NL 14 2009.indd - Ringwood Secondary College

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