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Did you know that most social media outlets stipulate that children must be at least 13 years old to legally access their platforms?
Is it appropriate to comment or post about schools, staff or students?
We are aware that there are social media accounts and pages with derogatory content linked to Foxwell State Secondary College. We take great offense to this content, just as we know our parent community rightly do too.
It’s important to remember that sometimes negative comments posted about the school community have a greater impact than expected. Reputations of students, teachers, schools, principals and even parents can be permanently damaged — and in some cases, serious instances of inappropriate online behaviour are dealt with by police and the court system.
Possible civil or criminal ramifications of online commentary
As we become aware of these sites and accounts, they are reported to the eSafety Commissioner and Education Queensland’s Cybersafety and Reputation Management Team. On Monday, this team will attend Foxwell SSC to conduct a thorough investigation into the origin of these accounts and content as well as identifying individuals that follow, share, like or comment on this defamatory content.
A serious instance of inappropriate online behaviour may constitute a criminal offence and become a police matter. For example, online content may substantiate the offence of ‘using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence’ (Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) s. 474.17). Defamatory online content may give rise to litigation under the Defamation Act 2005 (Qld).
All Foxwell students need to be aware that following, sharing, liking or commenting in any way on inappropriate school related accounts or content is a serious breach of our Student Code of Conduct and children will be issued appropriate consequences.
Parents, we implore that you support your child to ensure the content they engage with on Social Media is appropriate and in keeping with our Foxwell SPIRIT values. If you believe your child is engaging with any content that brings Foxwell SSC's reputation into question, they have some time over the weekend to conduct some "cyber house keeping" by unfollowing, unliking and deleting any posts or content that is questionable. Foxwell is committed to working with you, to ensure our children remain safe online.
With the addition of over 300 new Year 7 students and approximately 35 new staff to Foxwell this year, our internet bandwidth has experienced some slower speeds in the first two weeks of term. Late last week, our bandwith was significantly increased. While this has provided some relief to staff and students engaging meaningfully in digital learning in classes, the network continued to have periods of lagging internet speed.
Significant investigation has pinpointed that students using VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are the main contributer to slower network speeds at school.
Use of a VPN on a student device is a serious case of IT misconduct and places our children at serious risk of exposure to unsafe, unsecure and inappropriate material while engaging with the internet.
A VPN is used to create a private network from a public internet connection. It masks and hides the actions of internet users and means that they are able to navigate around internet filters and controls that Education Queensland invest in to keep students safe from inappropriate content.
This week, we did a full school VPN sweep to educate students around the dangers of VPN use and ensure that all student devices do not have VPNs installed. We ask parents and caregivers to monitor VPN use of students and delete them should students make the decision to reinstall them. Should students reinstall or bring a device with a VPN to school, they are in serious breach of the IT agreement and will face consequences, which could include being banned from use of their iPad at school for a period of time.
Please see the attached document 'How To' for steps to support your student to delete a VPN from an iPad. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact our IT Manager, Mr Harper to assist you.
Congratulations to our swimmers who represented Foxwell with pride at the Broadwater District Swimming Carnival.
Results will be announced soon.
Congratulations also to sisters, Bonnie and Scarlett Smeltz for representing Foxwell SSC and winning the 2022 Inter-School Tennis Challenge for the Girls Middle School Division for the second year running.
This year we have introduced Non-school Day Detentions on Saturdays. Last week we held our first Saturday detentions.
At Foxwell State Secondary College, in seeking to achieve our goal of students flourishing, we believe in the importance of maximising a child’s learning time on campus, and minimising disruption to classroom learning for all students. In attempting to maximise on campus learning time for all students, non-school day detentions - Saturdays, ensure that students have continuity of access to learning whilst also being held accountable for accepting a consequence for a serious problem behaviour. In most instances a Saturday detention is in lieu of a short suspension [one day]. Students may be issued with detentions on multiple Saturdays if the problem behaviour is a serious enough breach of the Student Code of Conduct.
Non-school day detentions occur on Saturdays from 8.30am to 12.30pm.
The main purpose of non-school day detentions (Saturday) is to provide an opportunity for students to effectively engage in reflective and/or restorative justice activities to develop better understanding of the problematic nature of their behaviour and its impact on self and others and to develop strategies and replacement behaviours for the future.
Parents will be notified verbally and in writing (email) of the proposed non-school day, Saturday detention.
Parent/Carers will be required to provide written consent for their child's attendance at Saturday detention and will be notified of:
- the location and duration of the detention;
- their responsibility to arrange travel/supervision to and from the detention, where appropriate.
Two staff members will be on site at all times to supervise Saturday detentions. Students must attend in their full school uniform and abide by our regular school rules and high expectations. Should student choose not to attend Saturday detention then further consequences will be applied at the discretion of the Principal.
We thank you in advance for your support of maintaining the continuity of learning for all students by minimising the numbers of lost learning days due to suspensions.
Our College uses digital tools and resources to support student learning, including third party (non-departmental) online services hosted and managed outside of the Department of Education network.
In order to provide access to these valuable digital learning resources, parents need to provide consent for their childrens' information being used on third party websites. The Third Party Consent form will be distributed and returned electronically. The form will provide details about the third party online services used in our College and how your child’s information, including personal information and works, may be recorded, used, disclosed, and published to the services (if you provide your consent for this to occur).
Online services, including websites, web applications, and mobile applications, are delivered over the internet or require internet connectivity. Examples may include interactive learning sites and games, online collaboration and communication tools, web-based publishing and design tools, learning management systems, and file storage and collaboration services.
Please ensure when you receive this electronic form that you sign and return ASAP so that your child can access these valuable digital learning tools.
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) is to be held on the 15th of March 2022 at 6pm, followed will be the first meeting of the new P&C year. Meetings generally take place in the Learning Hub, but may be via Zoom. This will be confirmed after the fourth of March.
At the AGM, we welcome in the executive team. Every position is open and will be voted in by the committee on the 15th of March.
This year we are looking to introduce a new non-executive position of Grants Officer. The Grants officer will be responsible for managing all grants, existing or new. This position involves research into what grants are available for specific funding requirements (such as musical equipment, sports equipment etc) and overseeing the process of application through to acquittal of the grant. This person will be working with the P&C executive team to achieve the best results possible for Foxwell SSC.
Please email us on pandc@foxwellssc.eq.edu.au for further information.
Nomination forms for an executive position can be emailed, or collected from the school office. All nominations must be returned via email, or to the school office, no later than the 11th of March 2022.
As always, all Foxwell community members are invited to join the P&C. Our meeting dates will be published after the AGM on the school's website and will also be advised prior to each meeting by newsletter, Facebook and email to committee members. Joining the committee is a great way of being involved in school policies, fundraising, and some school events, input into your students wellbeing and any other general business that arises at each meeting.
Stay safe Foxwell families, and for those in isolation, I wish you a speedy recovery
Warm wishes
Roz Rowe
P&C President