Model UN Conference: Empowering Women & Girls

YEAR 10 DELEGATES - Friday September 7 at CHS

A Model UN Conference runs over the full school day and is a creative simulation of the United Nations General Assembly in which students represent Member States of the UN through role play and debate. In teams of three or four, students step into the shoes of country ambassadors and draw on negotiation and diplomacy skills to ensure their views are heard. Students interact with other delegates from other schools during the caucus sessions, presenting their country’s position to the General Assembly and move amendments to a Draft UN Resolution and its specific recommendations. The Model UN Conference is an opportunity for students to learn about international relations, the UN system and global issues, in a fun, dynamic environment, while developing negotiation and public speaking skills. It is also a great opportunity to make like-minded friends who are globally minded from other schools.

CHS is hosting a model United Nations in collaboration with the United Nations Association of Australia (Victorian Division)! The important topic of Achieving Gender Equality: Empowering Women and Girls.

We are able to have four teams. Please register you interest using the form below. 16 students can participate, with additional students to support in the preparation.

https://goo.gl/forms/V86t7jYzz7M87jRu2

Enquiries to Chloe Tayler

chloe.tayler@coburg.vic.edu.au

"We were given the chance to represent The Syrian Arab Republic on the topic of achieving gender equality by empowering women and girls. Leading up to the day we prepared a position statement, addressing the other countries about our research to allow a deeper insight into the current political and social situations to better inform them on the modifications we proposed to make. During the caucus, each country was given a chance to debate, discuss and support proposed changes to the amendments. The moderated caucus allowed countries to raise their placards and question changes or state their opinion, whereas during the unmoderated caucus we went around to other countries to find potential supporters. At the end of the afternoon we voted on the final resolution and came to the collective decision of creating a new clause to establish funding for programs and resources for women's health."

-Azalea and Hannah, Year 12 students remembering last year's Model UN

Happy Eid Mubarak

With the recent celebration of Eid, Ramadan 2018 is now officially over. This year we celebrated our first ever Iftar at school and with over 100 people attending, it proved to be a fantastic display of both diversity and community. Families of both a Muslim and non-Muslim background were present and many of us learned a great deal from the experience - as well as sampling cuisines from all corners of the globe. Thank you to the families who participated; any opportunity to have our school community meet is a great opportunity and this proved to be a very special event for many. Families (especially those who missed out this year!) have been enquiring about a similar event for next year, which will certainly be offered.

Another thank you goes to our Muslim students who fasted throughout Ramadan and still maintained a focus on their studies. Your maturity and ability to remain on task is greatly admired. The support of one another in using the prayer space and working with staff to accommodate any other issues was similarly appreciated. Well Done on your community approach!

Bike Club

A big thank you to everyone who has supported the inaugural Bike Club at Coburg HS! Stewart, Sally and Geoff have been indispensable with their vision and efforts to get the project up to speed. We want to especially thank our generous community who donated over 15 bikes in the the Autumn Donation Drive last April and of course our students who are putting in 110% effort in maintaining the fleet and welcoming each other. We have over thirty members who meet every Thursday at Lunch to fix bikes, practice some technical riding skills and get to know each other. Not all members are pictured here, noticeably absent are our female members. We strongly encourage more Coburg girls to join the club and take the opportunity to work closely with the Mietta Robertson, who is our resident triathlete!

We have been successful on obtaining a $2,000 grant from Vic Teach Mutual Bank (Bank First) to help us with the final development of the tool shop.

Year 9 Humanities

Yr 9 Humanities students have been working on developing different kinds of tasks for an investigation into Australian colonial history. From reading about violence on the frontier, placing themselves at the opening of Port Arthur, to imagining what governments were thinking when they advocated for the White Australia Policy. A few samples of work are included here:

Year 7HG Bike Club

Year 7 Humanities

A couple of Year 7 Humanities Classes found themselves experiencing history through art and calligraphy this term. Students from 7H and 7B all had an engaging and amusing time as they experimented with Chinese calligraphy as a part of their Ancient China studies. Students were given Chinese clan names. 7H were the Ming Clan and 7B were the Tang Clan. Then students decided their own Chinese names. With repetition, focus and concentration, students worked hard to practice and perfect writing their Chinese names using calligraphy. Their efforts are on display around the school now.

