Canvas for climate concerned kids Brodie Cowburn brodie@baysidenews.com.au STUDENTS have put their minds and hands together to create an artwork to shine a spotlight on the effects of climate change. Frankston High School teacher Emily Vogt said her students were driven to make the piece after hearing about environmental damage. “As one of the focuses for their middle school elective, students are inspired to make art about issues that concern them. Recently we had environment assemblies that touched students, so we thought about how we could use that to communicate our concerns about global warming,” Ms Vogt said. Year 9 and 10 students at the school worked together over a long period of time to create two pieces that showcased their concerns. Ms Vogt said a lot of hard work had gone in from the students. “Both pieces are constructed with various types of paper, the students prototyped paper as a construction tool and the techniques they would us. We used paper of different thicknesses, tissue paper, and some wire,” she said. “Over 40 students were involved. For each class it took about a month after research and prototyping. “We had such a good reception to it as well from people at the arts show, I think it’s something that really touches the public and concerns them. On the peninsula we are lucky to have the beaches we have, and we should protect them.” Telling signs: Student artworks at Frankston High School were designed to send a message about looking after the environment. Pictures: Supplied
Therapy robots to help those living through family violence Brodie Cowburn brodie@baysidenews.com.au KINGSTON Council have approved a $182,000 grant for a project that would see young children who have lived through family violence work with robots during therapy sessions. The “Little Sparks to Bright Minds” therapy program aims to help kindergarten and early primary aged children through the recovery process after family violence experiences. The program, supported by the Emerge
Women and Children’s Support Network, will see robots called “Matilda” working with therapists and teachers to keep children engaged during one on one therapy sessions. The robots were developed by Professor Rhavij Khosla from La Trobe University. Emerge executive officer Paula Westhead said “a successful pilot project has been run with toddlers and would now be expanded to meet the needs of children.” “The program will be facilitated by therapists and child case workers who are experienced in addressing psychological problems that many traumatised children face. For instance, some children may speak slowly
or not all, while some cannot comprehend what is being said, read or conveyed. These children are often in need of extra support and may lack initiative and confidence,” she said. Kingston mayor Cr Georgina Oxley said “this new partnership between Emerge and Kingston Council has the potential to break new ground in Victoria, supporting children to recover from the trauma experienced due to family violence.” “It links with Kingston’s family violence strategy, will make a positive difference in our community, and we hope to see the pilot program rolled out to other areas across Melbourne,” she said.
Theatre visits capped Continued Page 1 Mayor Cr Michael O’Reilly told The Times “as part of the hiring contract, the Frankston Arts Centre has access to 20 house seats per theatre performance. The intent for the usage/allocation of the house seats is for audience and business development initiatives both for Council and the person hiring the theatre.” “While under no obligation to report on the use of house seats, in its continued effort to improve transparency, at the council meeting on Monday 22 October [we] resolved to cap the number of events a councillor can attend each year and include the cost of these tickets if sold, along with the frequency of councillor use, in its councillor expense reports.” While there was no breach of the rules at the time, council agreed almost unanimously to amend the guidelines so as to limit attendances going forward. Cr Kris Bolam said at the 22 October meeting that “no mass misuse” of ratepayer’s money had occurred, but a cap should be implemented. “Having access to house seats is not a good use of ratepayer’s money, and I believe having a cap is appropriate,” he said Cr Sandra Mayer said “we did have a lot of debate about what was reasonable in terms of house seats go.” “I’ve served on the board on many years and yes, I’ve had a good run with tickets, and I am going to kerb how many shows I go to,” she said. Cr Quinn McCormack, who was one of just three councillors alongside Crs Glenn Aitken and Lillian O’Connor to take up less than $100 worth of free tickets in the period between November 2016 and June 2018, said the cap should be reduced to zero. “I don’t think councillors should be accessing free complimentary tickets to the Arts Centre. I don’t believe the executive management should be accessing free tickets to the Arts Centre. If you want to attend a performance at the Arts Centre you should pay your way as any other member of the community would,” she said. The motion was coupled with changes to council’s policy on claiming cab charge expenses. All councillors voted in favour of making the changes except for Cr Glenn Aitken, who opposed. Council corporate development director Tim Frederico confirmed the new caps would also apply to council officers. Ticket cap: Cr Steve Toms had made most use of free Arts Centre tickets. Picture: Supplied
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Frankston Times 18 December 2018
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