Kardinia eNews - Wednesday 27 March 2024

From the Head of Senior School

It’s hard to believe that we’re at the end of Term 1 already!

One of our Year 11 students, Edith Kefaloukos, has been representing the College in the Lions Youth of the Year competition this year. The Youth of the Year has been running since 1964 and is a program that aims to foster and optimise the confidence, leadership and citizenship in students aged 15 and over. The competition involves an application and interview, which considers involvement at school and in the community and general knowledge. There is also a public speaking component, which includes one prepared speech and two impromptu speeches.

Edith first completed at the Hamlyn Heights club in February, where she won both best public speaker and was named overall winner. She then progressed to the zone final, where she again was awarded best public speaker, and last weekend competed at the regional final.

Edith spoke about social justice in the digital age and also about the importance of digital inclusion as a human right. Her topics were incredibly well considered, thoughtful and challenging and I know inspired the Lions Club members to think deeply about their consumption and use of digital media.

Congratulations Edith – we are very proud of you!

We have some farewells in the Senior School. Firstly, we wish Richard Walsh and Michelle Tito all the best as the head off on some well deserved long service leave. We also wish Najat Baqtatouche all the very best as she leaves us for maternity leave. We’re eagerly awaiting news of her new arrival! As many members of our community are aware, Ann-Marie Iversen has had to take extended leave this year and will be replaced from Term 2 by Bindy Russell, who is well known to many of our students already. Thank you to Monica D'Alessandro, Sue Siketa and Leretta Mellington for their work in caring for Ann-Marie’s students in her absence.

As we come to the end of Term 1 and get ready for some cooler weather in Term 2, it is timely to remind families of a few uniform expectations.

• Students are required to wear their blazers (with their formal uniforms) both to and from school each day.  The exception to this is for Year 12 students who are permitted to wear their ‘hoodies’ on Fridays and therefore do not need to wear their blazers that day.
• Students should only wear their sport uniform on a day when they have a practical sport class, or a practical dance, drama or 'How Does Your Garden Grow' class.
• We have noticed that a number of students appear to have grown since the year started and have been wearing summer dresses that are significantly shorter than the uniform policy’s requirement of being no higher than 5cm above the knee. The cooler weather will provide time for hems to be let down or new dresses purchased if necessary.
• Shoes to accompany the formal college uniform are required to be black, leather, lace-up shoes.
• Ties are to be worn at all times with long trousers and the kilt, and shirts must be tucked in.

I hope that all members of our College community have a wonderful break and I look forward to seeing all students back at school on Tuesday 16 April.

Sport News

The 2024 Senior School House Athletics Carnival was held at Landy Field last Wednesday 20 March.

In slightly windy conditions, students competed in a range of track, field and novelty events to gain points for their house.

It was a closely run race all day, however Gotemba (3045 points) was crowned Champion for 2024 beating Thomson (3021), followed by Morongo (2918) in third and Cowie (2758) in fourth.

There were a number of stand outs and records broken on the day. None better than the individual efforts from Bella Tarr. Bella broke four records on the day in U18 Long Jump, 400m, Shotput and Triple Jump records.

Individual records were also smashed by Ruby Taylor (U18 Discus) and Johnny McKeague (U18 High Jump) while Dex Taylor equalled the record for U16 High Jump.

The College Classic (1500m handicap) was won this year by Angus Borschmann with Cooper Hill (winner 2023) coming in second and Kaelan McGee a close third.

Well done to all students who represented their Houses in both Championship and Novelty events and we will see you early in Term 2 for the Cross Country.

GISSA Basketball

Congratulations to the KIC Senior Boys Basketball team who finished 3rd in the tournament at AWA stadium on Thursday 21 March. Well done to Harry Crane on being awarded the team’s Most Valuable Player!

GISSA Futsal

The Inaugural GISSA Futsal Championships were held at Corio Leisuretime Centre on March 7. It was an intense final showdown against Highton Christian College, but Kardinia emerged victorious with a thrilling 3-1 win! Well done to all involved!

GISSA Surfing

20 students from Year 7 - 12 represented Kardinia on Tuesday at the GISSA Surfing Championships. The 2024 competition was held at Torquay Point in solid 4-5 ft swell. Let’s hope we see some of them around the corner at Bells in the years to come!

Victorian State Lifesaving Championships

Last weekend, many Kardinia students represented their Surf Clubs in the Victoria State Titles at Ocean Grove beach. In tricky conditions, Kardinia students showed their nous to take home medals across multiple events.

