Wadalba Community School Issue No : 88 30 August, 2010 Newsletter Newsletter Creating a quality learning community through opportunity, innovation and participation Progress with Pride Page 1 Her art works, inspired by the Australian Artist Del Kathryn Barton, demonstrate the influ- ences of her family, early life and mother in the creation of her visually stunning works. Catherine Frohlich, who was selected for the Regional Showcase, performed ‘Fever’ along with Matt Piper (Lead Guitar), Max Warran (Percussion), Hayley Schubert (Piano) and myself on Bass, which included a blistering Sax solo matched only by the virtuosic replies from guitarist, Matt. Dayle Cogdon, HSC music, performed one of her major works, an acoustic guitar/ percussion version of ‘About a Girl’ by The Academy Is. The first half concluded with the Year 10 Rock Group performing their upbeat version of Pink’s ‘So What’ sung by Tayla Cogdon. Act Two saw the reappearance of The Con- cert Band performing a medley of familiar tunes including ‘American Idiot’, ‘Gotta Fly Now’ & ‘Temple of Sinuwava’. Year 11 Drama students, Sara Paes and Ja- mine Clough, performed ‘The Notebook’ which showed their interpretation of ‘domestic disagreement’ between a husband and wife who obviously needed to be together. This important part of the HSC Drama course is known as the Duologue. Jordan Julius and Dylan Kzojak performed a Drum Guitar duo they composed themselves called ‘Bermuda’, taking the listener into a complex pattern of rhythms and melodies with one instrument competing for dominance over the other. Its originality was to be com- mended. The original composition theme for the night continued with Catherine Frohlich performing her own work titled ‘Innocence’. Catherine’s powerful voice was accompanied by her own rhythm guitar and Vinnie Wacher’s distinctive ‘Beat Box’ stylings. The work, performed with a great deal of personal expression, brought about ideas of Catherine’s many influences and styles, ranging from Jazz through to Pop. During Education Week, the Creative and Performing Arts faculty organised a SHOW- CASE of Wadalba talent. WCS students are given many opportunities for creativeness and imagination. Our Stage 5 (Years 9 and 10) students have the choice of Visual Arts, Photography, Visual Design, Digi- tal Photography, Music, Drama and Dance. Stage 6 (Years 11 and 12) remains strong with many students choosing to study HSC Music, Drama, PVDI and Visual Art. Having such a strong basis in the classroom develops opportunities for students beyond the classroom with many extra-curricular ac- tivities. Students and teachers become pas- sionate and dedicated in the area and actively seek new challenges and activities. The Showcase was one such activity. Primary School students had the opportunity to watch the dress rehearsal and enjoyed it thoroughly. The activities began with a display of art, which included art works, photographs and sculptures from various classes ranging from Years 8 to 12. The concert commenced with the Wadalba Community School Concert Band performing a familiar number from Cirque De Solae – ‘Allegria’. The band consists of Year 7 THRIVE students and older ‘more experi- enced’ performers from Year 9, many of whom have only been playing their instru- ments since the start of the year.. Many thanks to Rowan McBride who assists Sam Burton in the direction of these young per- formers. Year 11 student, Hayley Schubert, performed an original work. Her composition, titled ‘I’m Falling in Love’ (and dedicated to a mysteri- ous partner) brought together Music students from the Secondary and Primary schools. Mrs Kerry Crowther directed and rehearsed the Primary Choir in the joint performance. Georgia Moir, one of our most successful artists presented her ideas, concepts and developments of her HSC major Body of Work. CAPA CAPA . . . . . . . . . . Showcase Jordhan Balestri and Brooke Burgin, with their performance of ‘Almost Lover’, on voice and keyboard brought about a feeling of passion and feeling and demonstrated today’s music students are very much in touch with how to express an idea or feeling through music. The night ended with the Year 10 Rock Group coming back to the stage with a medley of ‘Beat It’ by Michael Jackson and ‘I Was Born for Loving You Baby’ by Kiss. Vinnie Wacher lead the performance on vocals with Matt Piper providing some ‘ripping’ solos on guitar. It was a great way to end an up beat night and left every one humming at least one tune from all the per- formances. Our year 11 Drama students had provided a ‘quirky’ edge to the night with the occa- sional ‘security guard’, ‘clown’ or ‘nervous character’ passing through the audience. The audience was