From the Leadership Team

Respect and Social Media

One of Kilvington’s key philosophies is the intrinsic value of each student and the importance of respect being the cornerstone of every relationship. We are indeed fortunate that every day we see this demonstrated between teachers and students, at events such as Parent, Teacher and Student interviews and Open Mornings and, importantly, between students.

Just as it is important that we treat each other with respect in the ‘real world’, it is important that students are respectful to each other in the digital world.

You may be aware of the recent issues in a number of Melbourne schools where inappropriate images and videos of female students have been shared and rated. We all have a responsibility to consider the impact of what we say and do online. Unlike material stored on our phones and computers that can be deleted, once material is shared online, it is out there for good, and these things can impact not only students’ future job prospects, but their immediate aspirations to be School Captain, the lead in the Production, or Social Service representative.

Social media has provided our children with a new and exciting way of communicating with each other via multiple platforms. It is a way of communicating that can leave parents feeling out of touch and in the dark when it comes to their child and their ever increasing network of contacts and pursuit of how many ‘likes’ they can get.

It is important as parents that we discuss the content that our children are sharing with their friends, what is appropriate and what is not, and the consequences of sharing inappropriate material. At best it can be a suspension from School, at worst, removal from the School community.

Tips for Parents

• Keep up to date with how your child uses their mobile devices and new applications.
• Regularly discuss cyber safety and talk about issues your child may experience. By establishing these open and honest lines of communication your child is more likely to come to you if they experience a problem online.
• Monitor and supervise your pre-teen child when they are using the internet and mobile devices to ensure their safety.
• It may be necessary to use parental controls on mobile devices to establish limits on how and when children can access certain sites or games. It is important to note that parental controls should only be used in conjunction with open lines of communication with your child.
• Investigate filtering software for your home internet and restrictions on devices if appropriate.

Programs at Kilvington

At Kilvington, we regularly teach and run workshops on cyber safety and safe and ethical use of technology. It is part of our everyday language, and is part of the Digital Technologies curriculum and the Pastoral Care Program.  We are clear that technology use within the curriculum is an assistive ‘educational tool’ taught in much the same way as a calculator.

We take our duty of care seriously and protect the students and our network with a robust set of systems that prevent access to inappropriate sites/content and monitor as needed. Students and staff understand through our policies on acceptable use and the legal and privacy obligations we must all adhere to.

Earlier this month, as part of our Parent Education Program, we held a ‘Young People and Technology’ workshop where we addressed in detail a range of ‘flavour of the moment’ apps and social networking sites that are being used by our children and how to deal with these at home. Fact sheets from this session are included below and we encourage all parents to have a look at these.

2015 Annual Report

The Kilvington 2015 Annual Report is now available to download from our website.

Parent Portal – My Consents

You recently received notification that there has been an update to the Parent Portal to help simplify the student consent process and to ensure that we have the most up-to-date information on your child. 

If you have yet to complete these details, please log into the Parent Portal at your earliest convenience, where you will see the new My Consents tab. Once you click on this tab you will see a link called new. Please click on this and then complete each of consent sections and then save.

If you save your information and then wish to change something, you can click the edit link that appears in each section and make your changes. Please remember to save your updates.

For your child’s safety, we are unable to allow them to attend camps and excursions without your completed consent information.

A new addition is the Child Safety Code of Conduct. It is a requirement that all parents and guardians read this document and then tick yes once this is completed.

Jon Charlton, Principal, and Teresa Deshon, Deputy Principal.