The wonders of technology ....... and its perils!

Students who plagiarise cheat themselves, because it deprives them of the chance to grow intellectually. Copying others' work, or helping peers do likewise, makes it less likely that you'll develop communications and critical thinking skills that are essential in learning. There has been a rise in the number of students who submit work that is not their own – either copied from friends or taken directly from websites without acknowledging the author. This is referred to as plagiarism. 

Passing off another's work as your own is not only poor practice, but also means that you have failed to complete the learning process. Plagiarism is unethical and can also have serious consequences for a student’s future career. Students in VCE who plagiarise work risk receiving a zero result or failing the unit, which may have a significant effect on their final result. At University, students who plagiarise, risk expulsion and are often excluded from being accepted into important institutions such as the Law Institute (for lawyers) and Medical Board (doctors). 

As the use of technology continues to advance, students are presented with new and innovative ways to learn and research. The emergence of ChatGPT AI can be an incredibly useful resource for students. It has also become a tool for plagiarism. ChatGPT is a powerful language model that can generate high-quality text in response to a given prompt. This means that a student can input a question or topic and receive a well-written response that they can then use in their own work. While this may seem like a useful tool for research, it can easily lead to plagiarism and have an impact on learning.

For example, a student may use ChatGPT to generate an essay on a specific topic. They may then take that essay and submit it as their own work without properly citing the source. This is plagiarism, as they have taken someone else's work and presented it as their own. While it may be tempting to use ChatGPT in this way, it is important for students to understand the consequences of plagiarism and the importance of academic integrity. Students who rely solely on ChatGPT for their research may inadvertently use incorrect information in their work, which can lead to poor grades and even more importantly, a lack of understanding of the topic.

This has created significant issues for schools and other educational issues. It is important for educators to educate our students on the importance of academic integrity and the consequences of plagiarism. Technology is constantly being upgraded and there is now a tool available to help teachers identify if a piece of work has been created by AI, rather than the student. A lot of assessment tasks can now only be completed during class time, allowing for the teacher to see the authenticity of the work. Besides information sessions on plagiarism, we have lots of wellbeing and study sessions occurring this term. This includes Elephant Ed for Years 7 to 9, Courage to Care, Careers Toolbox, Goal Setting and much more. Our College is committed to ensuring students at all year levels are equipped with the academic and wellbeing skills to support them to be successful and People of Good Character once they reach University and the workplace.

OPEN NIGHT

On Thursday April 27th, our College hosted our annual Open Night at the Bluff Road campus. This is always a very important night for the College, where we have the opportunity to connect with our wider community, especially Primary School parents who are looking to select a secondary school for their child, and to display the wonderful work achieved inside Sandringham College.  Even though it is held at the Bluff Road Campus, the night is designed to showcase all year levels from 7 to 12. This year we had another record number of visitors attend, with nearly 1350 people coming through the campus over the two sessions. Thank you to all of our amazing students who helped out on the night, performing such roles as tour leaders, musicians, dancers, artists, demonstrators in differing domains and attendants. Thanks also to our amazing staff who helped out in many capacities and are a true testament of the wonderful work that occurs at our college. I received an incredible amount of positive feedback from many of our guests regarding how fantastic our kids and staff were and how impressed they were by the night. Thank you again to all concerned.

WORKING BEE

Thank you to all of the parents who assisted by attending the working bee at Bluff Road campus on Sunday 23rd April. The campus was buzzing with many families there helping us with jobs such as gardening, mulching, painting and cleaning. The campus looked amazing by the end of the day, which was fantastic for our Open Night. We are so grateful to everyone who attended and to have such a supportive College community.

ANZAC RESPECT ASSEMBLY 

• Bluff Road Campus had a fantastic Anzac Day assembly on Wednesday April 26th. This was led by Student Leaders Thomas Winterburn and Pip Asome who delivered moving stories and poems and Anishka Subhawickrama who read the ODE of the Fallen and managed the minutes silence and Last Post. Thankyou also to year 7 student Charlotte Cowen who delivered an exceptional Acknowledgment of Country. We also had the privilege of four of our students who are Airforce Cadets, participating in the assembly and demonstrating some of the drill skills required of them as cadets. Thank you to cadets Archie Mackay, Ethan Sargeson, Ettore Michielli and Daniel Dzuira who also participated in ANZAC ceremonies in the local community. Well done to all concerned. 

Term two is quite a short term, where we commence Semester Two on June 13th (the day after the Kings Birthday holiday) which is only approximately four weeks from now. We would like to encourage all students to maximise the opportunity to attend Homework Centre on a Wednesday after school to receive extra learning support and ensure they are successful in their Assessment Tasks. 

Redemption Centre will commence again on May 17th where students who have not been successful in an ALT will be given the opportunity to resit the task in a supported environment to experience success. 

Congratulations to Campus Captain Pip Asome who has been performing at Theatre Works in a play called Bayou Bart. Pip has been playing the part of Henri over 10 days in May and received the following review:

“Pippa Asome is amazing as Henri – the talent of this young actress will ensure that we will see her on stage and on screen for many years to come.” Subculture Media review.

Well done, Pip! 

If any other of our young people participate in or achieve success outside of school and you would like to share this with us, please don’t hesitate in sending this to me via email. We love to hear what’s going on with our students outside of school hours too! 

As the weather gets colder, please remember that the uniform outer garments for warmth are the school jumper and blazer. Students may also wear a plain navy blue or black raincoat on wet weather days. Tights can most certainly be worn with the winter skirt. For any queries regarding uniform, please refer to your Year Level Leader.

Have a great term. 

Vivienne McElwee

Campus Principal