Hurting Game

On Thursday June 7th, all year 7 students viewed an interactive performance from Brainstorm Productions called the ‘Hurting Game’. The live performance addressed issues such as bullying, harassment, body image, peer pressure, self-esteem, cyber-footprint and positive relationships.

After seeing the Hurting Game we think we should all stop and think about what’s driving us to do the things we do, especially if it’s damaging or unhealthy. Remember that nobody is perfect and everyone deserves to feel safe and happy.

We all need help sometimes. Please speak up and someone here at school will help you. From Home group 7E.

Student comments:

“You’re not alone. If you feel like you need help, tell somebody”. Lilli

“It shouldn't be our reality, make better choices”. Polly

“Things that are posted online, stay forever”. Maggie

“When you are bullied it can have a long lasting negative effects”. Lucy

“The differences in people don’t make them different from us”. Michael

“It was entertaining because it made it relatable to us kids by using games and what we like doing". William

“It prepares you for the journey ahead making you realise what can happen and teaches you how to avoid it”. Dante

"You have to be the bigger person and don’t repeat the actions put against you”. Marcella

“The performance makes you realise that you are perfect just the way you are”. Mai

“Don’t let anyone change you with bullying”. Kieffer

Year 9 Optus Digital Thumbprint

We recently welcomed Optus’ free digital education program, Digital Thumbprint to deliver their workshops to our Year 9 students. Delivered in class to students by a facilitator, the program is fun and engaging with interactive workshops tailored to the needs of specific year groups. Designed to empower and inform Australia’s young digital natives, the workshops taught students the advantages of having a positive online presence and armed them with the vital information they need to stay safe online.

Our school has proudly joined Optus’ Digital Thumbprint program in its commitment to ensuring our students are savvy, responsible and proactive members of Australia’s online community.

Overall, the program proved to be a highly beneficial experience for students and was thoroughly enjoyed by all. For more information on the program and each of the workshops we encourage everyone to visit: www.digitalthumbprint.com.au/

There is also a range a free resources, from Optus and its partners, for parents and care-givers that support people to have effective conversations around what young people should and shouldn’t share online, cyber-bullying, and how digital technology can support effective study practices.

Visit:

www.digitalthumbprint.com.au/parent-resources

Young Men's Leadership Group

This term, the Young Men's Leadership Group (YMLG) has been meeting weekly to develop leadership skills and promote gender equality. The group is co-ordinated by youth workers from the Youth Support and Advisory Service (YSAS) and has been funded through School Focussed Youth Services.

Participants were selected on the basis of the potential they had to be leaders amongst their peers and to be positive role models.

The group has covered a wide range of topics during the program including;

Leadership
Developing empathy and social and emotional awareness
Challenging negative gender stereotyping
Non-violent conflict resolution strategies.
Anger management, emotional regulation and violence prevention
Emotional expression and communication skills
Development of positive peer relationships and friendships.

These topics have been discussed using a range of external presenters. Some of the highlights have included a yoga session and the opportunity to work with a rapper (Motley) to compose a rap song.

The students have grown and developed over the course of the program, and deserve to be commended for the way have responded to a range of difficult issues that have arisen in group discussion. The YSAS team (Bianca, Steve and Candice) who have co-ordinated the program have also been fantastic in the way they have developed strong relationships with the students and lead many thought provoking discussions and activities

Coburg's Got Talent!

Friday saw the first Coburg’s Got Talent with a mixture of staff and students performing organised by the House Captains. This event highlighted just how awesome we are at CHS! We had 14 entries including Mexican dancing, whip cracking, singing, karaoke and the fabulous teacher student rock band! The most impressive aspect of this event is just how fantastic we all are at CHS in supporting each other – it was such a joy to see the enthusiastic cheers of encouragement for each performer! It’s not an easy task to perform in front of 200 students but every performer did a brilliant job! The results will be posted on compass early this week. Many thanks to all those involved including the house captains, judges, Anna B and the Year 10 music performance group for their amazing setting up of music equipment, Luke H and the year 10 production class for their outstanding work in packing up the event, Angus t and Reuel for light and sound and finally to our resident “Simon Cowell” Chris Bray who readily took to the role ;)

The School Captains also held a super bake sale and sold everything, entrance to the performances was by gold coin donation. Currently our funds raised stand at $300 these will be donated to the make a wish foundation.

