Staying healthy this Flu season
The cool weather and the time of the academic year often sees a spike in illness among students in Term 3. While some things are unavoidable, here are some tips to give you child’s body a fighting chance this flu season:

• Stock up on immune-boosting superfoods
  One of the best defences is to look at what goes into your body. Green vegetables, mushrooms and honey all help with boosting your immune system.
• Get enough sleep
  I have communicated the poor sleep trends of teenagers via the newsletter, and yet sleep remains one of the best defences for fighting illness.
  
• Don’t forget probiotics
  Probiotics can boost the immune system making them effective in fighting illness. Probiotics can be found naturally in fermented foods like yoghurt but there are plenty of other options readily available in shops.
  
• Seek stress relief
  Stress takes its toll on your body. Helping to manage stress, especially with good time management around assessment time, while help your body be at its fighting best when defending against illness. Adequate rest is important.

While attendance at school is important for ensuring the continuity of learning, families are encouraged to keep children at home to rest if they are not fit for learning through illness. Adequate rest and recovery times will ensure their body will be back on top in the shortest time possible.  

Middle Years Camps  
Our Year 7 students have avoided much of the cold snap by heading off on camp early Monday morning. They are now enjoying learning in more outdoor classrooms along the Fraser Coast region of the Sunshine State. Even though the weather has been cold in Hervey Bay, it has not hit the negative temperatures that we have been experiencing this last week. Please jump onto the Facebook page to follow their adventures in Maryborough, Hervey Bay, and on Fraser Island- K’gari.

Later this term, our Year 8 students will depart on their camp. They do not travel quite so far as they make their way to the Bunya Mountains and the surrounding region to learn and experience learning in HASS outside of the normal classroom.

Not to be outdone, the Year 5 students have their camp early in Term 4 and will be heading down to Brisbane and Saint Helena Island for their camp focusing on learning in HASS, Science, Religion.

Online Safety – Awareness

Safe on Social is an organisation that highlights the importance of protecting privacy online and exploring the growing threats of sextortion and deepfakes. The organisation aims to be proactive while sharing awareness-based solutions that guide individuals on how to interact confidently in an online world. I recently listened to a podcast hosted by Kirra Pendergast and Madeleine West, that provided a number of practical steps to safeguard yourself and your loved ones, and some of their suggestions and tips will be shared with you below.

About the presenters

	Kirra Pendergast	An advisor and consultant in youth online safety. Founder of the group Safe on Social and principal consultant.
	Madeleine West	Actor and advocate for online safety. West, herself a victim of a deepfake, now advocates for and educates about online safety.

What is a deepfake?
This is an image or recording that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said. It is not just an image.

Face swapping

Deepfake software can replace one person’s face with another’s in videos and photos, creating highly convincing yet fabricated portrayal

Lip Syncing

Deepfakes can make a person’s lips appear to precisely match different audio, giving the illusion they are speaking words they never said

Voice Cloning

Deepfake AI can analyse a person’s voice patterns and then generate a synthetic version that mimics their unique speech with uncanny accuracy.

The danger associated with advancing technology, especially in the mobile phone app market, is that the Deepfakes output is becoming increasingly more sophisticated, while at the same time, the user input effort is being gradually minimised. Basically, AI is doing the heavy lifting. A decade ago, access to the software that could manipulate images in such a way was costly and simply out of reach for most people. These days the AI-powered digital manipulations are quick and easy for the user, usually directly from a phone app that may cost a few dollars or even be free to download.

While it is often reported that people initially created fake content as a joke, the implications of deepfakes are real and significant. Modern criminals also use this technology for enabling identity theft, the spread misinformation, and to exploit individuals.

For those who are interested, in the table below there are some recent news stories relating to the creation of deepfake content and its impact on school aged children.

Deepfake stories make the News recently

Safe on Social have identified some common dangers associated with deepfakes that parents need to be aware of so that protective measures are put in place.

So, what can parents do to help their child?

1) Protective Strategies

Strong passwords	Keep software updated	Avoid phishing scams	Report Deepfake content
Create lengthy, unique passwords, and store them securely.	Regularly update your devices and software to ensure that you have the latest security patches and protections.	Be wary of suspicious emails and messages, as they may be attempts to steal your personal information.	If you discover a deepfake involving you or someone you know, promptly report it to the hosting platform and law enforcement.

2) Responding to online coercion

I strongly encourage families being the process of discussing the dangers of online activity with their child. Unfortunately, the reality is that it is a matter of when children come across a phishing scam or a fake account as opposed to if they do. I’m sure every parent can recall the stories of a Prince from different country just needing bank details to get money out of the country or those dodgy emails that indicate that you may won the European lottery … again … without every buying a ticket and if you simply provide some personal details the millions can make their way to you. These old scams are comical today, and yet worked on some victims not that long ago. These days the scammers and their scams have become more sophisticated, may involve incriminating deepfake content about yourself, and are far more believable than ever.

Scamwatch.gov.au reports the following scary data relating to online scams for 2024:

 If you or anyone you know has been impacted, please feel free to access the following supports:

• Lifeline – https://www.lifeline.org.au/
• Headspace Australia - https://headspace.org.au/
• Beyond Blue - https://www.beyondblue.org.au/
• eSafety Commissioner - https://www.esafety.gov.au/
• Crimestoppers Qld - https://www.crimestoppersqld.com.au/

Craig Cullen

Assistant Principal Middle Years