On Tuesday 29th July, our 3-6 students participated in the Lion's Club Public Speaking Cup. Year 3 and 4 had to speak about a ' Creative Invention' whilst Years 5 and 6 had to speak about 'Technology'. Congratulations to Teal Taylor and Tilly Gray for winning each of the categories! Below, please find a copy of the speeches:

Technology is Moving Too Fast- Matilda Gray

Intro

This world is changing drastically mostly with technology and we should not be embracing it. Hello everyone, I'm Matilda Gray and today I am going to be talking about technology and how it is moving too fast for regulations to keep up with. Technology is full of lies, scams and even bullying online so why should we be supporting it.

Cyber Bullying

Have you ever gone up to someone or seen someone go up to another person and start mocking them? This is probably a very rare thing to see yet it happens to thousands of people on screens and devices every day.

What is Cyber bullying?

Cyberbullying is when someone uses the internet to be mean or to bully a child or young person so they feel bad or upset about themselves. It can happen on a social media site, game, app, or any other online or electronic service or platforms. It can include: posts, comments, texts, messages, chats, live streams, and much more harmful and upsetting sources of communication. But there is no doubt that cyberbullying is the worst position that you or people can put someone in.

Effects of Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying can be detrimental to a person's mental and physical health. Victims can experience significant social isolation and feeling insecure. It can lead to emotional and physical harm, losing pride or dignity of yourself , feeling full of shame and anxiety and or struggling to learn or concentrate.

What can you do about it

Take a screenshot or print off a hardcopy of emails or online conversations. Keep text messages saved on your phone. Report the cyberbullying material to the social media site where it was posted. Social media services should remove cyberbullying material that is reported to them. Tell a parent.or it will get worse.

It’s an emergency, if you or someone else feels that it’s becoming a big problem, you can and you must go to the police. It can change peoples lives forever. It can develop our minds into things that they shouldn’t be.

Fast moving technology

This is just one of the many things that are happening online like scamming.

What Is Scamming

A scam is designed to trick you into giving away your money, personal details, or data by offering an attractive deal or false information. Scammers could contact potential victims through various communication channels and so much more. Scammers do this to trick someone into giving you money or giving you some advantage, in a dishonest and often illegal way.

What’s it effect

Scamming has varied effects impacting victims emotionally, financially, and psychologically, and also affecting society as a whole.

How to avoid it

To avoid scams, we can be cautious about unsolicited offers and requests for personal information, especially when pressured to act quickly.

The Double-Edged Sword of Artificial Intelligence- Kash McPhillips

Good [morning/afternoon/evening] everyone,

Today, I want to talk about something that is changing the world around us at lightning speed: Artificial Intelligence, or AI.

AI is no longer science fiction. It’s in our phones, our homes, our workplaces and even in the hospitals that care for our health. AI can be an incredible tool for good. It can diagnose diseases faster, make education more accessible, and help solve problems that once seemed impossible.

But like any powerful tool, AI also has a darker side.

Let’s start with the good. AI can process vast amounts of information in seconds. In medicine, AI systems are helping doctors read X-rays, spot patterns in test results, and even predict potential illnesses before symptoms appear. Imagine a world where cancer is detected early not by chance, but by intelligent algorithms scanning millions of data points. That’s real, and it’s already happening.

But now let me ask you something: Would you trust a doctor who had all their essays, assignments, and exams written by AI? Someone who didn’t study, didn’t learn the reasoning behind their decisions, but just clicked a button?

That’s where the danger comes in. AI should be a support tool not a replacement for knowledge, experience, or responsibility. If we start using AI to do the hard work for us, especially in fields like medicine, law, or education, we risk losing the very skills that make professionals trustworthy and competent.

The problem isn't AI itself, it's how we use it.

If we rely on it blindly, we create a world where people stop thinking critically. If we use it wisely, it becomes a powerful partner in innovation, safety, and progress.

So let’s be clear: AI is not good or bad on its own. It’s a reflection of us. Our values, our choices, our priorities.

The future of artificial intelligence is in our hands. Let’s use it not to cut corners, but to build better ones.

Thank you.

Technology- Zara Correy

What is technology:

The word technology is a combination of the Greek techne, which means “art, craft and logos.” It also means, “word, speech.” The scientific term for technology is Technoscience. Technology first came out in the 17th century, and has changed vastly over the years.