We thank the house captains and everybody that came to the event, these donations allow the cherished wishes of children and teenagers battling life-threatening medical conditions to come true. These wishes give seriously ill kids hope for the future, strength to face the challenges of their illness and joy from their incredible wish experience.

Get ready for Coburg’s Got Talent 2019 !!!! :)

SRC Update - Term 2 Fundraising

The SRC has chosen to donate to the Anonymous X organisation that helps support homelessness. We surveyed students about who they would like to support, and the results showed the students wanted to raise money for homelessness and similar charities. Students were given multiple choices of where they wanted their donations to go to and in the final result, homelessness was voted to be the most popular option.

Anonymous X is a charitable organisation based in Port Melbourne. They provide direct assistance for people experiencing homelessness in and around Melbourne.

On the 8th of June, students donated a gold coin in order to come to school in free dress. We added this to the money from our Zoopa Doopa Day fundraiser, making our fundraising total to Anonymous X $823.05. Many students, parents and teachers had also donated a full car load of materials such as blankets, clothes, and sleeping bags.

Because of Coburg High School’s donations, Anonymous X is able to support the homeless for another two months.

It is important to make a difference because as a community, we believe that helping one another is important. At Coburg High, we try our best to assist and help one another. Whether it’s a friend, an ally, a classmate, we help one another. This donation will help change the lives of many of the homeless people on the streets, maybe even save a life.

By Saskia

Year 7 SRC

Medieval Day 2018

Torture, weaponry and medieval dance? Not part of the average school day! As part of their Humanities Curriculum, Year 8s participated in Medieval Day, a series of sessions to celebrate their learning in Medieval History.

Students took part in sessions on Crime & Punishment, Heraldry, Medieval Dance, Weapons & Armour and the Tournament, in which they were trained as squires.

Thank you to all students and staff for getting involved with Medieval History! It's fascinating to see learning in a hands-on way and how far we have come...

Bell Primary School Visits CHS- A collaborative learning approach, kids teaching kids.

Over consecutive days Bell Primary school students from Years Four to Six have been on our campus engaging in a range of Science and Environmental awareness activities facilitated by the CHS Environmental Team. The Bell Primary students participated in a range of student run sessions, one which involved working with dry ice and mixing chemicals. Both schools thoroughly enjoyed the experience which proved to be highly successful and continues to open gateways for further experiences with our feeder Primary Schools. Thank you to our teachers Katherine, Anna, Callum and Kat for helping organise this event, we can’t wait to do it again.

By Zoe, Year 8 CHS Student.

“Thanks for having us – your kids did a great job! Our kids had a ball getting involved in the activities and loved using the canteen. A couple of kids have decided to turn a whole bunch of T-shirts into bags and sell them to earn money for a charity”. Look forward to the next time. Bell Primary, Staff Member.

Debaters Wanted!

Coburg High School is excited to participate in the Debaters Association of Victoria's Junior Secondary Program. This is an introduction to debating for students in Years 7 and 8, who require no prior experience of debating. This program is free for Coburg High School students who participate.

This program supports students in developing the skills of articulating their thoughts, quick reasoning and conflict resolution through the structure of a formal debate. The Junior Secondary Program is designed to provide training in the basic skills and structure of debating whilst also giving students an opportunity to participate in friendly inter-school debates.

The program runs over four evenings in regions throughout Victoria. The training component includes introductory training, skill workshops, a demonstration debate, rebuttal seminars and an extended adjudication.

Students would be expected to attend our regular debating meetings Tuesday lunchtimes to prepare during Term 3.

Where: Brunswick Secondary College

47 Dawson St Brunswick 3056

Dates

Training night: Thursday August 16th, 2018

Round 1: Thursday August 23rd, 2018

Round 2: Thursday August 30th, 2018

Round 3: Thursday September 13th, 2018

Time : TBC either 6PM or 6:45 PM

Students will need to be dropped off and collected promptly from the venue. They will be supervised at the event by DAV staff. As we have a limited number of teams participating from Coburg High School, places are limited. If students cannot attend every evening that is fine, but we do require that students attend at least two of the evenings. This is an opt-in program, and students will be required to prepare for debates as a team.

Please consider whether this amazing opportunity would be suitable for you.

How to register?

Students simply need to regularly attend debating meetings, and a Compass Event form will be sent out to those families. Any further questions can be directed to chloe.tayler@coburg.vic.edu.au

Community

Therapist-assisted Online Strategies Program (TOPS)