left guessing to the end with a sudden ‘breakdown’ by our ‘nervous character’ as the growing presence of a slightly demented clown scared and fright- ened our students and parents. It was a wonderful night for the parents, friends and students who turned up on a chilly night to support our gifted and tal- ented creative and performing arts stu- dents. We look forward to seeing you all again later in the year with the planned ‘musical’ performance in Term 4. SHOW- CASE is here to stay and will be a highlight for Wadalba Community School in 2011 Education Week activities. A big thankyou to all my staff that made the night a wonderful success: Visual Art/Photography: Mel Norris, Angela Moir, Rebecca Painter and Sandy Florido. Music: Samantha Burton and Rebecca Painter. Drama: Lisa Wright and Melanie Coghlan. Mr Jarrod Walters Head Teacher Creative & Performing Arts
Transcript
Wadalba Community School Issue No : 88 30 August, 2010
NewsletterNewsletter
Creating a quality learning community through opportunity, innovation and participation
Progress with Pride Page 1
Her art works, inspired by the Australian Artist Del Kathryn Barton, demonstrate the influ-ences of her family, early life and mother in the creation of her visually stunning works. Catherine Frohlich, who was selected for the Regional Showcase, performed ‘Fever’ along with Matt Piper (Lead Guitar), Max Warran (Percussion), Hayley Schubert (Piano) and myself on Bass, which included a blistering Sax solo matched only by the virtuosic replies from guitarist, Matt. Dayle Cogdon, HSC music, performed one of her major works, an acoustic guitar/percussion version of ‘About a Girl’ by The Academy Is. The first half concluded with the Year 10 Rock Group performing their upbeat version of Pink’s ‘So What’ sung by Tayla Cogdon. Act Two saw the reappearance of The Con-cert Band performing a medley of familiar tunes including ‘American Idiot’, ‘Gotta Fly Now’ & ‘Temple of Sinuwava’. Year 11 Drama students, Sara Paes and Ja-mine Clough, performed ‘The Notebook’ which showed their interpretation of ‘domestic disagreement’ between a husband and wife who obviously needed to be together. This important part of the HSC Drama course is known as the Duologue. Jordan Julius and Dylan Kzojak performed a Drum Guitar duo they composed themselves called ‘Bermuda’, taking the listener into a complex pattern of rhythms and melodies with one instrument competing for dominance over the other. Its originality was to be com-mended. The original composition theme for the night continued with Catherine Frohlich performing her own work titled ‘Innocence’. Catherine’s powerful voice was accompanied by her own rhythm guitar and Vinnie Wacher’s distinctive ‘Beat Box’ stylings. The work, performed with a great deal of personal expression, brought about ideas of Catherine’s many influences and styles, ranging from Jazz through to Pop.
During Education Week, the Creative and Performing Arts faculty organised a SHOW-CASE of Wadalba talent. WCS students are given many opportunities for creativeness and imagination. Our Stage 5 (Years 9 and 10) students have the choice of Visual Arts, Photography, Visual Design, Digi-tal Photography, Music, Drama and Dance. Stage 6 (Years 11 and 12) remains strong with many students choosing to study HSC Music, Drama, PVDI and Visual Art. Having such a strong basis in the classroom develops opportunities for students beyond the classroom with many extra-curricular ac-tivities. Students and teachers become pas-sionate and dedicated in the area and actively seek new challenges and activities. The Showcase was one such activity. Primary School students had the opportunity to watch the dress rehearsal and enjoyed it thoroughly. The activities began with a display of art, which included art works, photographs and sculptures from various classes ranging from Years 8 to 12. The concert commenced with the Wadalba Community School Concert Band performing a familiar number from Cirque De Solae – ‘Allegria’. The band consists of Year 7 THRIVE students and older ‘more experi-enced’ performers from Year 9, many of whom have only been playing their instru-ments since the start of the year.. Many thanks to Rowan McBride who assists Sam Burton in the direction of these young per-formers. Year 11 student, Hayley Schubert, performed an original work. Her composition, titled ‘I’m Falling in Love’ (and dedicated to a mysteri-ous partner) brought together Music students from the Secondary and Primary schools. Mrs Kerry Crowther directed and rehearsed the Primary Choir in the joint performance. Georgia Moir, one of our most successful artists presented her ideas, concepts and developments of her HSC major Body of Work.
