Respectful Relationships News
Everyone in our community deserves to be respected, valued and treated equally. We know that changes in attitudes and behaviours can be achieved when positive attitudes, behaviours and equality are embedded in our education settings.
Respectful Relationships is about embedding a culture of respect and equality across our entire community, from our classrooms to staffrooms, sporting fields, fetes and social events. This approach leads to positive impacts on student’s academic outcomes, their mental health, classroom behaviour, and relationships between teachers and students.
Together, we can lead the way in saying yes to respect and equality, and creating genuine and lasting change so that every child has the opportunity to achieve their full potential.
The EDSC Respectful Relationships Pledge:
"All members of our school community have a responsibility to stand up against family violence and the misuse of gender power and control. We foster relationships that are respectful, caring and fair."
If you or anyone you know is experiencing domestic violence the following services are available
If you or someone you know is in immediate danger call 000 and ask for the police.
For non-urgent help, please contact:
• 1800RESPECT: The national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service. Phone and online services available 24/7.
• Doncare: (03) 9856 1500
• Eastern Domestic Violence Service (EDVOS): (03) 9259 4200
• Safe Steps Family Violence Response Centre: 1800 015 188
• Thorne Harbour Health support for the LGBTIQA+ community: (03) 9865 6700
• Migrant Information Centre support for people from diverse cultural backgrounds: (03) 9285 4888
• inTouch Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence at (03) 9413 6500
• Men's Referral Service: 1300 766 491
• Eastern Community Legal Centre: 1300 325 200
More resources/agencies can be found on our Wellbeing, Engagement and Positive Futures page of the East Doncaster Secondary College website
https://www.eastdonsc.vic.edu.au/wellbeing-engagement-positive-futures
Respectful Relationships Art Competition – ‘Who am I?’
Respectful Relationships Week is about promoting and modelling respect, positive attitudes and behaviours. It is about inclusivity and supporting students in being who they are and reaching their full potentials. The week helps students in building healthy relationships with others and with themselves.
This Year the RR Student Committee ran an Art Competition and invited students to participate. The prompt for this year was “Who am I? Students submitted art work or a writing piece.
We need your help with deciding the winner of the art and the writing competition!
Scroll through the art and writing pieces and then use the link or QR Code to vote for your favourite piece. 1 Vote per person.
Voting link - https://forms.office.com/r/ezWK9jpUKy
Voting QR Code
Winners and runner ups will receive a well-deserved Prize. There are two categories so make sure you look through them all!
Kate Hesselmans
16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence
The United Nations is marking the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence from 25 November to 10 December 2021, under the global theme set by the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE campaign: “Orange the World: End Violence against Women Now!”
Nearly 1 in 3 women have been abused in their lifetime. In times of crises, the numbers rise, as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic and recent humanitarian crises, conflicts and climate disasters. A new report from UN Women, based on data from 13 countries since the pandemic, shows that 2 in 3 women reported that they or a woman they know experienced some form of violence and are more likely to face food insecurity. Only 1 in 10 women said that victims would go to the police for help.
While pervasive, gender-based violence is not inevitable. It can and must be prevented. Stopping this violence starts with believing survivors, adopting comprehensive and inclusive approaches that tackle the root causes, transform harmful social norms, and empower women and girls. With survivor-centred essential services across policing, justice, health, and social sectors, and sufficient financing for the women’s rights agenda, we can end gender-based violence.
The Generation Equality Forum that concluded in Paris in July set the momentum for decisive actions and investment to advance gender equality. The UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, the only global grant-making mechanism dedicated to ending and preventing all forms of violence against women, has announced a special fundraising challenge, #Give25forUNTF25, marking 25 years of grant-making to support women’s organisations around the world.
For more information about the campaign please go to https://www.respectvictoria.vic.gov.au/16-days-activism-2021
One Girl – Do it in a Dress fundraiser
Before we went into lockdown – so long ago, one of our student leaders, Rhianna, ran a fundraising activity for the organisation One Girl - Do it in a Dress campaign to support girls' education.
