Bullying

In a perfect world there would be no bullying. Unfortunately, we live in a complex world and bullying does occur. 

Bullying in schools is a worldwide problem that can have negative consequences for the general school climate and for the right of students to learn in a safe environment without fear. Bullying can also have negative lifelong consequences--both for students who bully and for their victims. 

Bullying happens on buses, in the cafeteria, gym, hallways, playground, and in classrooms even after school. The most frequent form bullying takes is through psychological humiliation words such as teasing, taunting, ridiculing, name-calling, and gossip, secrets. This type of bullying happens in the “physical” world and that world has time and space limits. 

Cyber-bullying is making school days even more painful for many children preventing them from doing their job. Bullying in cyberspace is not bound by school hours, school days, or facing the intended bully victim. Unfortunately, the nature of the Internet often insulates the bully from the consequences of their behaviour.

In addition to direct attacks, bullying may also be more indirect by causing a student to be socially isolated and embarrassed. While boys typically engage in direct bullying methods, girls who bully are subtler, such as spreading rumours and enforcing social isolation. Whether the bullying is direct or indirect, the key component of bullying is that the physical or psychological intimidation occurs repeatedly over time to create an ongoing pattern of harassment and abuse which could lead to aggression and may trigger the victim to react violently or subject him to suicide.

As the number of households with Internet access and mobile phone ownership increases, so do the ways kids bully each other. Cyber-bullying in the form of text messages, emails, photos, website postings can go school-wide in minutes and global in days. Slanderous information sent out into cyberspace is difficult. Cyber-bullying often takes the form of cyber gossip and is posted on social networking sites such as Snapchat, Instagram and FaceBook.”

What does cyberbullying look like?

Cyberbullying behaviour might include:

• abusive texts and emails
• hurtful messages, images or videos
• imitating others online
• excluding others online
• humiliating others online
• spreading nasty online gossip and chat
• creating fake accounts to trick someone or humiliate them

How common is it?

1 in 5 Australian young people reported being socially excluded, threatened or abused online

55% sought help from their parents, 28% from their friends; 38% blocked the offending social media account; 12% reported it to the website or platform

1 in 5 Australian young people (15% of kids, 24% of teens) admitted behaving in a negative way to a peer online — such as calling them names, deliberately excluding them, or spreading lies or rumours. Of these, more than 90% had had a negative online experience themselves.

Signs to watch for

Children may not always tell adults about cyberbullying through fear they may overreact and make the situation worse. 

Watch for these signs:

• being upset after using the internet or their mobile phone
• changes in personality, becoming more withdrawn, anxious, sad or angry 
• appearing more lonely or distressed 
• unexpected changes in friendship groups 
• a decline in their school work 
• changes in their sleep patterns 
• avoidance of school or clubs 
• a decline in their physical health 
• becoming secretive about their online activities and mobile phone use

What do we do if it happens to you or someone you know?

If you are being bullied at school or on line, or you know of some one that is being bullied, you must make positive move to stop the bullying. St Andrews has a no tolerance rule for bullying but if you don’t tell us, we cannot help.

Step 1 – talk to someone about what is happening. If you know the person and you are comfortable approach them and ask them to stop.

Step 2- approach your parents or the school to help you sort out the issue. You have your learning advisor or your Leaders of Learning that are there to support you. They might give you strategies to help deal with the situation or they might intervene, this is up to you.

Step 3- If you are able to sort things out, move forward in a positive way, if not speak to another person of approach someone you trust to help you. At the end of the day we want all students to be safe and learning so we will assist any student to help that happen. Don’t be afraid to come and see a teacher it is our job to assist you.

What is in the Planner?

Am I being optimistic about

• What do I have?
• What can I do?
• What do I want to do?

Adopting a resilient mindset will help you set goals and achieve them. 

1. What could you set as goals for the remainder of the term?

1. Look at the goal you set and break them into smaller tasks and plan time to target them.

1. Seek feedback on your progress in order to self assess on what you need to learn to move forward confidently.

Think about how the resilience skill, Optimism and Hope help you achieve these goals? 

God Bless

Mr. Nicholas Thrum

Assistant principal - Students

Project Data:
Linking Formative Assessment and Improved Student Learning

In line with the College’s investment in the professional learning courses presented by Dr John DeCourcy, St Andrews teachers are moving forward into an ever increasingly data-informed model of tracking student learning progress.

This is very much aligned to our commitment to providing effective continuous formative assessment in order to generate learning gains that exceed expectations. In terms of process, there is little to distinguish an effective formative assessment tool from an effective learning task. Quite often they are one-and-the-same. The key to practicing highly effective formative assessment is to structure learning programs in such a way that the learning tasks become the assessment items. 