CAPA CAPA . . . . .. . . . . Showcase Jordhan Balestri and Brooke Burgin, with their performance of ‘Almost Lover’, on voice and keyboard brought about a feeling of passion and feeling and demonstrated today’s music students are very much in touch with how to express an idea or feeling through music. The night ended with the Year 10 Rock Group coming back to the stage with a medley of ‘Beat It’ by Michael Jackson and ‘I Was Born for Loving You Baby’ by Kiss. Vinnie Wacher lead the performance on vocals with Matt Piper providing some ‘ripping’ solos on guitar. It was a great way to end an up beat night and left every one humming at least one tune from all the per-formances. Our year 11 Drama students had provided a ‘quirky’ edge to the night with the occa-sional ‘security guard’, ‘clown’ or ‘nervous character’ passing through the audience. The audience was left guessing to the end with a sudden ‘breakdown’ by our ‘nervous character’ as the growing presence of a slightly demented clown scared and fright-ened our students and parents. It was a wonderful night for the parents, friends and students who turned up on a chilly night to support our gifted and tal-ented creative and performing arts stu-dents. We look forward to seeing you all again later in the year with the planned ‘musical’ performance in Term 4. SHOW-CASE is here to stay and will be a highlight for Wadalba Community School in 2011 Education Week activities. A big thankyou to all my staff that made the night a wonderful success: Visual Art/Photography: Mel Norris, Angela Moir, Rebecca Painter and Sandy Florido. Music: Samantha Burton and Rebecca Painter. Drama: Lisa Wright and Melanie Coghlan.
Mr Jarrod Walters Head Teacher Creative & Performing Arts
Principal’s Message Dear Parents and Caregivers,
As both an educator of over thirty years and a parent of two children, I feel that I am well placed to comment on the importance of parents and teachers working together to ensure the best possible outcomes for stu-dents.
It is the parents who provide their children with a strong sense of morals and a set of values to live by and the school that will as-sist the students in developing these and applying them to a diverse range of experi-ences.
As members of our community, we are gov-erned by laws that have been developed to ensure our safety and that reflect the values of our Australian society. There are times when we can feel hemmed in by these laws and times when we may want to go against them but, as adults, we recognise that to do so would have consequences that may be harmful to us or to others.
Within your own homes you will also have a set of rules that will reflect the core values of your family and ensure a safe and caring environment in which your children can grow and blossom.
So to in our workplaces there will be rules that will enable us to work in safety and har-mony.
This is the same within our school commu-nity. We also have a set of school rules, developed in consultation with the parents and students, that reflect our core values of Respect, Responsibility and Excellence. These rules are also developed with the aim of guiding students through their education in a safe, harmonious and nurturing environ-ment.
In society, the workplace and the home, there are times when individuals do not agree with the rules and strain against them. At these times, we attempt to resolve the conflict and reach a compromise that en-ables us to move forward safely and in har-mony. This is exactly the same within the school community. Students will question the rules set when they do not align with their wishes and will actively decide not to comply. It is at these times that it is of paramount importance for parents and teachers to work together to assist the students to realise that by working within the parameters set, they can learn what is needed to become happy, productive members of the wider community.
We would be doing our students a great dis-service if we allowed them to ignore school rules, as we would be failing to prepare them for life in the adult world. A world that will have dress standards for the workplace; a world that will have Occupational Health & Safety Regulations; a world that will have the expectation that individuals show respect for themselves and others and a world that will expect individuals to take responsibility for their actions.
The awarding of the Higher School Certifi-cate, Preliminary Certificate and School Cer-tificate is significant as all are recognised as world class credentials that will enable stu-dents to successfully transition from school to the workplace or further education. They all require discipline and hard work and allow students to become independent learners and to grow and progress to become worth-while members of the community.
Learning to grow and progress, even when things do not go as planned, helps develop us as better people. It is not only a mature approach but one that helps our students to be ready for greater pressures and stresses that
future life may hold. We need to encourage students to set reasonable expectations and celebrate with them when they move toward their goals.
Students need to learn that sometimes they must sacrifice, to achieve a long-term goal. Struggling with learning tasks from time to time is normal; the feeling of accomplishment they get will often lead to further achieve-ments in the future!
I am always impressed to learn that a stu-dent has achieved their goal/s or adopted a positive work ethic particularly after overcom-ing obstacles.
