Junior School Update

It has been a busy term in the Junior School, as we wind down from the year that’s been and prepare for, hopefully, some more predictability and stability in the year ahead. Along with welcoming students back to face-to-face learning, the Junior students have been participating in a number of different initiatives. 

In Year 9, we had some students volunteer to take part in the Diverge Program run by The Reach Foundation where they were able to speak with industry leaders to explore their passions and start planning for their career pathways. Our students also volunteered to participate in The Global Advocacy Youth Forums where they worked with online with students from other schools to explore issues around Wellbeing and Globalising Our Schools.  

In Year 8, our Class Captains were finally able to host regular meetings to discuss the positive impacts they can make at school. They considered ways of promoting environmental awareness amongst their peers and focused on ways they could show gratitude to their teachers after a challenging year. Through English classes, students also prepared presentations about issues important to them, which they delivered to their peers. 

Our Year 7 students engaged in Peer Support with their Year 10 Mentors to explore positive relationships and the impact of negative labelling. Students participated actively in the session and were able to take this learning into their interactions around the school. 

We were also fortunate to be able to finish the school year with a trip to Gumbuya World with all of our Junior School Students. It was a fantastic day out and was great to see our students celebrating the end of a challenging year with their peers and teachers.  

Finally, congratulations to all of our students who received awards for their consistent efforts throughout the year. We wish everyone in our community a safe and happy break, and we are looking forward to seeing you all back next year well rested and ready to go! 

- Ryan McGlade, Emily Wilkinson and the Junior team

Student Persuasive Speech

Imagine every student at this school on the oval at the same time. Now imagine over six hundred of them. That is how many people commit suicide a year. Suicide is the second-most leading cause of death for individuals aged ten to thirty-four and, believe it or not, social media is a very big part of that. 

When you pick up your phone, what is the first thing you check? I guess most people probably open up a snap from their friend or check a text they’ve received on Instagram, but do you ever think about how much time you’re really spending on socials? Hours of time wasted online could be used to do something productive that makes you happy instead. Receiving rude and upsetting comments behind a screen may not seem like a big deal, but it can actually lead to self-harm, depression and suicide. Ninety percent of suicides are caused by bad mental health and what social media does to young kids. So why are you still using it? 

Everyone knows that the most famous influencers are typically skinny with a small waist, or abs and huge muscles. How often do you see an overweight girl getting millions of likes with the comments, ‘gorgeous’ and ‘beautiful’ or an extremely skinny guy with not a lot of muscle getting told, ‘they have the perfect body’? This is because social media likes to promote people with unrealistic body types making you think you have to look like that to be found attractive.  

Forty-two percent of people on Instagram get cyber bullied. Not just in private DMs, but also from comments left about how they look. Being a teenager means your body is still changing and growing; and to love yourself is hard enough on its own, but not being comfortable with how you look because you aren’t as pretty as Addison Rae or as skinny as Charli D’Amelio isn’t ok.  

Anorexia has the highest fatality rate of any mental illness and four percent of people with this eating disorder die from it. Are you still convinced social media helps young kids? 

Picture this, you’ve just come back to school from summer holidays and haven’t seen your friends in weeks. You go to have a conversation and it’s super awkward. You’ve been so used to texting them online that when you see them face to face you don’t know what to say. Social media has a massive impact on your social skills and this isn’t just an issue now, it can affect you in the future, such as trying to get a job or make a good first impression on someone - not to mention social media causes much unwanted and seriously damaging drama. Anything you say can be screenshotted and now that person has proof of what you’ve said, therefore, once something is out there, there’s no deleting it, un-sending a text or deleting a post won’t do much when it’s already in someone else’s hands.  

Don’t get me wrong, I myself am a huge social media user and spend multiple hours a day on it, but I decided I wasn’t happy with the outcome. So instead of picking up my phone just to see skinny girls fill up my fyp (for you page) I went on a run instead and I’m so glad I did. I know for a fact giving up social media won’t be easy but I think you all should give it a go.  

 - Katya Lambert Niran, 8C