Principal's Report
Dr Michael Carr-Gregg presentations – Year 7 and Year 12 Parents
Dr Carr-Gregg has sent a link to the presentations he did for Year 7 parents at the end of Grade 6 last year, and for Year 12 parents at the Orientation Night at Deakin University. Sorry it has taken so long, but the presentations are so big they couldn’t get through the school’s email system. They are now available for you to download from the link below. The Year 12 one is called “prezi’ and the Year 7 one is “Transition”.
Please download sooner rather than later, as I don’t know how long this link will work.
Year 7 Family Night 2016
We had a terrific evening on Tuesday with many Year 7 families attending the annual Family Night. It was great weather and we had a really interesting presentation from Ms Katerina Katz, our Leader of Student Wellbeing on “Promoting Pro Social Behaviour’. At Wantirna College we aim to deal quickly and definitely with any instances of bullying we find out about. However, we think it is equally important to promote positive behaviour which is a barrier to bullying getting any foothold. We teach the students about “Pro Social Behaviour” and this is the dominant behaviour which is acceptable in the College, and in our society. I have put in the key points from the presentation below, in case you missed it, or want to go over it again.
The presentation was followed by a sausage sizzle skilfully cooked and served by Mr Joe Cameron and the Year 10 Peer Support students. It was very special to have all the Year 7 Home Group teachers and the YLL’s, Mr Darren Hoogkamer and Mrs Courtney Fraraccio, present to meet with parents in a relaxed social setting. After eating, parents and students were lead through some activities to promote discussion on the topic by the teachers. The Peer Support students with Mrs Dina Mingos and Ms Kate Chamberlain entertained the younger children in the Library to free up parents to be with their Year 7 child for the important discussions.
A very sincere thanks to all the parents who were able to attend – it means a lot for your child to see you engaged with their school. Your feedback was so positive about your enjoyment of the night that we will offer it again next year.
The feedback from the teachers was they loved meeting you in that relaxed atmosphere and hope you will find it easier to meet with them at Parent Teacher interviews in the last week of term. Speical thank you to all the teachers who gave up their family time to attend, and to the year Level Leaders, Mrs Mingos, Ms Mandy Phillips, and Ms Catherine Ford for their organisation of the event.
What is Pro Social Behaviour?
- Any behaviour that is intended to help or benefit another person, group or society
- What sort of a culture do we want at Wantirna College?
- Respect for self, others, the Community and the environment
- Kindness
- Celebrating success
- Safe and friendly
- Where everyone is connected
Situational factors that influence helping behaviour
- What would you do?? Bystander Effect
- The tendency for individuals to be less likely to help another person in need when other bystanders are present, (or believed to be present), as compared to when they are alone
- Why we don’t help
- Diffusion of Responsibility – “it’s not my problem”
- Audience Inhibition – “what will others think of me”
- Cost Benefit Analysis – weighing up the pros and cons
- Social Norms that influence helping
- Reciprocity: We will help others if in the same situation we think they would be likely to help us
- Social responsibility: It’s our duty and society expects it of us
- Personal Factors that influence helping
- Empathy: The more we identify with and understand a person’s feelings or difficulties the more likely we are to help.
- Mood:
- More likely to help if in a good mood
- More likely to help if feeling guilty
- More likely to help in a bad mood if attention is focused on another rather than self
- Competence: Actual or perceived ability to help influences whether we help and the type of help we offer
Included in this presentation were a number of videos which support the concept. Here are links to them if you wish to watch them / or watch again. These are the unedited versions so may be slightly longer than shown.
Kindness Boomerang https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwAYpLVyeFU
The Bullying Experiment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EisZTB4ZQxY
Dateline: How to stop bullying https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWQ1GgOV2Sk
Annual General Meetings of our Parent Groups.
Next week there are two special meetings which you should consider attending. The annual General Meetings of the Parents of Performing Arts Students is on Monday evening (7.30pm in the Music Office), and the Parents Association is on Wednesday (7.30pm in the Admin area). I know we are all busy, but these groups are so worthwhile it would be great if more parents were able to be part of them. Don’t be afraid if you come along that you’ll be elected – just come and be part of the group. Both groups are really friendly and welcoming and have a lot of laughs!
College Council Election Results
Nominations for Council have now closed. I will announce the nominations in the next Newsletter.
Curriculum Day March 7th
Monday March 7th is our second designated student free day for the year. Students are not required to attend school. Teachers will be undertaking professional learning on new techniques for measuring student learning growth.
Sue Bell
Principal