“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” This is a common adage. The truth of the matter is that nobody enjoys difficulties and stress.
Stressful times not only reveal what kind of person we are inside but they also help to shape our character and build resilience . It is important for parents and carers to work with the school in partnership to help build this growth, discipline, resilience and inde-pendence. Students must be accountable for there actions and encourage students to make correct choices.
Mr Cameron Dusting Deputy Principal
Primary News! Year 6 → Year 7 Transition
The very comprehensive transition process for students commencing Year 7 in 2011 began recently.
Parent Information Night
The 2010 – 2011 transition to high school parent information night was held on August 18. This meeting gave parents the opportu-nity to meet staff and ask any questions as-sociated with transition to high school.
Science Day
As part of their transition to high school pro-gram all Year 6 students participated in a Science Day organised by the Head Teacher Science, Mr Colin Harris. Activities included rocket science, physics and chemistry ex-periments, climate change and renewable energy, biology experiments including dis-sections, aquaculture and agriculture and talks by visiting scientists. This was a won-derful opportunity for students to get a ‘taste’ of a high school subject.
Page 2 Respect, Responsibility & Excellence
To this end, I ask that you, as parents, work with us to help your children develop the skills required to be successful members of society. Please support the school rules wherever and whenever you can and please, should you have an issue with the school, contact us to discuss. If we are able to work as a team we will most certainly provide your children with the best possible education in a safe and happy environment.
Mrs Sally Conn Principal
From the Deputy’s Desk Year 12 HSC Update Year 12 have now completed their trial exams and are receiving marks and feed-back on their results. The feedback that teachers pro-vide students is extremely important as it provides students with strate-gies to move forward and improve their re-sults. It needs to be remembered that the marks students receive for their trials are raw marks and do not necessarily reflect marks students will receive in their HSC exam. It should also be remembered that the HSC mark is made up of 50% assessment and 50% HSC exam mark.
Year 12 will be participating in their 2nd HSC Focus day ( the first was focused on com-pleting practical works and Pip’s) on Wednesday 8th September. This is a whole day where students can select study areas focusing on improving HSC exam results and working with students to gain an extra 5 marks in each of their subjects. There will also be guest speakers and past students to pass on their ideas.
I have included detailed information in the last newsletter on exam preparation and study techniques as well as useful website. It may be useful for parents and students to refer back to this.
Year 11 Preliminary News ... Year 11 are rapidly approaching their final exams and the end of their preliminary course. They should be ensuring that they have completed any outstanding N awards to make sure they are able to successfully com-plete all subjects. They should also be revis-ing their class work in preparation for the exams.
Year 10 .... School Certificate! Year 10 will have their Trial School Certifi-cate exams starting on the 11th October. These exams are an important preparation for the actual exams later in the year. Year 10 students also need to ensure that they have completed all outstanding N awards to ensure they maximise their results.
Respect, Responsibility & Excellence Page 3
Test for Academic Class
Students who wish to be considered for placement in one of the specially selected, high achiever’s classes for 2011 will sit an independent test that has been developed, and will be marked by, the University of NSW. This will take place on Tuesday, September 14.
Information Session
In the near future an information session for students will be held. This will be conducted by Mrs Shannon Sager (Relieving Head Teacher Welfare) and Mrs Melinda Brown (Year 7 Advisor in 2011). At this session stu-dents will be able to discuss issues and have their questions about high school answered.
Orientation and Sport’s Day
In December students will participate in a formal orientation day and a BBQ sport’s day. All these activities assist in making the transi-tion to high school as smooth and non-threatening as possible.
Kindergarten 2011 At this time we have accepted twenty four children for Kindergarten 2011. If you have a child, or know of someone, who is due to start school next year please inform the office as soon as possible so that the name can be added to our list and all information regarding starting school can be forwarded when neces-sary.
Public Speaking
The Zone Public Speaking Finals were held at Mannering Park Public School on August 19.
Our school was represented by:
Daniel Withers and Jorja Debnam (K), Nicole Young (Yr 1), Sarah Castledine (Yr2), Olivia Simpson and Liam Chauncy Yr 4), Zyad Kamel Hamed Yr 5 and Luke Helou Yr 6).
Congratulations to them all for their great efforts.
Premier’s Reading Challenge
The Challenge for 2010 has now finished. Congratulations to the 51 students who com-pleted the Challenge. They will receive their certificates sometime during Term 4.
