Where everyone is Welcome, Known and Nurtured!
Calendar Dates- What's on.
NOVEMBER
2nd Twilight Sports Carnival
6th School Closure Day
7th Melbourne Cup Day - Public Holiday
9th STEM MAD - National Presentation
9th Water Habitat & Ecosystems
9th 2024 Prep Orientation Day - Session 1
10th Parent Social - Wine & Cheese Night
13th Pollution Incursion Yr 3-6
17th Author Adam Wallace Incursion
23rd 2024 Prep Orientation Day - Session 2
24th Italian Day
PLEASE NOTE: SUPERVISION OF STUDENTS IS BETWEEN 8.40AM TO 3.45PM ON SCHOOL DAYS.
PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses as
we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen
From the Principal
Dear Families,
Yesterday in recognition of All Saint’s Day we remembered all saints and martyrs who are part of Christian history. Today, All Soul’s Day, we honour and pray for those who have passed. The Lord’s Prayer is fitting at this time as we pray the words that Jesus taught us.
All students are excited about the Twilight Sports tonight. We look forward to seeing parents and friends from 4.30pm onwards.
A reminder that there is no school on Monday. We wish all families a safe and happy long weekend and Melbourne Cup Day.
STEM MAD
Last term we celebrated the success of grade five and six students who participated in the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools STEM MAD competitions. The success continues for Belinda, Eliza, Jane and Zara. The girls design to make a wheelchair more effective has progressed to the national level of the competition. The presentations will take place at the Catholic Leadership Centre on Thursday 9 November. We wish the girls and Mrs Sherriff well.
Prep 2024 Orientation
Next week our Prep 2024 Orientation sessions begin. There are three sessions planned for the new students to enable them to become acquainted with the school. They will also attend on Wednesday 13 December when students from Grades Prep to Five will meet their 2024 classroom teachers.
Scholastic Book Fair
Next Wednesday and Thursday we are holding a Book Fair. Scholastic Books will be in the hall for the two days. All parents are carers are welcome to come in to browse or purchase at drop off or pick up time. Students will attend the Book Fair as a class throughout the day.
P&F Casino Night
The Parents and Friends Casino Night is scheduled for next Friday, 10 November. This presents an opportunity to share time with others, participate in activities while enjoying a glass or wine and cheese.
School Advisory Council Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting of the School Advisory Council is scheduled for Thursday 9 November at 8.15pm. All parents are welcome to attend the AGM. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require further information.
Author Visit
Renowned author Adam Wallace is visiting the school on Friday 17 November. Adam will spend time with the students sharing his passion and enthusiasm for writing.
Italian Day
We will celebrate Italian Day on Friday 24 November. Throughout the day the students will make pizzas for lunch and engage in Italian language and playtime activities. More information will be forwarded closer to the time.
School Assembly
School assemblies will continue on Friday mornings at 9.00am. The schedule for the class presentation follows.
| Date | Class |
| 03.11.23 | Grade 1/2 |
| 10.11.23 | Prep |
| 17.11.23 | No Assembly – Author Visit |
| 24.11.23 | General Assembly |
| 01.12.23 | Advent |
| 08.12.23 | Advent |
| 15.12.23 | Final School Assembly |
Warm Regards,
Michelle Worcester
Principal
YR 3-6 Zoom Session
Year 3-6 students participating in a zoom session on exploring media literacy with Matt Cosgrove and Eva Amores who wrote and illustrated “There Worst Week Ever” series.
Students had the opportunity to hear Matt and Eva talk about writing and illustrating the Worst Week Ever series. They took a closer look at, and critically reflected on examples of advertising, social media and news from their latest book in the series Thursday. Students also had an opportunity to participate in a live Q&A.
FIRE EDUCATION
Last Thursday the junior classes participated in Fire Ed session provided by Fire Rescue Victoria. The children learnt about what to do if they found themselves involved in a fire. They were also shown the equipment Fire Fighters wear and use to fight fires.
Student First Aid Training
Yesterday our students participated in First Aid Training provided by St John Ambulance Victoria. All levels participated and learnt skills that may help them assist someone in need.
We include the children's recount writing of the First Aid Session.