St Andrews teachers are highly proficient at incorporating these strategies into their learning and assessment programs. It is in this way that we achieve assessment as learning and assessment for learning. If we can measure it, we can improve it.

By adopting sophisticated learning analytics based on observed student outcomes, we are able to better personalise the learning experience for every student. Continual formative assessment provides students and teachers with continual feedback. This type of data is highly effective feedback and it is this feedback that guides progress in learning.

Quoting Dr DeCourcy, “Without data I’m just another person with an opinion.” The teachers at St Andrews are experts in utilising the range of available data so that they are best placed to extend the learning gains of every student in their care.

Mr Paul Haras
Pedagogy and Practice

AUSTRALIAN MATHS COMPETITION 2021

On 6th August, we had over 100 students who competed for this year’s Australian Mathematics Competition, an international competition where over 30 countries participate every year.  Adding an extra challenge to this year’s competition was the new online platform and online supervision.  We are proud of our mathletes who took on the challenge with great enthusiasm and beautiful courage!

On the 7th of August, three of our Year 10 students (Joshua Burrows, Christopher Simonetta & Jayden Cassar) took part in their first of many AEHSL competitions, representing the college as the ‘SAC Crew’. 

The Australian High School Esports League competition is a national program that provides students across Australia a robust and well structured competitive structure for High Schools to compete in Video Games. The AEHSL offers students a platform to pursue their passion for video games and esports. Esports is a constructive pursuit that hones cognitive skills, team building, communication and sportspersonship through Video Games.

Through competing in the AEHSL, the teams involved have a chance at winning the school a ViewSonic Viewboard which will be utilised to enhance student learning in the classroom.

Jayden, Christopher & Joshua are currently competing in Rocket League matches every Saturday at 2pm. The matches get live streamed via YouTube with a commentator. 

Click the following links to view the first two matches that the SAC Crew have already competed in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbpEKRhtrhw (Week 1)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYf9FFHQm50 (Week 2)

We wish the best of luck to the boys in the rest of their matches and we hope you can support them throughout the competition. 

Shanai Mifsud

Technologies Teacher

Year 12 Information Processes and Technology students have been studying a topic called Transaction Processing Systems since the middle of term 2. This option topic is one that we haven’t studied at St Andrews College for quite a few years but after looking at data from past HSC years, Mr Robson set me the challenge of offering the unit in 2021. I looked at the syllabus and my first reaction was “This is a unit about how shopping works”. It seemed like it would be easy enough to deliver and students would learn things they didn’t already know. After all, if transaction processing systems are information systems that “collect, store, modify and retrieve records of transactions” all my students should know what this means for them .

As the unit evolved, year 12 learned the characteristics of a transaction processing system. They created diagrammatic representations of reservation systems, point of sale systems and library loan systems. They explored the difference between batch processing and real time (On-Line) transaction processing. They investigated the different backup and recovery methods that can be used. They looked into the operation of hardware and software and most importantly assessed the impact of transaction processing systems.

Once all this was done, they had to put the information into an information system in the form of a website that could be used as a study guide. This meant that they had to unpack the content that they had studied and organise it in a way that was useful to them.

One of the key concepts in the Information Processes and Technology course is the Systems Development Life Cycle. There are five stages mentioned in this process:

• Understanding the Problem
• Planning
• Designing 
• Implementing
• Testing, Evaluating and Maintaining

To create the study guide, Year 12 worked through this process. When I gave them the task they brainstormed what it meant and ultimately what the purpose of the study guide was. Then they accessed the syllabus pages and made some choices about what the site might look like. This involved storyboarding both the page layout and the navigation between the pages. Once their storyboard was approved they set about researching the content that would be included on each page, finding videos and images to use and checking that they had all the necessary information.

Over a number of lessons, students populated their sites.In addition to creating the content they were encouraged to be studying for their upcoming HSC exams. After all, they were creating a study guide so what better way to study than to use the information system.

The big test has come over the last couple of weeks for them as I have been testing and evaluating their sites for them.Some of them had a big list of gaps in the content that should have been there so there has been a mad scramble to fill in these gaps and make sure that they had a useful study guide.

Each student was given free choice with regards to layout and colour scheme. Take a look at some of their choices in the images below. These screenshots were taken at the beginning of process so the websites are much further developed now.

Mrs Anzellotti
Teacher of Information Processes and Technology

Year 12 Industrial Technology Multimedia Major Projects

As part of the Year 12 Industrial Technology course students create a major project that is worth 60% of their HSC examination mark. The Major Project allows students to learn to refine and extend their project management skills by developing and completing both a folio and for the multimedia focus area a production that could be a short film, a soundscape, an animation, a computer game walk through or a movie trailer to name a few ideas.

