Andrew Watt – Principal

Important considerations for students on social media

As our students are commencing their engagement with social media at an increasingly early age, parents can no longer sit on the sidelines as spectators. An understanding of the potential pitfalls and risks associated with teenage social media use will be of great value to our families. It is hoped that this article will provide you with some simple but wise guidelines.

Social media can be a fun way for young people to connect, create and communicate but it also comes with heavy risk. Most students know that having a public Instagram, TikTok or Facebook account is unsafe. Publicising their hobbies, geo-tagging their location, or broadcasting where they go to School puts students and their peers in immediate danger. Students are much safer keeping their accounts private and vetting their followers or friends to ensure only the people they trust can follow them. Still, it’s a very good idea to remind them that even if their profile is private, their peers aren’t necessarily the only ones who can access their information. In fact, having a private account can lull people into a false sense of security in thinking it’s ok to share personal information. Pictures can easily be copied and shared with thousands of others at the click of a button. They can even be altered or distorted and leaked to the public. Students with private accounts can unknowingly share their personal information with people who aren’t who they say they are, or at the very least, companies who want to sell them things. 

Here are some questions your child should be asking before sharing anything on social media: 

• Could someone know where to find me or one of my friends using the details in this post? 
• Am I about to post information about one of my friends, without asking them for permission?
• Could this post cause offence to someone in my peer group, community or family? 
• Could I be embarrassed or ashamed about having shared this post later in life? 

Answering yes to any question is a sign that they should urgently rethink the decision to hit ‘share’. Remember: the internet never forgets. Once we upload a picture, video or post, we can’t un-upload it. Even if we delete it, it still sits on some server somewhere, indefinitely, and could resurface years later. We don’t own our content – Google or TikTok does – which is why social media, whether ‘public’ or ‘private’, is never totally secure.

Lexi Bader Cup

A quiet and dignified commemoration and candle lighting service was held for our Year 9 and Year 11 students on Monday, marking a year in the lunar calendar since Lexi’s passing. In addition to the commemorative site where an olive tree was planted, with a plaque, in Lexi’s memory, and the Lexi Bader Mensch Award at our annual prize giving event, the annual Lexi Bader Cup competition has commenced.

Over the last few weeks the first rounds of the inaugural Lexi Bader Interhouse Futsal Cup has been run by the Sport Va’ad. The atmosphere has been incredible, and the participation has been truly amazing, with teams from every Tutor group competing. Each Stage group has now had the opportunity to compete and in coming weeks the finals will be held. 

Project Heritage – a collaborative learning history project 

Despite the need to communicate with our nine ‘living historians’ via Zoom, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the adjustments to this Term 3 project did not impact the uniqueness and high quality of the program. As was evidenced in the ‘live’ group presentation and celebration event held last Friday, the students engaged deeply with each individual life story. One of the features of this year’s program was the Project Heritage website; a virtual exhibition space, featuring curated samples of student work produced for Project Heritage. Each group entered a rich assortment of work under the key areas: Theatre, Writing Lab, Art Gallery and Biography. Many thanks and congratulations to Tany Milner, Adam Carpenter, the mentors of each group and the Year 6 teachers.

History Debating – through to the State finals! 

Both our Year 12 and Year 9 History Debating teams have progressed to the finals of the Prestigious J.A Thompson State History Debating competition. The Year 12 team defeated St Patricks, Kings, and SCEGGS Darlinghurst, to earn their place. Our Year 9 team competed in the Year 10 competition, defeating both James Ruse and Ryde Secondary College on the way to the finals. Mazal tov and good luck to Jesse Koslowski, Romi Lapidge, Max Kidman and Tara Linker as well as to our Year 9 team, consisting of Mayan Granot, Alix Cane, Jake Newland, Daniel Solomon and Ariel Melamed,

Staff farewell for Michael Bartels within COVID restrictions 

Recently a small group of staff (with up to 10 allowed to book a venue during COVID restrictions) joined with Michael and his wife Sharon to say farewell and good luck. Maxine Chopard, the School’s past Assistant to the Deputy Principal, prepared a speech on behalf of staff:

Lollipop men are an institution. Every parent can send their child off to school knowing that the lollipop man will ensure they are crossed safely. Emanuel was no exception. What was exceptional was WHO our lollipop man was. Who was Michael to Emanuel?

• Michael was the man who ALWAYS greeted everyone
• Michael was the man who knew each child by name and sometimes even their dogs
• Michael was the man who knew which parents were breaking the parking and drop off rules and promptly ‘dobbed them in’
• Michael was the man who sang on stage
• Michael was the man who attended assemblies to celebrate the students and often clapped the loudest
• Michael was the man who married and told the world Emanuel was his family
• Michael was the man who the staff and students knew as he has shown to be someone who could do anything to reach their potential as a human being.

Emanuel says thank you to Michael for being such an inspiration to many of us. As you have moved on and started a new life at another crossing, we know another school, group of parents and students, will gain from your friendly caring and humourous style of being ‘The Lollipop Man’.

Mazal tov

Alexander Kirievsky, Year 8 has been selected for the Basketball NSW State Performance Program (SPP), a talent identification program which is a select program for the best athletes in NSW ranging from 13 to 17 years old. It is very rare to be picked at Alex’s age and he would be one of about three to five 13 year olds picked in the entire State.

Quote of the week 

“Nothing can be truly great which is not right.”
By Samuel Johnson