NL 14 2009.indd - Ringwood Secondary College
NL 14 2009.indd - Ringwood Secondary College
NL 14 2009.indd - Ringwood Secondary College
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Newsletter Number <strong>14</strong> December 15, 2009<br />
happen in school, or out of it, any hour<br />
of the day, from people you know, and<br />
sometimes people you don’t know. It can<br />
leave you feeling unsafe and alone.<br />
No-one has the right to bully another person. At its most serious, cyberbullying<br />
is illegal and can be investigated by the police. You may<br />
find the video of how Joe dealt with cyberbullying http://www.<br />
cybersmart.gov.au/Schools/Teacher%20resources/Lower%20<br />
secondary/Lets%20fight%20it%20together.aspx useful.<br />
Tips<br />
• Ignore it. Don’t respond to the bully. If they don’t get a response<br />
they may get bored and go away.<br />
• Block the person. This will stop you seeing messages or texts from<br />
a particular person.<br />
• Tell someone. Tell an adult you can trust. You may want to talk to<br />
your mum, dad or a brother or sister. Or you can contact the<br />
Cybersmart Online Helpline service, call Kids Helpline on 1800 55<br />
1800, visit their website.<br />
• Keep the evidence. This can be useful in tracking the bully down.<br />
Save texts, emails, online conversations or voicemails as evidence.<br />
• Report it to:<br />
o your school—they should have policies in place about<br />
bullying and cyberbullying.<br />
o your ISP and/or phone provider, or the website admin<br />
istrator— there are actions they can take to help.<br />
Help stop cyberbullying<br />
• Stand up and speak out!<br />
If you see or know about cyberbullying happening to a friend, support<br />
them and report the bullying. You’d want them to do the same<br />
for you.<br />
• Don’t forward on messages or pictures that may be offensive or<br />
upsetting to someone. Even though you may not have started it,<br />
you will be seen to be part of the cyberbullying cycle.<br />
• Remember to treat others as you would like to be treated when<br />
communicating online.<br />
Final points for managing your digital footprint:<br />
The internet is a great place for sharing stuff, but remember that<br />
what you share with your friends could be seen by other people<br />
that you don’t know. They may also be able to look at it for years<br />
to come. Once it’s online, it could be there forever. So think before<br />
you post.<br />
Tips<br />
• Keep your personal details private. Use an appropriate handle or<br />
username instead of your real name. If you are unsure, don’t give<br />
out your name, address, phone number or any other personal details<br />
over the internet.<br />
• Don’t share your username or password with anyone.<br />
• Think before you hit send or post. Once something is posted, it<br />
can be online forever.<br />
• Don’t post anything you don’t want others to know—or that you<br />
wouldn’t say to them face to face. Respect your friends too—that<br />
‘funny’ photo of them at a party might not be so funny for them,<br />
and they might not be very happy if you post it up for everyone in<br />
the world to see. Treat others as you would like to be treated.<br />
• Remember that private images and videos you send to friends or<br />
post on a social networking site may be easily passed on to others<br />
and uploaded to public sites. This can include pictures that may<br />
only be intended for your close friends or your boyfriend/girlfriend.<br />
Page 8<br />
Once they’re up, it’s almost impossible<br />
to remove them completely.<br />
• Respect other people’s content and be aware that if you post or<br />
share their content it might breach copyright laws. For example,<br />
a photo that your friend took is their property, not yours. You can<br />
only post it online if you have their permission.<br />
• Read the terms and conditions of any photo or content sharing<br />
sites. Some sites require you to license the material to the site,<br />
which might mean that you lose control over your content.<br />
From the Office<br />
Congratulations to Jeremy Carden Year 7 2009 and Liam Douglas<br />
Year 7 2010 on winning the Campion $150 Book Voucher.<br />
Debating Team<br />
YEAR 8 LION’S CLUB DEBATING ROUND ROBIN November<br />
2009.<br />
It was very exciting when we won the Year 8 Lions’ Club Round<br />
Robin competition between our neighbouring schools, Tintern<br />
Girls School and Southwood Boys School as we had also won the<br />
Year 7 round of the same competition a few weeks earlier! The students<br />
involved were Mitchell Pirera, Harry Frith and Stephen Amos.<br />
It was a fun day and all the students were able to debate in a relaxed<br />
atmosphere. The standard of the debates improved considerably<br />
over the day after three debates. The format was one prepared debate<br />
and 2 secret topics. The set topic was ‘ That models under 15<br />
should be banned’. Mitchell’s rebuttal was very good and he was<br />
awarded Best Speaker. The students were given ¾ of an hour to prepare<br />
their secret topic debates. The topics were ‘That zoos should<br />
be banned’ and ‘That all schools should not be co-educational’. We<br />
won because we had the most points over all the debates. Congratulations<br />
for these three students for making such a great effort! A<br />
special thank you must be given to the Lion’s Club of Heathmont for<br />
their fantastic support of this annual event. We were very fortunate<br />
to have an adjudicator from DAV for the entire day.<br />
Christine Saunders<br />
Debating Coordinator<br />
International Report<br />
<strong>Ringwood</strong> to Thailand<br />
There will be a meeting for parents of the students interested in our<br />
trip to Thailand next year.<br />
It will be in the Library classroom on Tuesday 9th February at<br />
7.00pm.<br />
Lynda Cody<br />
International Coordinator<br />
School Nurses<br />
A brief word on staying Sunsmart over the holidays:<br />
Did you know :<br />
• 2 in 3 Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer by the age<br />
of 70.<br />
• Over 1,700 Australians die from skin cancer each year.<br />
• Australia has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world<br />
These 3 facts alone should scare us into taking precautions when<br />
we are in the sun in our everyday activities. For many years we have<br />
been told to “slip, slop & slap” but this message has now been extended<br />
to 5 steps.<br />
1: Slip on sun protective clothing that will cover as much as your<br />
body as possible