Parenting In The Digital World

Last Thursday evening, Ryan from The Alannah and Madeleine Foundation spoke with parents at Scoresby PS about Parenting in the Digital World. His presentation was fantastic and covered many areas of concern for us all. Devices of all description are becoming the new normal for families, mums and dads and, especially, our young people. During the talk, Ryan was painting the picture of children using devices as they would use a new bike – with support; “training wheels”. We tend to give them full control of their devices and, pretty soon after that, we potentially lose control of what our young people are doing, seeing and whom they are communicating with online.

Ryan spoke with great knowledge and clarity about the alarming issues of online safety, trust, openness and information. He directed us to the eSafety Guide which is a website that gives excellent information about apps and social media platforms for parents and children. Among US, Zoom, House Party, Snapchat, Roblox, Facebook, Minecraft are all listed, as well as many more. It was suggested by Ryan that parents read this information, and then read it again, together with your child. He was very much encouraging families to face the digital learning spaces together. I would have loved this information when my own children were going through the "exploring the digital world" phase.

Also during the talk, Ryan spoke about what children are seeing and watching, and what is being modelled to them from parents and other adults in their lives. Are we facing screens when we talk to our children, or are we giving them eye contact and showing our listening skills? Do we walk along and flick through Facebook? Do we watch TV while on devices? He thought we may need to review our own practices as adults and model the behaviour we want to see in our children. He also suggested that we explain to our children exactly what we are doing online, as a lot of our day-to-day business is now conducted online (paying bills and purchasing grocery shopping) these days.

The line between keeping your child cyber safe and disconnecting them from their peers is a very fine one. Long gone are the days of one phone in the kitchen for all members of the family to share! We need to embrace this new world and go forth with knowledge. Keeping young people off devices can isolate them from their peers. The eSmart website and eSafety guidelines are a good launching pad for families. I encourage you to look them up. See the flyer below for more links and information.

School Council Update

The first meeting of the new 2021 School Council was held last week. The meeting included the election of office bearers and the following members were duly elected to specific roles on our Council:

President – Erin Parkin

Vice President – Lisa Ross

Treasurer – Aaron Saint

Minutes Secretary – Sophie Lyon

Curriculum Days

School Council has approved the following dates as our final two Curriculum Days for the year:

Tuesday 15th June (this is the long weekend with the Queen’s Birthday on Monday 14th)
Monday 4th October (1st day of Term 4)

During these days, staff will be taking part in professional learning, continuing their work in the area Reading and Literacy, and using data to inform teaching.

Education Sub-Committee

Our Education Sub-committee provides an excellent opportunity for our parents/carers to contribute to our school community. Members of our community, including parents/carers, do not need to be on School Council in order to be a member of a sub-committee, and we warmly invite you to consider joining us this year.

The Education Sub-committee’s purpose is to develop school policies, contribute to the school’s curriculum plans, and help prepare for our school review in Term 3 2021. The sub-committee meets approximately once a month, via Webex, two weeks before the School Council meeting.

Please contact Nic Rheumer via email to nicole.rheumer@education.vic.gov.au if you would like to be a part of the Education Sub-Committee.

Prep Enrolments 2022

We are now accepting enrolments for Prep in 2022. If you are an existing family at the school who is intending to enrol a Prep student next year, please submit your enrolment form to the office ASAP. Enrolment forms can be found at the office or via the school website. School tours can also be booked.

Final Term 1 Assembly

Our final whole school Assembly for this term will be on Thursday 1st April and will start at 9.00am. We will be announcing the winners of the Easter raffle at this time.

End Of Term 1

Term 1 ends on THURSDAY 1st APRIL at 2.30pm. Please note the earlier finish time and day, as the next day is the Good Friday Public Holiday.

Term 2 starts on Monday 19th April at 9.00am.

Wishing everyone a restful and safe Easter break. We look forward to seeing everyone back at school next term on Monday 19th April.

SUE HARTLEY AND NICOLE RHEUMER

Scoresby Primary School Leaders

Year 5/6 News

Persuasive Writing