Vice Principal 

& Wellbeing

Social Media and Online Safety

Parents and carers play an important role in supporting their children to be safe online and on social media. You can help your children safely navigate their digital world and educate them to avoid harmful online experiences. You can explore websites, games, apps and social media together and set some rules and boundaries.

Your support and guidance can give your children the knowledge to make sound decisions online and confidence to ask for help when they need it. It is also important to stay informed about online safety.

Have a look at the Victorian Government's Safe Socials page for information on how you can stay up to date with how to manage your child's access to online content and how to support and protect them in the digital world.

https://www.vic.gov.au/safe-socials-parents-and-carers-primary 

The e-Safety Commission also has a wealth of information and tips for parents but also some great interactive games and activities for children and young people.

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents 

Parental Controls

It is important that as parents and carers, we are aware of the potential dangers that open up when children enter the online world. Being in control of your child's usage and access can help to minimise the risk. Having open and transparent conversations with your children about what they are playing and who they are chatting to is the best way to gauge how they interact online. 

Parental controls are software tools that allow you to monitor and limit what your child sees and does online.  

They can be set up to do things like: 

• Block your child from accessing specific websites, apps or functions (like using a device’s camera, or the ability to buy things). 
• Filter different kinds of content — such as ‘adult’ or sexual content, social media pages and pages with content that may promote self-harm, eating disorders, violence, drugs, gambling, racism and terrorism. 
• Limit who can communicate with your child, and manage the apps they can use to communicate with others.
• Allow you to monitor your child’s use of connected devices, with reports on the sites they visit and the apps they use, how often and for how long.  
• Set time limits, blocking access after a set time. 

If a device or program is shared by multiple members of your family, you should be able change the tool settings to reflect each user’s age and skills.

Social Emotional Learning at St Mary's

Below you will find the Wellbeing overview for the next 2 weeks. This format was previously in a slide which was difficult to open from certain devices. We hope that this format is easier for you to read. This week's SEL focus is Resilience and we have provided a simplistic overview for parents so that you can visit this theme at home.