SCHOOL LEADERSHIP'S MESSAGE

Leadership Message

At our assembly on 27th February, we welcomed our new Year 7 students with their ‘wings’, presented to them by ex-students. The school song was played and our new school captains did a wonderful job of running their first whole school assembly. I would especially like to thank those parents that attended.

At the assembly, I also talked about two very important things: Respectful Relationships and STYMIE.

Respectful Relationships

The Royal Commission into Family Violence identified the critical role that schools and early childhood education have in creating a culture of respect to change the story of family violence for future generations.

In 2016, respectful relationships education became a core component of the Victorian Curriculum from foundation to year 12, and is being taught in all government and Catholic schools and many independent schools.

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.

More information is available at:

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/Pages/respectfulrelationships.aspx

STYMIE

Stymie provides an online forum for students to anonymously report family violence, bullying, cyber-bullying, depression, illegal activity, harassment, self-harm, and harm to their communities.

This app was created by an Australian educator, Rachel Downie and is currently being used in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Arab Emirates. It allows anyone to anonymously report via the website concerns of harm. It allows friends to let an adult know when they are worried about a friend.

Korumburra SC, Mirboo North Secondary, and Trafalgar High School are all implementing this system this year. KSC have been incredibly lucky in that the Koringal Womens Service Club has offered to pay for this program. All students will receive education from Stymie about how to use the app. Stymie also focuses heavily on teaching empathy to young people. As a community, we want to create an environment where young people can flourish. We know that sometimes things go wrong and young people need support. Stymie provides another avenue for young people to support each other in getting help.

More information is available at:

https://about.stymie.com.au/for-parents/

Obviously this tool does not supersede a parent’s responsibilities and/or adults’ responsibility to report harm towards any child 16 or younger.

Principals

Principal - Vaya Dauphin

Assistant Principal  -  John Wilson