From the Director of Student Culture & Character Development 

A warm welcome to everyone returning to Blue Mountains Grammar School this year. I hope you have all had a relaxing and enjoyable break and that your children are enthusiastic about returning to School. 

We have a number of events planned for this term beginning with Safe Internet Week in Week 2. As you are aware the amount of access our young people have to the internet can be a wondrous experience, but it can also be a debilitating one if key competencies have not been realised. 

Your young person’s access to social media means that their friends and others are always within easy communication of each other. While we do not encourage phones here at Grammar, we are realists and do allow them to come to school where necessary and be left in lockers during the day. However, most of the complaints about mistreatment or harassment on social media that I deal with at School begin in conversations outside of school and often late at night. As a result of these issues, I am often asked about which of these platforms is the best one to be used and how does a parent manage the wide access their child has once they are given a mobile phone. There is a plethora of advice available on this subject and a range of different opinions. Those opinions that are evidence based tend towards advising parents to resist giving access to social media to their young people until they are at least 17 years old; they recommend that no screens of any type should be in a young person’s bedroom, but that it should be a haven of safety, security and calm. I know the hardest thing is the fear of missing out that inspires the begging for the phone and free access. I recommend that if you need to give your child a phone, ensure you hold the password to any social media apps so you can check conversations; limit the number of apps as maintaining them can consume your child’s free time; try to avoid those apps that have little supervision from the provider such as Snapchat; and place a time limit on phone use at home. The best place to gain information on how to manage your young person in this area is on the website of the eSafety Commission – www.esafety.gov.au. They also have great advice on reporting methods if something does go wrong.

During Tutor lessons in Week 2 students will be discussing the use of social media specifically, as well as how to manage their conversations; how to withdraw from those conversations that are becoming negative or aggressive; and when it is time to report. Of course, we want to avoid messaging deteriorating to this degree and encourage students to save difficult conversations for a face to face discussion.

Our new Year 7 joined us this week and in line with the above we are offering the following webinar for parents and students in this cohort. Please see the information below along with registration details.

On the Same Page – An Interactive Web Event for Parents and Students of Year 7

BMGS is invested in growing young people who will make great choices now and into the future. The focus for this Webinar is to foster good conversations about subjects that can be confusing and encourage those conversations to happen regularly. Keeping the conversations going is a powerful parenting tool. As your young person moves into the Senior School they may experience new themes they find confronting. This webinar is an opportunity to start the conversation with your young person a range of subjects. It is an opportunity to equip them with the tools they need to reach out when challenges arise and empower them to build positive and healthy relationships. Feedback on this webinar from parents in past years has always been positive and many were thankful that the topics were raised.

It is important that both parent and child attend the webinar, however, I understand that this may not always be possible. The webinar is specifically for the parent and not for a child to attend on their own. 

Please find the link for registration below:

When: Feb 5, 2024 07:00 PM Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney

Topic: Blue Mountains Grammar - On the same page webinar

Register in advance for this webinar:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_J9pX_WLmSiGiNVhmWy_MMQ

Year 7 students will be provided with a booklet to bring home as a companion to the webinar.

Ms Jacqueline Haines

Director of Student Culture & Character Development