Safer Internet Day:  Tuesday 5 February

The theme this year is Together for a better internet. In assembly, our students were encouraged to create a better internet by developing four critical skills:

• Respect – I treat myself and others the way I like to be treated;
• Responsibility – I am accountable for my actions and I take a stand whenever I feel something is wrong;
• Resilience – I get back up from tough situations; and
• Reasoning – I question what is real.

Our focus however, was on the fourth ‘R’ – Reasoning – as we need to be able to identify what fake news can look like and understand why it is so important not to believe and share everything we see or read. Being able to critically analyse news articles, and discern the truth is an important life skill. We talked about “thinking before you share” a news article, whether it be via Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter or Facebook, asking yourself if the post is accurate or helpful?

In practical terms, our students were encouraged not to post unless they have checked:

• The source: look at the author, the URL, or whether other sources have published the same story;
• The image: is it real? A reverse image search on google may tell us if it is an old image;
• Your biases: does the message try to reinforce your views on an issue?
• Your gut: what is your instinct on what you have seen or read?

 Communicating with the School

From time to time parents will need to contact the School, to seek information or to discuss academic, wellbeing or administrative matters. We are committed to maintaining clear and open lines of communication and thus have developed a Guide to direct parents to the appropriate person. The Parent Guide can be accessed through this link

Kindergarten meet the Principal 

I had the joy of hosting our Kindergarten students in my office this week, as they enjoyed an ‘excursion’ of touring key landmarks around the School. After asking who the chocolates in the bowl on my desk were for, did I drive a red Ferrari, and whether I enjoyed watching TV (after seeing the monitor on the wall), the tone become more serious, as they speculated on what a principal actually did during the day. The responses were close to the mark and included:

• “Look after everybody”
• “Make sure that we are all happy and safe”
• “Speak to people who are naughty” and
• “Be the boss”.

I felt confident that I was addressing the future leaders of our community!

Mazal tov

During the summer holidays Alex Placek in Year 11, played a number of tennis tournaments with great results:

In the Under 16 Wollongong Summer Junior Tour (JT) – he was a finalist, in the Victorian JT Grasscourt Championship – he came 8^th, in the Geelong JT – he came 5^th, and in the Margaret Court Cup JT – he was the consolation winner. This event was open to all players regardless of age, where he beat some players aged 28 and 31 years.

Alex has been selected to represent Australia in tennis in the upcoming Maccabi Pan AMS Tournament in Mexico in July 2019.

He is currently ranked in the top 25 in NSW in the Under 16s.

Quote of the week

“Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one’s self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily.”
Thomas Szasz