LEEMING SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL vOLume 3, 28 May 2025

Attendance communications will be going to all families who have unexplained absences or have low attendance rates/concerns this term. Please ensure that communications about absence from school are communicated to the Attendance Officers, using the Compass app where possible.

Medical Conditions

If your child has or develops a medical condition, for example asthma, anaphylaxis, diabetes or epilepsy please contact the school for an Action Plan so that we can manage your child’s medical condition appropriately whilst they are at school.

Anaphylaxis Action Plan: If your child has been diagnosed with anaphylaxis please remember to update your child’s action plan every 12 to 18 months, or when you update their EpiPen.

Flu Season

It's the time of year when children are getting lots of coughs and colds. Parents and guardians, please keep your child at home from school if they are unwell, have the flu, head cold or cough as the start is when they are most contagious. Remember to rest, drink plenty of water and treat the symptoms with medication if needed, ensure to follow up with doctor if no improvement.

Please maintain a high standard of good hygiene, e.g. cover your nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing, wash your hands after coughing, sneezing and blowing your nose and discard your tissues in the bin and wash your hands after.

It is a good idea to always carry a bottle of hand sanitiser with you. This all helps to prevent the spread of infection. Flu vaccines are available FREE from the chemist for the months of May & June. For more information contact your GP, local Immunisation Clinic or visit the Department of Health website.

It takes up to two weeks for protection to develop after vaccination against flu and protection lasts about a year. The National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia's peak body for health advice, recommends annual vaccination for anyone six months of age or older who wants to reduce their chances of becoming ill with the flu.

Asthma News

Asthma is a chronic lung condition affecting up to one in nine children under 15 and one in 10 teens and adults. It's a leading cause of school absences and childhood hospital admissions. Tragically, some asthma-related deaths occur each year—many of them preventable. With proper management, its impact can be greatly reduced. As winter begins, people with asthma, along with their families and carers, are urged to ensure their condition is well managed.

The Asthma Foundation is advising people to contact them if they or a family member does not have a written Asthma Action Plan, have not had their asthma reviewed by their GP in the last six months, or are having asthma symptoms at least weekly.

I urge all parents, children and family members who have asthma to visit your doctor at least every six months to check your asthma and discuss your written Asthma Action Plan.

If your child has Asthma, please make sure that they always carry their Asthma First Aid treatment (Ventolin/Asmol) with them.

Spray Deodorants

Reminder to parents that students are not allowed to bring spray deodorants to school as they may trigger an asthma attack! Students can bring roll on deodorants and pump spray deodorant to school.

World Health Organisation & Department of Health Updates

World No Tobacco Day 31 May 2025 – Bright Products, Dark Intentions, Unmasking the Appeal

Vaping

The use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), or vaping has been proposed as a safe, or safer, alternative to the smoking of tobacco products. E-cigarettes contain many chemicals, often with known harmful effects, and there is a growing body of research that demonstrates that vaping has adverse health impacts.

It isn’t clear, how much safer vaping is compared to smoking, but it is clear that it is not safe. The only known safe alternative to smoking is to quit.

Appealing flavours, but hidden dangers.

Shameless manipulation of our children, for industry profit. Every day, tobacco and nicotine industries use carefully engineered products and deceptive tactics to hook a new generation of users and keep existing ones. Keep the industry out!

Exposing lies, protecting lives: Unmask the appeal of tobacco and nicotine products.

• An estimated 37 million children aged 13-15 years worldwide use tobacco. In many countries the rate of e-cigarette use of young people exceeds that of adults.
• Marketing content promoting e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches and heated tobacco products has been viewed more than 3.4 billion times on social media platforms.

There are about 16,000 unique flavours so it's not surprising that flavours are often cited as the number one reason for initiation of nicotine and tobacco products use.

Tobacco and nicotine industries use insidious strategies to make their harmful products appealing, especially to young people. Manipulative product designs, attractive flavours, and glamourized marketing create a false sense of security and evoke desirability.