The year 12 students in my class have been working on their major projects since the start of the HSC course in October last year. It has been a long journey that has seen them work through the designing, managing and producing of a project. They have completed pre-production that involved storyboarding, scripting, prototyping, sketching, location scouting, time plans, finance plans and lots of evaluation.

They have completed the production process which has undoubtedly had them working with teams of people to film or drive them to locations for early morning sunrises. For those students who are animators they have drawn and redrawn cells, moved lego pieces around their houses and played with lighting.

In post production they have used industry standard software to edit and piece together audio tracks, footage and cells to make a project that meets not only what they set out to do but also ticks all the boxes for the HSC marking process.

This year there are fifteen projects.

• Curious - A film incorporating a real word environment and an animated character that explores it.

• Escapade - A science fiction, adventure and action film that involves a young teenage girl who is baking a cake for a dinner party that she is hosting.

• Forever Alone - A short film full of suspense and mystery set in a post apocalyptic world.

• Identity - A short film that addresses how teens can go about returning back to the reality of society and knowing their identities by distracting themselves from the destructive harms of the virtual world.

• Interrogation - A film trailer set within a fictional world where there are Russian spies walking amongst the everyday man and woman.
• Make Haste - A short film/b-roll showcase that implements as many multimedia techniques as possible

• The Meet Up (A Yakuza Story) - a comedy, action crime film, where we see the main protagonist scamming the yakuza for money and now is on the run and has to escape from the yakuza.

• Mr Loverman - A short film about a girl who stumbles across her bestfriends invention and finds herself enmeshed in an alternate universe video game.

• Perspective - A short film about the perspective of the world.

• Pursuit - A stop motion animation about a bank/vault robbery.

• Recover - a G rated trailer of a platform game which includes animated cutscenes.

• Rewind - A film trailer that begins with a person discovering a strange feature in her phone, giving her the ability to rewind and go back in time.

• Stix - A film that tells the story of an individual who instead of doing their school assignment, are procrastinating by going on Adobe and drawing a stick figure. Once they’re done, they leave the room to have a break. The stick figure suddenly comes to life and explores the computerised world.

• Sublime- A short film involves an individual who lost motivation for something they were very passionate about, this being the creative artform of photography. 
• A Writer’s Block - A short live action and 2D animation about a young adult author hopefully to get his big break through this popular publisher. However, he can’t think of a story idea.

I am happy to say that their projects are almost complete despite the impact of COVID-19 and the extension of the due date to September 2nd. Once these are marked I will be sharing them in a future newsletter along with a reflection on the process by Year 12.

Attached to this article are some of the front covers of their folios which are an important part of the process as well. Students have worked hard to create something of a highly professional standard

Remember Year 12 Industrial Technology Students of 2021 - Your projects are almost “ready for the markers” so you won’t hear me say that for much longer. I am incredibly proud of what you have managed to achieve and hope you learned many valuable skills including why keeping a record of production and meeting deadlines is important.

Mrs Sarah Anzellotti
Industrial Technology (Multimedia) Teacher

Industrial Technology Multimedia students learn about the pre-production stage of cinematography

Industrial Technology Multimedia students have been learning about cinematography this term. They are learning that there is much more to creating a professional film than just picking up a phone or a video camera and shooting some footage and editing it together. The more planning that is done the better the end result should be.

To create an industry standard multimedia project means that students work through three stages: Pre-production, Production and Post Production.

The focus in the first half of this term has been pre-production.

In the pre-production stage students have explored shot types like:

• establishing shots
• wide shots/long shots
• mid shots
• two shots
• over the shoulder shots
• close ups
• extreme close ups

They have drawn characters to illustrate these shot types and they have set up shots and taken photos to demonstrate their understanding.

They have been exploring the different camera angles and have been taking planning shots of their families, pets and other things around their house to make a connection between what they are reading and what it might look like when they are able to film.

They have been learning how important it is to frame a shot correctly to ensure that what you are trying to express in the shot is achieved.

An important part of the planning process is storyboarding. A storyboard is a shot-by-shot visual plan that shows what a film will look like before the film is shot. A storyboard acts as a visual guide to the team that will shoot the film.

Students were given part of a script to storyboard. Even those students who claimed that they couldn’t draw were able to produce storyboards that would assist a team in shooting the scene.

I look forward to seeing what they come up with when we move into the production stage. It will be a little while yet because there is so much more to learn about the pre-production process. I hope to share what they film later this year.

