Principal’s Message Week 3 Term 3 2022

Guys and Dolls Production

I hope you got to see this year’s school production of Guys and Dolls. To say I am proud of the students and staff would be a massive understatement. I thought the production was fantastic and judging by the responses of the audiences that is no exaggeration. The show was sold-out every night and both matinees. Every aspect of the show was thoroughly professional, from the sound, lighting, costumes and stage props, to the acting and singing of the performers and the seamless efficiency of the backstage crew. While it takes a team of people to produce an event such as this, one person – Tessa Kirk- stands out in terms of her effort, motivation, energy and professional execution of direction and production she brought to the show. Tessa has built wonderful relationships with the students motivating them to go well beyond what they themselves thought they were capable of achieving. I will be very surprised if a few of the students aren’t inspired to go on and pursue theatre studies in later years and possibly even as a career pathway.

My thanks and congratulations to Tessa and all students and staff who contributed to making this year’s show a standout.

Course Counselling for 2023

It’s early in Term 3 however students in years 8, 9, 10 and 11 have been busy doing course counselling interviews this week in preparation for 2023. Pleasingly this year we have been able to conduct the interviews face to face in our school atrium. My thanks to parents and carers for working with us and investing the time to develop an individualised education program for your son/daughter. It is a long and complex process to organise the course counselling of close to 1000 students. The next step will be to make decisions about what subjects will run based on student preferences then create a timetable that reflects these preferences. We could of course more easily create a timetable based upon set blocks so that student choice was limited to those set blocks, but that is not the Geelong High School way. Our approach is to determine student interest and allow this to drive the shape of our program and timetable. The end result, while taking longer, is that the vast majority of students get all or nearly all their first preferences and we have happier, more engaged students doing the subjects that interest them the most. My thanks again, to students and parents/carers for engaging in these important conversations with us, and my sincere thanks to the team of teachers that have facilitated these conversations.

Glenn Davey

Principal

Year 10 Careers Week

The sensational Year 10 students embraced Careers week with zest. Students had the opportunity to explore RMIT, Victoria University, Federation University, Swinburne University, The Gordon and Deakin University to research pathway opportunities and assist with subject selections. Students completed practical activities, tours and workshops. We also had a visit to the State Library. It was brilliant to have the students out in the community and exploring the options available to them.

Science Classes

Students are not allowed to do science practical classes unless their hair is tied up. This is an occupation health and safety rule. Any student with hair at collar length or below must have their hair tied up. Students are offered an elastic band to tie up hair, but they should bring their own hair tie that is more comfortable than an elastic band.

Next Monday we have the first of our Life Changer Mentor sessions where our Year 10 Life Changer mentors are going to be working with our Year 8 cohort in the Life Changer mentoring work shops.

The workshops will happen during normal Year 8 core classes in the usual rooms. The usual year 8 teachers will remain in the room and provide supervision and support for the facilitators. The Life Changer workshops are highly engaging and we anticipate the Year 8's will engage well and really enjoy the sessions.

There will be subsequent sessions throughout the term where our Year 10 mentors will continue to work with our Year 8 cohort with the guidance of the Life Changer facilitators.

Attached are some images of our wonderful Year 10 Life Changer Mentors participating in the mentor training.

Lachlan Envall

Barwon House Leader

GPEP Co-ordinator

A person's fingerprints are formed when they are a tiny developing baby in their mother's womb. Pressure on the fingers from the baby touching, and their surroundings create what are called "friction ridges", the faint lines you see on your fingers and toes.

SPECIAL REPORT: Sextortion - what you need to know

You may not be familiar with the term, but ‘sextortion' is a form of blackmail where someone threatens to share intimate images of you unless you give in to their demands. It has been an issue for more than a decade, with many adults falling victim to this type of online crime. More recently though, it has been reported that there has been a higher rate of adolescent males falling victim, but that is not to say that young females are not also targeted.

Across the globe, organised criminal gangs are using social media, chat apps, instant messaging platforms and online games to target and connect with their victims. Recently, there has been a 400% increase in this type of crime being reported to police in Australia alone with these figures being replicated in most western countries. Any child that uses an online account to connect on social media, chat apps, instant messaging platforms or online games needs to understand the dangers associated with engaging with random people that they don’t know personally. Therefore, it is vitally important for adult carers to be aware of this serious issue and to start having an age appropriate conversation with their young person as early as possible to help protect them from online offenders making demands.

Even though your young person’s online account may be set to private, random people can still message your child. Managing devices can be difficult especially with older teens, but it is important to weigh up the risks and dangers. Sadly, even good kids who never make a poor decision elsewhere in their life, can and do make poor choices online.

This Special Report explains how your young person can fall victim to such a crime and what action to take to support them. We hope you take a moment to reflect on the information offered, and as always, we welcome your feedback. If this raises any concerns for you, a loved one or the wellbeing of your child, please seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to your special report https://geelonghigh.vic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-sextortion

Report online harm

eSafety helps Australians prevent and deal with harm caused by serious online abuse or illegal and restricted online content.

This includes cyberbullying of children, adult cyber abuse and image-based abuse (sharing, or threatening to share, intimate images without the consent of the person shown).

esafety.gov.au

Parent resources

Downloadable resources to help you start the chat about online safety issues and strategies with your child.

On this page:

• Videos
• Books
• Information sheets
• Audio files
• Family tech agreements
• Activities
• COVID-19 advice

Report a complaint about serious online abuse or illegal and restricted online content.  You can follow a few easy steps to help you choose the best report form.

REPORT NOW

I am the Director of Youth Football at the Buccaneers, and we are actively recruiting for the 2022 season starting in October. Year 7-10 students suit for our U16 team and VCE students for our U19 group.

The club has been running since 2004 and has won numerous titles including the State U19 title in 2022. We offer Men’s, Women’s U19 /16.

Who plays American Football?

In short …. Anyone.

Size is great but not necessary. American Football is great for those larger students too. We have some great players who are challenged on the court or football field but are so valuable to us as players for their size.

We also look to develop the individual as well as the player via the way we operate. Our coaches are all young and they connect with players on a very personal level. Part of my role is to develop the coaches and we understand that as a coach we must be consistent and present. Our State Champion U19’s too are great role models for our younger players and will train with them on certain drills.

There’s a calm approach and our groups watch film, scheme and execute a game plan.

And the great part about our season is that it doesn’t interfere with footy. The season runs October – December. Our players go back to their football clubs as better tacklers and able to understand systems and process a lot better.

We also encourage our players to shoot for consistency in their studies too as we have placed four students into US schools this year to pursue their student athlete dreams.

We are now actively recruiting players and would welcome the chance to post flyers at your school and work with you to secure new team members. I am the point of contact for the club and I’m happy to talk to you or any parents who may have questions. Our players come from all points of Geelong and the Surfcoast.

Our club will have an open training session on Sunday Aug 7^th at 2pm.

If you have any questions, please drop me a line:

phil@geelongbuccaneers.com.au - 0411164414

Phil Wrochna
Director of Youth Football
Geelong Buccaneers Football Club