It’s Effect on environment:

Technology has had a big impact on millions of peoples lives but how good is technology for the environment? It can cause resource depletion, ecological damage and pollution in the air, water, heat and even noise. That's why nuclear power is better for the environment but if 1 little thing goes wrong in the process of making nuclear power it can do a lot of damage to the environment and earth. That's why it's best to be eco-friendly and not use too much electricity. Also in the process of making technology it uses non-renewable sources such as gold, coal even resources like water are used to make technology. Technology also causes a lot of waste like when some batteries, light baubles, DVDs can't be recharged or reused they get thrown out and that is a waste there's more electronics that are wasted and that are not good for the environment. These electronics are made of valuable metals such as gold, silver, copper, lead, even toxic materials such as mercury and cadmium. Using toxic materials can harm the health of our bodies, can cause cancer, and technology addiction can lead to other health problems like obesity and carpal tunnel syndrome. Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide are greenhouse gasses made by people this makes them man-made. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trap and reflect heat and radiation back on the earth's surface which is contributing to global warming. In the process to make power and energy is by burning fossil fuels to create the energy.

Technotrash also known as electronic wastes or e-wastes is any non-working or unwanted electrical or electronic device, and is currently the most rapidly-growing type of waste in the word. The techno trash is thrown out with all the regular trash and usually end up in a landfill. Lots of the electronics contain non-biodegradable material, heavy materials, even toxic materials that leak into the ground. Then can contaminate the water we drink, the plants we eat and can affect the animals in the area. These materials can cause nausea

(naw zee uh), vomiting and even cancer.

Most e-wastes go to landfill but 25.8% Recycling, 8.9% Composting, 12.8% Combustion With Energy Recovery 52.5% goes to landfill.

Conclusion:

Is technology evolving faster than society can handle?

Thirty years ago people barely knew what a computer was, now we use technology every day for research ,work, spreadsheets and much more. In the past 10 years technology has brought us countless life-changing modifications.

THE DARK SIDE OF THE INTERNET- Written by Charlie Schalk

Can you imagine life without the internet? The internet was started in the 1960’s in the United States of America and has developed greatly over the years across the world, being used by almost everyone for everyday things, like internet games, internet banking, emails and social media. But can you imagine if the wrong person hacked your information!

Your banking

What would happen if the wrong person got access to your banking? A lot of people use internet banking now instead of walking into a bank and seeing the person across the counter. But it comes with big risks! Your money can be transferred to someone else using internet banking before you even realise! Isn’t that scary!

What about internet games? We all love to play games on the internet but do we really know who we are playing against? They might be other children or they might be adults wanting your personal information like where you live or what’s your full name, what school you go too and what sports you play! A lot of innocent children get hacked online everyday and it isn’t always by other children. Sometimes its ADULTS!

But one of the worst things about the internet is using social media in the wrong way!

Everyone loves to see what people are doing on things like facebook, or talk to each other on things like messenger, but these types of social media are also being used in the worst way…CYBER BULLYING.

So what is cyber bullying? Cyber bullying is when someone uses the internet to be mean to another person to make them feel bad or upset.

For example: People might send hurtful messages Share embarrassing photos or spread nasty stories about another person. Did you know that 44 people out of every 100 people have reported cyberbullying this year in Australia?

So, is it ok to have friends on Facebook? Is it ok to talk to your mates on Messenger? Is it fun to play online Games with other kids? Yes! Its fine to do all these things, but make sure your parents know what you are doing! You must be aware that you don’t really know who is on the other end that you are talking too sometimes!

What if your facebook account gets hacked! What if someone copies one of your photos you put on facebook and they change that photo and make you look completely different?

Remember once you are online, you are on the World Wide Web… and you don’t really know who can see your information.

It is very easy for people to bully other kids online. Standing face to face with someone is a lot harder than hiding behind a nasty message sent online!

Sadly, these sorts of things are happening every day and it becomes very upsetting for the person getting bullied.

If someone ever sends you a message or something bad happens to you on the internet, you always have your family, friends and teachers that will help you report it.

Firstly, you must SPEAK UP if this is happening to you or someone you know. Kids Helpline, Lifeline, and Beyond Blue, are a few websites that provide help to stop cyberbullying.

So as great as the internet is, and how much our lives rely around using the internet in our modern world, we must always be careful what we share.

Thank you

MaST Project