How EDSC supported Do it in a Dress!
In the lead up to Respectful Relationships week, we had multiple buckets set up in the middle courtyard with teachers' faces stuck on it who were taking part in the challenge.
Students and staff were invited to bring along their spare change and drop it into the bucket of the teacher they would most like to see in their dress.
The teacher with the most money donated to their bucket by the end of the week had to wear their dress for a day at school.
We raised $155.30 to donate to One Girl with our teachers in the following places:
- Mr Creighton
- Mr Bethune
- Ms Chew
- Ms Squires
- Ms Creelman
- Ms Murray
- Ms Fahey
Mr Creighton was finally able to wear his outfit on Friday 19 November.
Thank you to all the students and staff who supported this event.
Controlling behaviour is a feature of many intimate relationships but too often we ask the question 'why doesn't she leave?' instead of 'why does it happen?'
Join us for an evening with Jess Hill, author of "See what you made me do" to discuss how some relationships are damaging and dangerous and how we can all help change the story.
Date: Thursday 2 December
Time: 7pm-8.15pm
Location online- register here https://an-evening-with-jess-hill.bettercast.io/register
Jess will share her extensive research and take you on a journey to better understand what we now know as "coercive control", what it looks and feels like, and how a relationship can get like that.
About Jess HillJess Hill is an acclaimed and multi-award winning Australian investigative journalist.
Winner of the 2020 Stella Prize for her book "See what you made me do" about domestic abuse in Australia and adapted into a three-part documentary series for SBS.
Body Project Australia – Youth Mental Health Program
Know a young person who is constantly thinking about how they look?
Body dissatisfaction is a common concern for young people.
If you are a young woman (or know someone) aged between 14 – 18 years old and tend to struggle with your body image, this may be the program for you!
Body Project Australia (BPA) is a four-session program aimed at improving body satisfaction and decreasing the risk of eating disorders.
Discussing these concerns can be difficult and the program offers a safe space for you to join like-minded peers to learn about improving your own body satisfaction.
Topics include
- Learning about what appearance-ideal is and the costs of pursuing this ideal
- Exploring ways of building resistance to the pressures to look a certain way
- Discover ways to challenge our personal body-related concerns
- Encouraging a positive outlook about our bodies
Please note: Limited spots are available.
Details:
When: 7, 9, 14 and 16 December 2021
Where: Online via Zoom
Time: 1pm – 3pm
Cost: FREE!
Register: to discuss your interest in the program, please contact Sandra on 0490 130 661 or email sandra.fawcett@each.com.au.
Limited spots are available – bookings are essential.
This program is funded by the City of Whitehorse.
RRRR Book of the Week
Wandering Son by Shimura Takako
The fifth grade. The threshold to puberty, and the beginning of the end of childhood innocence. Shuichi Nitori and his new friend Yoshino Takatsuki have happy homes, loving families, and are well-liked by their classmates. But they share a secret that further complicates a time of life that is awkward for anyone: Shuichi is a boy who wants to be a girl, and Yoshino is a girl who wants to be a boy.
Written and drawn by one of today's most critically acclaimed creators of manga, Shimura portrays Shuishi and Yoshino's very private journey with affection, sensitivity, gentle humor, and unmistakable flair and grace. Book One introduces our two protagonists and the friends and family whose lives intersect with their own. Yoshino is rudely reminded of her sex by immature boys whose budding interest in girls takes clumsily cruel forms. Shuichi's secret is discovered by Saori, a perceptive and eccentric classmate. It is Saori who suggests that the fifth graders put on a production of The Rose of Versailles for the farewell ceremony for the sixth graders, with boys playing the roles of women, and girls playing the roles of men. Wandering Son is a sophisticated work of literary manga translated with rare skill and sensitivity by veteran translator and comics’ scholar Matt Thorn.
Rebecca James
Respectful Relationships Coordinator