Mrs Anzellotti
Industrial Technology Multimedia Teacher

CEDP IT Traineeship

The CEDP are seeking Year 12 students who are interested in a career in IT to register their interest to participate in their 2022 IT Traineeship Program.

The Traineeship provides students with on the job training and qualifications in the field of ICT (Information Communication Technology). The traineeship has been designed to support IT activities in the workplace and to achieve a degree of self-sufficiency as an advanced IT user.

The traineeship provides a unique opportunity for students to attain a nationally accredited Certificate III in Information Technology Digital Media and in the second year a Certificate IV in Information Technology Networking along with two years of industry experience.  

The CEDP will be holding a webinar on the 24th of August commencing at 4.00pm. Interested students are encouraged to click on the link below to register.

Click here to register for the Information Webinar

Western Sydney Careers of Tomorrow

CathWest Innovation College and the Department of Education invite parents and students to a 45 minute livestreamed webinar. 

This is an opportunity to hear from a panel of industry experts who will speak about the emerging employment trends post COVID-19 and how young people can prepare for the careers of tomorrow, with a particular focus on Western Sydney. 

The event will be held on Wednesday the 25th of August commencing at 5.30pm and concluding at 6.15pm. Registrations are via the QR Code in the flyer attached. Part of the registration is a parents survey. 

UTS Early Entry Program

The UTS Early Entry Program is designed to assist HSC students gain an offer at UTS in many degree offerings. The UTS Early Entry Program allows students to secure a place in their preferred UTS degree based on their Year 11 academic achievements. 

It is free to apply and is direct to UTS through their online Application Portal. Applications are now open and close on Sunday the 12th of September. There are some courses excluded from the UTS Early Entry program. A list of courses can be found in the link below.

Conditional offers are made on Tuesday the 5th of October. Conditional offers will become full offers once students have completed their HSC and met the UTS matriculation requirements by achieving an ATAR of at least 69 for most degrees. For Education courses the ATAR is 70; for Law the ATAR is 80. 

Courses excluded from the UTS Early Entry Offer Scheme

Hospitality Traineeship

The Escarpment Group in partnership with  TAFE is offering a Traineeship in Hospitality. This opportunity is  in a five star hotel in  the Blue Mountains.

Trainees will gain experience the entire hotel operations - such as:

• Front of House
• Back of House
• Housekeeping
• Customer service; and more.

Upon completion of the traineeship students will gain a Certificate III in Hospitality. 

Students interested in this traineeship need to email their Resume and Cover Letter to hr@escarpmentgroup.com.au

Students need to include in their cover letter why they wish to pursue a career in the hospitality industry and what qualities they have to ensure their success.

Students wishing help with their applications are encouraged to contact Ms May.

More information about the traineeship can be found on the brochure below.

Transdev Maritime Traineeship

Transdev operates in 17 countries. Transdev has proudly operated Sydney’s iconic fleet of ferries and the Balmain Shipyard since 2012 under a unique partnership with the NSW Government to deliver a new age of customer-centric, efficient and innovative transportation. 

Throughout the Maritime Traineeship, trainees will participate in a range of on and off the job training and assessment activities. Additionally, they will engage in the daily operation, navigation, cleaning, security and maintenance of ferries, wharves and facilities. Trainees will also experience targeted customer service and safety related training, as well as acquiring time in engineering support roles to assist in successful completion of the traineeship program. 

The traineeship is expected to last for 12 months and will normally lead to a permanent role with Transdev Sydney Ferries (subject to performance and completion of the required qualifications). 

The following qualifications will be gained upon successful completion of the traineeship:

• Certificate I in Maritime Operations (General Purpose Hand Near Coastal) 
• Certificate II in Maritime Operations (Coxswain Grade 1 Near Coastal) 
• Certificate II in Maritime Operations (Marine Engine Driving – Grade 3) 

Successful candidates will:

• Possess the right to work in Australia. 
• Have completed of Year 10 School Certificate or equivalent
• Demonstrate a commitment and interest in developing a career within the maritime industry 
• Demonstrated ability and commitment to provide quality customer service, safe transport services and to work safely 
• Demonstrated ability to work in a team

Applications will  open in mid-August on the Explore Careers website: ExploreCareers.com.au

Skills and Thrills Digital Student Showcases

The Skills and Thrills Digital Student Showcase is a 35 minute video highlighting the following:

• Future industry trends 
• COVID-19 industry impact
• Apprenticeships
• Traineeships
• School Based Apprenticeships and Traineeships
• Opportunities in the Vocational Education and Training sector

Students wishing to view the video clip are encouraged to visit the link below. A short pop up form needs to be completed to access the video clip.

Skills and Thrills Video Clip