We need to break the illusion. Nicotine and tobacco products are highly addictive and designed to sustain use, trapping users in a cycle of dependence. Additives mask the harshness of tobacco, making it easier to start and harder to quit.

No more ‘candy coating.’ Removing the appeal of these products through stricter regulations is essential to protecting current and future generations from harm.

Don’t let the tobacco and nicotine industries trick people with their playbook. Let’s stand together and make it crystal clear: No more tricks, no more traps.

Here’s how you can help:

1. Ban flavours. Make flavours a thing of the past.
2. Plain packaging. Reduce appeal, save lives.
3. Regulate product design. Less appealing, less addictive, less toxic, less harm
4. Ban advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Out of sight, out of mind.
5. Tobacco and nicotine-free public places. Clear air is everyone’s right.
6. Support quitting. Break the cycle of nicotine addiction.
7. Increase taxes. Make it less affordable and less accessible.

Smoking

What’s in a cigarette?

Cigarettes are made from the dried leaves of the tobacco plant after they have been treated with many different chemicals. Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, and many of these cause cancers. Some of the chemicals found in cigarette smoke include:

• Arsenic (also found in white ant poison).
• Hydrogen cyanide (the poison used in gas chambers in World War II).
• Benzene (also found in petrol).
• Acetone (also found in paint stripper and nail polish remover).

Facts about smoking:

• Approximately 80% of Australian adults don’t smoke.
• Most Australian adults who do smoke say that they wish they had never started smoking and that they would like to stop.
• Around 80% of Australian smokers have tried to quit at some point.
• Almost 93% of young people aged 12 to 17 years do not smoke.
• People who start smoking in their teen years are more likely to become regular smokers, smoke more heavily, have difficulties quitting and are at greater risk of getting smoking related diseases.

Smoking is the largest cause of preventable death in Australia and about 245 Western Australians have body organs partially or completely removed because of problems caused by smoking each year. For more information on smoking, go to www.oxygen.org.au and www.quit.org.au.

Help Your Child to be a Non-Smoker

Set a good example by being a non-smoker. If you have found quitting difficult and are still a smoker, tell your child how you feel about it.

Reinforce the non-smoking messages. Make your house and car smoke-free zones. Don’t send your child to buy cigarettes or allow them to light cigarettes for yourself or others. If there are smokers in the house, keep cigarettes where children cannot access them. Discuss the issue of smoking with your child when you see others smoke.

Educate your children about the dangers of smoking. Explain the long-term risks but emphasise the immediate risks to their health and wellbeing (for example, bad breath, stained teeth and fingers and less money in their pocket). Explaining the long-term risks may not have much of an impact, as young people can find it difficult to imagine 20 or 30 years into the future.

A Final Note

Can you believe we’re already halfway through the term? It’s been a busy and exciting few weeks, and there’s still plenty more to come as we head into the second half! Wishing you and your children a smooth and successful remainder of the term.

Mrs D. Kitak, School Nurse

This Month on SchoolTV

In today's fast-moving world, many boys are struggling to find direction. Even well-meaning online searches about fitness, confidence or relationships can lead them to content that promotes rigid or unhealthy ideas about masculinity. The critically acclaimed TV show 'Adolescence' has brought fresh attention to this issue, highlighting how boys are often exposed to messages that glorify toughness and dominance, while dismissing empathy and emotional openness.

These outdated beliefs can limit emotional growth and impact how boys relate to others - with real consequences in schools, homes and communities. That's why it's more important than ever to guide boys with care, clarity and connection.

By offering healthier role models, safe spaces to talk, and encouraging respectful friendships - especially across genders - we can help boys develop the confidence, empathy and relationship skills they need to thrive.

This special report calls for a cultural shift and advocates for curiosity-driven dialogue that builds trust and critical thinking. The goal is to raise boys who are not just resistant to harmful influences, but actively capable of questioning and rejecting them.

Access the SchoolTV - Shaping Healthy Masculinity article by clicking here.