Assistant Principals
From Mrs Stathatos
Progress reports
Progress reports have been available to parents since last week and these reflect the behaviours the students are exhibiting in their subjects at this stage of the year.
As Parent Teacher Student Conferences have been cancelled, please contact your child’s classroom teacher who should be able to respond to any concerns you may have within a reasonable time frame.
House co-ordinators can also be contacted any time should you require to discuss your child’s progress.
Events
There is no doubt there has been disappointment over the cancellation of many events, particularly those that have been planned for many months like the language tour to France and the Odyssey tour. In these unprecedented times local events have also been postponed and or cancelled to meet the Departmental guidelines following the Australian government recommendations during this COVID 19 pandemic. We commend and thank the Year 9 students, families and teachers who were dealt a sudden blow with the cancellation of the Year 9 camp to Phillip Island. The students in particular have taken the decision in their stride, while the students I spoke to in the school ground could articulate intelligently the reasons for the decision. The office staff is working closely with families to process the events that are no longer proceeding. The postponement of upcoming events will be relayed to families in due course.
At this time, a lot of focus has been paid to online or remote learning. The college is preparing for any possibility that may arise following changing circumstances and advice, while clarity about the online platform has been at the forefront of teachers’ efforts should there be a call to move to remote learning. Staff professional learning and student information has concentrated around the preparedness to continue learning whether on or off site. Of course, students and parents should enjoy the upcoming break from school routines and spend time engaged in activities that make them comfortable and happy these holidays.
Eleni Stathatos
Assistant Principal
From Mrs Allison
Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love- Lao Tzu
Adversity does not discriminate and as we have sensed in these unsettling times our fortitude and ability to focus on positives have been truly tested. We need to muster our strength, continue to build our resilience and increase support for each other in order to move forward.
I challenge everyone to employ a ‘pay it forward’ approach. A random act of kindness is a non-premeditated, inconsistent action designed to offer kindness towards the outside world
Hold open a door, offer assistance, help someone trying to get a stroller down the steps or take any random acts of kindness. Every small interaction with someone is an opportunity to have a positive impact on both of your lives. When you look, you'll find opportunities to perform random acts of kindness.
Another great challenge is to take a photo each day of a positive experience and create a visual journal. You can annotate the images with your thoughts at that point in time.
Deakin Intern
As part of this school’s ongoing commitment to the induction and development of new teachers, we are pleased to welcome Heidi Krincevski to the school. Heidi is completing her Master of Teaching at Deakin University and has completed all theoretical and professional experience requirements to become a provisionally registered teacher with the Victorian Institute of Teaching, and has chosen to commence her teaching career as an Intern.
Heidi will be working under the general supervision and expert guidance of Clare Rafferty and Jennifer Collier who will act as her mentor/s, advising and assisting Heidi to plan, prepare and take on the responsibilities of a teacher in the school over a period of 10 weeks. We hope you will make her feel welcome!
Wellbeing Profiler Survey
Ringwood Secondary College have recently participated in The University of Melbourne’s Wellbeing Profiler survey, in conjunction with Maroondah City Council Youth Services. The survey data we have received in the past was incredibly insightful and have been used to develop future interventions in our school through our ‘Bounce’ classes and House level assemblies, addressing a range of important issues. This year we were offered the opportunity to re survey our students, an opportunity we enthusiastically accepted. The reason we are surveying our students is so that we can measure change in our students over time, as well as to identify areas for improvement and areas of strength.
The Wellbeing Profiler survey has been completed online in class by each participating student. These reports will provide data that can be used to provide knowledge for redefinition of our ‘Bounce’ program and also to develop customised wellbeing programs. Please note: that individual student’s data is de-identified (no student’s individual responses are identifiable). The collated data will be later compiled into a comprehensive report outlining each year level’s results within six domains of Wellbeing:
Psychological Well-being: Young people’s beliefs and attitudes about their own value, their outlook on life, and their engagement with life.
Cognitive Well-being: Young people’s perception of their quality of life, competence and accomplishments and their capacity to be mindful in the present moment.
Emotional Well-being and Strengths: Young people’s perceived ability to manage their emotions and their ability to use their strengths in their daily lives.
Social Well-being: Young people’s perceived quality of relationships with their parents, teachers, peers and community. This domain also taps into the presence of bullying, loneliness and pro-social behaviours.
Physical Well-being: Young people’s perception of their general physical health, their physical appearance and their quality of sleep.
Economic Well-being: Young people’s perception of economic stability in their home environment.
Technology and Cyber Bullying
The importance of adopting safe practices for young people and technology is essential practice. Most phones and laptops have cameras and video capabilities, and parents need to closely monitor the use of technology by their children. It is not uncommon for students to be texting and phoning each other well into the night, a practice that inadvertently disturbs their sleep patterns.
Be safe from online bullies
- Do not share your private information like passwords, name and address, phone numbers with people, you don’t know. This can also include sharing of photos of yourself, your friends and your family
- Don’t respond to messages when you are angry or hurt; to strangers or to people you know. This will often encourage them to continue or increase their harassment of you
- Log out and stop messaging if you feel you are being harassed
- Remember you have the option to block, delete and report anyone who is harassing you online and on your mobile
- Find out how to report bullying and harassment on each of the different social networks that you use
- Keep a record of calls, messages, posts and emails that may be hurtful or harmful to you
- Remember to set up the privacy options on your social networking sites like Facebook in a way you are comfortable
http://au.reachout.com/cyberbullying
http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/teens/how%20do%20i%20deal%20with/cyberbullying.aspx
Stay safe and thank you for your ongoing support.
Mrs Maria Allison
Assistant Principal