Cyber Safety Webinar by ySafe

What an informative session on all matters of cyber safety that affect our children! On Monday 6 September Yasmin London from ySafe, explained in detail to parents the different social media platforms commonly used by Australian school children.

As most parents know that although users are supposed to be 13 years or older, many primary students are on Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat. She explained the different features of each, the different risks with each and how parents can best protect their children, especially from bullying and predators. It was a real eye-opener to discover how the different platforms entice users to remain on the platform and how they tailor the experience for each child.

One of the points she made was that anyone you child interacts with, should be (a) someone whose first and last name they know (b) they should know them in real life (c) you, as their parent, also know this person and approve.

Yasmin went through strategies to help your children with cyber bullying, how to evaluate games suitability especially the multiplayer games, how to delay your child’s inadvertent exposure to pornography, the themes predators look for and suitable parental tools to assist your child.

We have a cyber safety hub for parents that has an enormous amount of relevant, up-to-date advice provided by a range of experts.

A link to a parent cyber safety webinar, similar to the one we had on Monday 6 September is here.  Click on that link to view the webinar again to remind you of the details of what Yasmin covered.

Student Voice Conference

On Monday 30 August, three members of Killara High’s SRC participated in a KSP (Killara Schools Partnership) Conference in which the topics of focus were online safety, cyberbullying and the many challenges of learning from home. At the conference we were able to give insight into how we deal with online safety, cyberbullying and online learning and share tips and tricks with the primary school students based on our own experiences.

The conference was divided into three main topics: how to avoid the dangers of the virtual world, how to handle cyberbullying situations and how to cope with the physical, intellectual and wellbeing demands of learning from home. Speakers from each primary school presented various strategies, providing a range of perspectives and insights that benefitted each participant. Some strategies to maintain our online safety were to avoid contact with people we don’t know, turn down strange invitations and deals, keep our personal information to ourselves, and be careful about what we download and post online.

Some other great points made were that we shouldn’t meet up with people we’ve only met online, and that those one in five kids who are bullied each day should talk to a trusted adult before the situation gets worse. Also we should take a screenshot of the harmful messages and show them to trusted adults (e.g. parents and teachers) and ignore the bully.

Others spoke about strategies to consider when learning from home, for example, we should establish a balanced, day-to-day learning and relaxation routine, stay active, take breaks, do “harder” tasks first, maintain a healthy diet and get some fresh air when we can.

Cai B from Year 9 recounts that as “one of the three student representatives from Killara High School, I thoroughly enjoyed the environment and the experience.” Jared A states that taking part in the conference of forty participants was “a great experience” because of the knowledge he gained. Jared has also said that the conference itself benefited him because “it was great to practise speaking to a lot of people.”

In summary, the KSP Conference was a great success due to the insightful and robust discussion led by each schools team of representatives.

Cai B, Jared A, Jodie L & Ivana L

SRC

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