Premier’s Spelling Bee
Wadalba will host the Premier’s Spelling Bee Regional Final on Thursday, September 16. Our school will be represented by two Stage 2 students and two Stage 3 students. The Stage 2 Competition will begin at 9.30am and the Stage 3 at 12.30pm. Parents are welcome to attend.
LMG Sport
The results are as follows:
Game 1 Junior Touch 1 – 2 (Loss) Senior Touch 7 – 0 (Win) Junior T Ball 6 – 9 (Loss) Senior T Ball 12 – 4 (Win)
Game 2 Junior Touch 7 – 1 (Win) Senior Touch 6 – 3 (Win) Junior T Ball 5 – 6 (Loss) Senior T Ball 10 – 4 (Win
A team of approximately forty students represented our school at the Zone Ath-letics on Thursday, September 2. Results were not known at the time of writing this.
Stage 3 Canberra Excursion
Stage 3 (and some Year 4) students are on their three day excursion to Canberra this week. This is their major excursion for the year and is aimed at consolidating work that has been done in the classroom relating to Government.
Father’s Day Breakfast
About fifty dads, granddads and uncles joined their children at our breakfast last week. It is always a good opportunity for teachers to get to meet parents who they don’t normally see. Thanks go to the staff for getting to school early and preparing the food.
Thanks to the parents who helped out at the Fathers Day Stall and to Laura Debnam for her overall organisation.
Head Lice
Unfortunately there have been many cases of head lice reported in a number of classes in the last week. It is imperative that you check your child’s hair regularly and if you find any evidence of lice, treat the hair with one of the methods recommended in information from NSW Health (http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/headlice/treatment/index.html).
Fruit ‘n’ Veg Month
30th August – 24th September marks the inaugural Fruit ‘n’ Veg Month in NSW. During this time (Week 7 – Week 10 in Term 3) 650 schools across the state, including our school and 175,000 children will celebrate to help teach kids and their families about the impor-tance of eating fruit and veg in a fun and edu-cational way. As three quarters of primary school aged kids don’t eat enough veg every day, it is a great way to get involved.
Eating Breakfast
Teachers have expressed their concerns re-garding the number of students who come to school without eating breakfast as well as the unhealthy food that some students are eating before school. They are seeing students who cannot settle down and concentrate on their learning. The following information is taken from an article by the ‘Dietitians Association of Australia’ and outlines the importance of start-ing the day with a healthy breakfast.
The Dietitians Association of Australia encourages all Australians to start the day with a healthy breakfast. Eating breakfast contributes in many ways to good health and nutrition.
Breakfast is important because it:
Improves alertness, concentration, mental performance and memory.
Is a simple way to help make a difference to overall well-being, and your ability to func-tion well over the day.
Helps maintain a healthy weight.
Provides energy and nutrients. Makes you less likely to snack on unhealthy meals during the day.
Can help to increase a person's mood. That's why people get tired and irrita-ble when they miss breakfast.
Leads to higher intakes of essential nutri-ents such as carbohydrate, dietary fibre and certain vitamins and minerals.
'Breaks the fast' as it has been around eight hours since your body last had any food.
A healthy breakfast is one which provides a variety of foods, is low in saturated fat, high in carbohydrates, contains fibre and provides vitamins and minerals.
Smart Eating ideas for breakfast
A bowl of wholegrain cereal with low fat milk and sliced fresh fruit.
A delicious smoothie made from low fat milk, fresh fruit, yoghurt and honey.
Fresh fruit and yoghurt with some whole-grain toast.
Bircher muesli with a variety of fruits and nuts added.
Pancakes topped with fruit and yoghurt.