Angus Borschmann

1^st Open Men's 2km Beach Run

1^st U17 Men's Taplin

2^nd U17 Men's Board Rescue

2^nd U17 Men's Board Relay

3^rd U17 Men's 2x1km Beach Relay

Teagan Reade

1^st U15 Beach Flags

1^st Girls Youth Cameron Relay

2^nd U15 Beach Sprint

2^nd Mixed Youth Beach Relay

3^rd Girls Youth Board Relay

3^rd Girls Youth Beach Relay

Eliza Campbell/Molly Callahan

1^st U19 Female

1^st Open Male and Female Club Relay

Raphael Rush

1^st U15 Tube Race

2^nd U15 Surf Race

Tallulah Rush and Lani Steel

1^st U19 Taplin

Michael Sheridan

1^st U15 Surf Teams (Swim)

1^st U15 Board Relay

1^st U15 Champion Lifesaver

Well done to all who competed and good luck at the Nationals in April!

Careers News

Year 9 Morrisby Profile follow- up

This week, the careers team has started to release completed Morrisby Profiles to students. If your child hasn’t yet received an email letting them know they can access their report, it is most likely because they still have assessments that need to be completed first.

To do this, students can log back into their Morrisby account (https://app.morrisby.com/login ) and the remaining assessments will be visible to them. Students are reminded that all assessments are timed and cannot be paused once started. It is essential to find a space where they can concentrate and avoid interruptions. We are unable to reset any aptitude assessments, so it is very important that students approach this with a sense of seriousness.

We will release any profiles that have been completed over the holidays at the start of next term.

The careers team will be meeting with all Year 9 students in term 2 to further discuss the Morrisby Profile and explain how it can be used as a tool for future subject planning. Parents can only be given access to their child’s Morrisby Profile through their child’s account. The careers team cannot provide access.

Career events and activities

The last couple of weeks have been very busy in the career education space!

On Friday 15 March the careers team accompanied a group of Year 11 and 12 students to the Victorian Careers and Employment Expo at the Melbourne Showgrounds. This event provided students with an insight into a huge variety of post - school education, training and employment options and showcased 130 organisations and employers. Industry areas included aged care and disability, agriculture, aviation, engineering, community services and, sport and recreation. Students also had the opportunity to talk with higher education and apprenticeship providers as well as gain an insight into resume writing and job interview preparation.

On Thursday 21 March we had two groups of students going out into the community and engaging with different industry groups. A small group of students attended the ‘Careers in Civil Construction Awareness Day’ which was a joint initiative between the Geelong Region Local Learning and Employment Network, Multiskills and Djilang Alliance. This was an immersive event which included a site tour of the Waurn Ponds rail project and provided students with the opportunity to explore job opportunities and learn more about the civil construction industry and future local projects.

The second group of students from Years 9 to 11 attended the ‘Girls in Property’ event which was held at Cotton On Head Office and organised by the Property Council of Australia. Students were treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of the Cotton On facilities and listened to a range of industry guest speakers from areas such as asset management, architecture, project management and urban planning. In the afternoon session, students were also involved in a variety of hands-on workshops that allowed them to explore concepts such as store design, large scale project planning, as well as participating in a focus group that looked at the future redevelopment of the Market Square precinct.

This is just a small snapshot of the exciting industry engagement activities on offer to students throughout the year. We strongly encourage students to keep an eye on the KIC Careers news feed and sign up to events that they are interested in.

Please note: many activities and events are hosted by external organisations and the number of places available is often capped. If your child is interested in participating, please make sure that they apply early and that their applications have been fully completed to ensure that they have the best chance of being selected.

Danielle Flack, Head of Careers

Port of Geelong Education Program 2024

The Victorian Regional Channels Authority is once again offering students an opportunity to investigate the careers and pathways to the maritime industry through the Port of Geelong Education Program in Term 2.

It is FREE to schools with a preference given to Years 9/10/11.

The program provides an authentic, real life learning experience that is designed to be cross curricular and gives the students a chance to explore further career pathways in the maritime, logistics and tourism sectors.

The program provides a link between school, business and the community.

The date for 2024 are as follows:

Term Two: Tuesday 30 April

The Program is in two parts and begins at 9.15 am with an onboard tour of the Port of Geelong followed by a briefing and careers expo in the presidential committee rooms at the Royal Geelong Yacht Club finishing around 12:30 pm.

Part A: Uncovering the Port of Geelong –

A hands-on interpretation session outlining the history and development of the Port, economics and benefit to Geelong and careers in and around the Port industries.

Part B: Discovering the Bay and Port Precinct.

Students will participate in a boat trip on Corio Bay to see first-hand what Port Industries are in Corio Bay and the activity, global impact and career possibilities associated with them being here in Geelong.

Mr Manfred Pohlenz, Careers Teacher

Expressions of interest are now being sought from students interested in this unique program. Previous participants are NOT permitted to participate.

Please indicate you interest by emailing: Careers@kardinia.vic.edu.au

World's Greatest Shave 2024!

🌟 Congratulations to all involved in today's World's Greatest Shave! 🌟

A grand total of $11,595.21 was raised! (Well done to Georgia for raising $4,384!!)

