It’s unclear as to where brands such as Zyn, that are so-called ‘tobacco-free’, fit as far as the law is concerned. Unfortunately, the manufacturers are certainly using this lack of clarity to promote their product.

(DARTA: Drug and Alcohol Research Australia)

The active chemical in Zyn is still nicotine, and nicotine has extremely detrimental effects on the cardiovascular system, .... Not only does it increase heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen consumption of the heart, but it also narrows the cardiovascular arteries and limits blood flow to the muscles, further stressing the heart. The effects of nicotine on the liver aren’t as widely studied, but .... there is solid evidence to conclude that long-term nicotine consumption impairs liver function and contributes to fatty liver disease.

A 2023 study also found that nicotine has serious implications on sleeping habits and can cause numerous sleep-related disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, and poor sleep quality. And because sleep is inextricably linked to your overall health and immune system, the same study found that nicotine-induced lack of sleep puts you at a greater risk for heart disease, diabetes, depression, and obesity.

On top of that, because Zyn pouches are lodged between your gum and upper lip, they’re not great for your oral health either. More research is still needed, but when the product is held against the oral tissues for prolonged periods of time, gum recession (when gum tissue that surrounds the teeth wears away) can occur. Depending on the placement of the pouch, it can also increase the risk of localized plaque development leading to tooth decay and cavities.

Any form of nicotine is extremely addictive, and once you start, it’s difficult to break the habit. Dr. Kharazi says. “While there is no long-term data available on Zyn specifically, we do have evidence of the detrimental effects of nicotine on multiple organ systems and can therefore extrapolate that long-term and frequent use of Zyn should be avoided,” she explains. Currently the marketing of Zyn is focusing on the fact that it’s tobacco-free, and while that is true, “nicotine is hardly an innocent or harmless substance,” Dr. Kharazi emphasizes.

(Is Zyn Bad For You? Here's Where Doctors Stand on the Viral Nicotine Pouches - POPSUGAR Australia)

The bottom line:

The nicotine in Zyns give young people a "buzz" and while some users may initially feel a sense of relaxation or euphoria, these effects are often short-lived and followed by mood swings, irritability, and heightened anxiety. This is not a state young people need to be in to learn.

Like cigarettes and vapes, Zyns are banned at school.

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