The High School Canteen is open before school for students who may wish to purchase food for breakfast. Ms C Furey Deputy Principal
AwardsAwards Silver
Ryan Waite, Candace Woodyatt, Tangji Simp-son, Matthew Gray, Stephen Currie and Jack-
Candice Lee, Keaton Rennie-Kay, Michael Tohme, Jessica Hines, Leilani Handforth, Tia Boylan, Molly Couch, Ebonnie Jager,
Matthew Bull, Ashton Rennie-Kay, Edward Davis, Bailey Handforth, Olivia Simpson,
Vanessa Jager, Riley Sternbeck, Nick Robinson, Emily Panton, Candace Woodyatt,
Madison Smith, Dawood Ahmad, Stephen Currie, Lachlan Oliver, Taryn Gorton and
James Burton
Values
Alex Pagett, Olivia Simpson, Rachel Gray and Rebecca Simpson
Students are asked to avoid having Peanut But-ter/Nutella sandwiches or other products that contain traces of nuts, as well as eggs and egg products eg. quiche. We have students in our school who are allergic to these products and may suffer an anaphylactic reaction if they come into contact with them. Thank you for your continuing support in this
Important Announcement
Library News The Amazing Book Fair
Our annual Book Fair was once again a great success. Many students were able to pur-chase quality books at very low prices and both parents and staff were very impressed with the variety of books available this year. A total of $1,686.30 was taken with our library receiving $557.00 in commission & books. Thankyou to all those that participated in our Book Fair and are now reading some great books!
Book Week 2010
Book Week is celebrated each year in mid to late August. This annual event highlights the importance of reading, and draws on the joy of stories and creativity of Australian books. Book Week encourages students to read: learn about new books; share favourite writers and illustrators; to look again at old favourite books in maybe a different way and to take time out to just read. The library uses this time to create an exciting and welcoming environ-ment for Book Week, using displays from both the Primary and High School classes. Our annual Book Week competition provides a fun and challenging activity to help the students enjoy the theme: “Across the Story Bridge”.
You are most welcome to come to the library ad have a look at this year’s wonderful display of our students’ work. Rhonda Carraro Primary Teacher Librarian
Science Faculty News Science Week at Wadalba Community School keeps on getting bigger and better!! After the great responses we had regarding last year’s events, we decided to invite every Year Six student from our six feeder schools to our science week . Over 200 students took part in the day. They rotated through a num-ber of activities including Microscopes, dis-secting organs, making slime and understand-ing climate change. We were fortunate to have the help of our Scientist in Schools part-ner Frank Lemkerk from the CSIRO to discuss frogs and their habitats. The students also took part in a travelling Questacon Science Show that aimed to encourage the students to become more innovative. The day finished off with a barbecue where all the students could play, interact and meet the new friends that they would spend more time with next year.
A great day was had by the students involved and the Science teachers who worked hard to make the day a success. A group of our Year 10 students were excellent leaders thoughout the day and thoroughly displayed our schools core values of Respect, Responsibility and Excellence. Other Science week activities included sixty Year 7-9 students visiting Koolang Observatory. Unfortunately the night was cloudy and it was difficult to see the stars, however, the students enjoyed the show and discussion session that the Koolang staff put on for us. Year 10-12 students had the opportunity to watched the 3D Hubble (telescope) show at Imax Theatre, which was simply incredible. I recommend anyone inter-ested in space to make the trip to Sydney to watch it. I have lots of discount vouchers for anyone interested in seeing it. This was fol-lowed by a lecture on Einstein and Quantum mechanics at the Powerhouse Museum.
The Science faculty has also run a number of activities such as our tour of Sydney Univer-sity, undertaking first year University Physics experiments and attending a lecture form Karl Kruszelnicki. The Biology students visited the Disease museum in Sydney and Physics, Chemistry and Biology all undertook many practical investigations in their specific areas at Experiment-Fest held at Ourimbah Univer-sity.
Hopefully the passion of the science staff and the extensive range of extra curricula activities will help encourage and inspire the students to aim high, achieve excellence and go on to a (science based) University degree or other tertiary education. Good luck to all our Year 12 students who are busy studying away for the HSC exams.
Mr C.Harris Head Teacher Science
Cyber Bullying Cyber bullying is a growing form of bullying that has emerged with the explosion of tech‐nology. It involves sending offensive, humili‐ating or threatening messages or images through a computer or mobile phone. Cyber bullying can take various forms, ranging from a cruel joke to a vicious threat. It can be per‐petrated by someone the victim knows or by a complete stranger. In some cases, cyber bullies have been victims of face‐to‐face bul‐lying and use the Internet to fight back in an arena in which they feel comfortable. Cyber bullying can be done anytime and any‐where and does not require the presence of its victim; it only requires access to a com‐puter or mobile phone. Hiding behind a mask of anonymity, cyber bullies can invade a vic‐tim's home without ever opening the door. Children who have been victims of cyber bul‐lying describe a feeling of being trapped, because they cannot escape the taunts of the bully. Even the targets of face‐to‐face bully‐ing can find a safe haven in their homes; not so for the victims of cyber bullying. The ano‐nymity of the Internet serves to embolden cyber bullies.