The donation portal is still open! Please visit here: https://secure.leukaemiafounda...

Co-Curricular News

Co-Curricular Open Day Report

A MASSIVE shout out to all students and staff involved in the recent Co-Curricular Open Day!!🎉

The atmosphere was electric as students explored the vast array of co-curricular activities on offer at the College. It was great to see both students and staff spread the word about the activities they are involved in and see an influx of new and enthusiastic members signing up to try something new!

We hope the excitement and appreciation around the benefits of participating in co-curricular activities continues to build throughout the rest of the year.

Australian Rowing Championships Success

Last week, five Kardinia Students represented the College at the Australian Rowing Championships, held at Sydney’s International Regatta Centre. Rowing across four consecutive days, facing the best school crews from across the country, they fought hard to achieve 2nd in the B Quad final. This puts them in the top 10 school quad crews in the Country! An impressive achievement resulting from tireless early mornings, gruelling training schedules and pushing their bodies and minds to the limit. Congratulations to Eliza Dean (Year 12), Grace Holton (Year 10), Eliza Jenkins (Year 11), Audrey Semjaniv (Year 11) and Violet McGregor (Year 11) on this outstanding achievement.

Kardinia encourages any students interested in Rowing to contact their local rowing club.

Students can apply to represent the College in their chosen sport by contacting the Co-Curricular Co-Ordinator Nicole Holton (n.holton01@kardinia.vic.edu.au) or Head of Sports, Damian Van Wyk (d.vanwyk@kardinia.vic.edu.au).

Support is available for students competing at an elite level through the High Performance Athlete Program. The program is designed to support young athletes as they juggle their education and training/competition commitments. To be eligible for the program, students must be competing at a State or National level and provide a reference from their coach/club. At the moment, this program is only open to Senior School Students. We are looking at ways we can incorporate the many athletes in the Junior School, watch this space! To download the application form, please click here.

Earthcore News

The Tree Project

Two of Earthcore’s year 12 students, Clara and Savannah, have started a great new project called The Tree Project. The Tree Project is an Australian (Victorian) organisation that aims to return healthy, sustainable and indigenous ecosystems to Victoria’s landscape. As volunteers, we are heading up a project with Earthcore Students, growing endemic seedling species into trees, shrubs and grasses that we will then plant across our Bell Post Hill and Lovely Banks Campuses. We see this as a fantastic way to help our school increase its biodiversity and give the students of Earthcore first-hand experience in environmental projects and contributing to society through volunteering.

Why are we doing it?

• Carbon sequestration – offset Kardinia’s carbon emissions one tree at a time.
• Help re-establish the endemic flora of the area and promote indigenous knowledge and culture at the College
• Improve the beauty and environment of our College grounds helping reduce stress and enhance creativity and motivation for staff and students.
• Improve our College's biodiversity
• Provide shelter from harsh weather conditions

We have begun planting the seedlings and look forward to starting the project phase in Terms 2 and 3.  Keep an eye out for our progress in future updates.

Philosophy Club

Does the idea of questioning life's many choices interest you? Come to Philosophy club, 1:00 pm every Monday in M1. Together teachers and students pose and attempt to solve many deep and intriguing questions, some logically based, some ethically based. Students are able to present their own questions too! For further information please contact Mrs. Metcher, at <t.metcher@kardinia.vic.edu.au>

Earthcore Sustainability Tip

School TV - Mobile Phone Separation Anxiety

Many families are facing the very real challenge of addressing mobile phone separation anxiety in their children. Banning mobile phones in schools has become a topic of intense debate worldwide, including in Australia. Many schools have implemented comprehensive bans on mobile phones during school hours. Critics argue against the effectiveness of such bans, but numerous studies provide evidence of their positive impacts.

One such study conducted in 2016 revealed that schools with mobile phone bans experienced a significant increase in student performance, with test scores improving by approximately 6.4% of a standard deviation. This improvement was equivalent to adding five additional days to the school year or an extra hour of learning per week. The positive effects were particularly notable among low-achieving students. Similar studies conducted in Spain and Norway have consistently supported these findings.

It is crucial to acknowledge this issue and engage in open discussions about the negative effects of phone addiction. Parents and caregivers can use various strategies to help minimise the impact of such bans whilst safeguarding their child’s mental health and wellbeing. Maintaining open communication with your school is essential. It is important to stay informed and collaborate with educators to develop effective strategies for supporting children during the adjustment period.

While addressing mobile phone separation anxiety is challenging, implementing such bans in schools allows for better focus on teaching and learning, minimising distractions and interruptions. The evidence of improved student performance and the need to address the negative impacts of excessive phone use emphasise the importance of parental involvement in promoting healthy phone habits and supporting children through this transition.

Click here to watch this episode: https://kardinia.vic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-mobile-phone-separation-anxiety

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