It would not be right if I did not start this newsletter by acknowledging the amazing feats of our Kids Literature team in Edinburgh. The team recently represented New Zealand and placed 3rd in the World Kids Lit final which is a significant achievement. Once again congratulations must go to Ella Brownlie, Darcy Cox, Josh Kirk and Gabe Ford and also Mrs Jenny Armitage as behind every great team is an amazing coach. As a school we are extremely proud of this achievement and it was great to back up the 2nd placing last year with a 3rd in 2010. 

 

Last week we held our annual BIS Idol competition with the heats running during lunchtimes and the finals taking place on Friday during assembly. This year we had more participants enter than ever before and once again this highlighted the many talents of the students at BIS. I was so impressed with all of the students who made the most of this opportunity and were prepared to perform on stage in front to their peers. The final performances on Friday were of an extremely high standard and I was pretty stoked not to be one of the judges making decisions about the place getters. Congratulations to Ella Cornfield, Phoebe Johnson and the duet of Lily MacDonald and Jessica Male who were placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively.

 

I have recently been reading some research around the use of information and communication technology (ICT) by emerging adolescents. There is no doubt that access to online information is an integral part of teaching and learning in the 21st Century. It is important that we educate our students to become responsible users of ICT’s including the internet. It is a concern when you hear about the risks young people are exposing themselves to through use of social networking websites such as Bebo, TeenSpot and Facebook.

 

These websites are accessed by our students with the intent of communicating and connecting with friends, however the reality is that the information provided reaches a far wider audience. 

 

Although we use Watchdog as an internet filter to help keep our students safe online, it is vital that we educate individuals to look after themselves.   In order to support the school and its endeavour to empower students to become responsible users of ICT’s, the following safety tips for parents are suggested:

 

·    Don’t ban your children from the internet

·    Start an open dialogue and talk about the benefits and risks associated with the world wide web 

·    Drum into your children to never give out personal information or post images online

·    Do not rely on the safety policies of social networking sites

 

My advice to you as a parent is to check your child’s online pages – if they are doing nothing wrong they will have nothing to hide.