Using Web sites or screen names that are diffi‐cult to trace, cyber bullies feel as though they can strike out at others invisibly with little chance of being caught. They feel freer to say things about people online than they would say face‐to‐face. Being removed from their targets and not see‐ing the impact of their actions, cyber bullies can delude themselves by thinking they really have not hurt anybody. As a result, they are unlikely to feel a sense of empathy or remorse for their victims. Cyber bullying encounters the same obstacles to detection as face‐to‐face bullying. Students are often reluctant to report it to an adult. There is a tacit understanding that "what oc‐curs online stays online." Children might fear that if they report disturbing online incidents to their parents, they will be barred from using the Internet, or they might be afraid of retalia‐tion or further ostracism if the cyber bully learns they have told an adult. As a result, par‐ents and teachers often are the last to know about incidents of cyber bullying. Although most incidents of cyber bullying are initiated at home, we at Wadalba Community School nonetheless feel the effects of this high‐tech harassment. We have to deal with student conflicts and distress that result from cyber bullying incidents even if those incidents origi‐nated from home. At Wadalba Community School we: will endeavour to be proactive to reduce the occurrences in our community.
intend to take advantage of any opportunity to educate our students about cyber bullying
Below are a few websites parents may like to view to gain further information:
Childnet www.childnet.com
Cyber safety net http://cybersafetynet.com/index.html
NetAlert www.netalert.gov.au
Cybersmart kids www.cybersmartkids.com.au
Netsafe www.netsafe.com.au
Isafe www.isafe.org
The following strategies may assist students and parents to manage the issue.
Report any incidence of bullying or upsetting hostile behaviour, including exclusion, to parents, school or a trusted adult.
Do not respond to any further messages posted from the bully and, if possible, block their mobile number or email address.
Keep evidence of any bullying to assist in tracking down the bully (This includes screen captures, the bully’s screen name, text and images). This may be needed if the matter is reported to Police.
Report any concerns to the administrator of the service used for the bullying. This is the mobile phone provider if SMS is involved, the
website administrator or internet service provider if social networking or chat services are used.
Seek support from an appropriate and sup‐portive contact, such as the School Counsel‐lor or phone the Kids Helpline on: 1800 551 800
Respect, Responsibility & Excellence Page 4
Progress with Pride Page 5
On the 11th of August, 2010, the Minister of Education, Mr Simon Crean,
visited Wadalba Community School. I was privileged enough to be one the chosen paparazzi of the day, along with
my fellow classmate, Sara Paes. Our job involved greeting him at the front gates of the school and
following The Minister, Mrs Conn and other guests around the school capturing every moment of their day.
We were joined by the two junior prefects, and the two senior prefects as well as Mr Ponman (HT TAS),
Mr Craig Thompson (our local member) and construction workers. Mr Crean first visited the primary;
ironically the class he visited was learning about Parliament. He asked them many questions on the subject,
and the primary students asked just as many back. The constructionist spoke to Mr Crean and Mrs Conn told him of our plans to make
Wadalba a more efficient school. Towards the end of his visit we all walked into the
meeting room for lunch catered by the school hospitality class. It was an amazing day where Mr Crean got to see what Wadalba is made of!
Article by Jasmine Clough & Images by Sara Paes Yr11 PVDI students
SchoolSchool & & Community AnnouncementsCommunity Announcements
The school newsletter is available to be received via email. If you wish to take advantage of this service, please email the school so that your details can be added
to our distribution list.
Respect, Responsibility & Excellence Page 6
The next P&C meeting will be held in the Staff Common Room on Wednesday, 3 November at 6:00pm.
Please feel welcome to attend.
P&C Meeting
The school’s Uniform Shop is open Monday ‐ Thursday between
8:15am ‐ 9:30am
Closed Friday
Enquiries can be directed to the Canteen. Ph: 43925000
Uniform Shop
Please feel welcome to join us at our weekly Primary Assembly each
Friday, beginning at 11:00am in the Primary Hall.
Primary Assembly
Year 6 Academic Test Monday, 14 September
Year 7 Immunisation Wednesday, 22 September
Year 12 Graduation Term III Ends Friday, 24 September
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