They read us a book and we learnt D is for Danger, R is for Response and S is for Send for help. -Teddy
I learnt how to help my friends when they get hurt. I learnt about how to look for dangers. -Juan
We learnt how to dial 000 when there is an emergency. -Nikki
If your friend is sick and not moving you shout 'Wake Up' and then squeeze their shoulders. Then you call 000. -Seah
D is for Danger, R is for Response and S is for Send. -Alexa
We practised dialling 000 and then pressed the green phone. -Patrick
We learnt what to do if our friend is sick. -Dominic
We learnt to help people if they get hurt. -Reet
On Wednesday we went to the library for a First Aid lesson, we learnt all about helping people when they are hurt. But we have to look for dangers first. After that lesson the man showed us a game to help us learn. The game was called First Aid Action Hero. If someone can't breathe, or if it's something big like breaking a bone or fainting or serious stuff like that, you call 000. -Agnes.
On Wednesday all the school went to learn about First Aid. We learnt about DRS, meaning look for Danger, Respond and Send for help. When we need help we can get a phone and find the button that says emergency, this is the way you can remember you have to make a zero and leave three of your fingers up. -Aria
Yesterday we all did First Aid, he showed us how to be safe. I learnt that you squeeze the shoulders to wake someone up. Then call 000 for ambulance, police and firefighters. We also got a certificate and he showed us a game. -Christopher
On Wednesday we did some very important learning about First Aid. We were taught what to do in an emergency. We also learnt that before we respond, we need to look for danger that might be in our way. If the person does not wake up or respond we call 000. -Francis.
Collecting Bread Tags
This term in STEM we are focusing on making small changes for a greener planet. We have placed a collection box at the school office to collect plastic bread tags. These will be sent to a company called Transmutation in Robe SA, who recycle bread tags to make bowls, pens, door knobs and other products.
https://www.transmutation.com.au/collections/remade-in-robe
Let's do our bit for a greener planet, please collect and donate plastic bread tags.
Thank you.
PREP - Baking Cookies
Our Prep class had a Cookie Baking experience this morning and the results were delicious.
PARENTS & FRIENDS
Casino Night NEXT WEEK - make sure to head over to trybooking to secure your tickets!
Thank you for your continued support of the school and the P&F.
Ashley Mitcham and Veronika McLindon
pandf@stphilipbbn.catholic.edu.au
See below for important P&F notices:
Casino Night
P&F are hosting a Casino night for Parents and Friends. Friday 10th November from 7pm to 10pm, Father Arnold Hall.$15 per person. A social event for parents and friends of the school to catch up and have some fun together! https://www.trybooking.com/CMJQB
Sports Carnival
Thank you so much to the Sports Committee for running today’s carnival - We all appreciate the hard work you’ve put into running the event. Looking to get involved?
Please contact: Stuart Andrews - 0416 111 776
Cake Raffle
Thank you for your tasty support of the cake raffle!
Here is the sign up sheet for term 4!
Cakes need to be delivered to the school office on Friday morning.
Please include your family name and ingredients.
Tuck Shop
Tuckshop is Closed Tomorrow 3rd November.
Thank you to Nicole and the tuck-shop team for running tuck-shop.
Looking to get involved? Please contact: Nicole George - 0409 253 863
Entertainment books are another piece to our fundraising puzzle. When you sign up you receive 12 months of discounts and offers - and our school benefits - 20% of every membership purchased goes to support our school!
https://subscribe.entertainment.com.au/fundraiser/9a27151
COMMUNITY
Urgent update on Roblox and Online Safety
I want to share some crucial insights and feedback from our discussions with Primary school-age children over the past few weeks, focusing on the online gaming platform - Roblox.
Roblox, as you would all be aware, has captured our children's imagination, especially in years 3-6, becoming a significant part of their online world. However, some aspects of this virtual playground require immediate attention and action as parents and guardians.
During our sessions, my team and I have seen a noticeable increase in the number of young students interacting with strangers within the game, engaging in chats and in-game activities that sometimes cross safety boundaries. In instances where children were asked to role-play as a girlfriend/boyfriend, mum/dad, nurse, or doctor, and offers of free in-game currency (Robux) in exchange for more often than not, inappropriate interactions were reported to us. In some cases, we have had to report these to the police.
Roblox has privacy settings and features that allow us to safeguard our children's online experiences. These tools enable us to restrict who can communicate with our young ones and what content they can access, but it doesn't stop what they can see. But do not rely on this to keep your kids safe. It does not prevent them from seeing things that are wildly inappropriate.
Some of the content has become a sex fetish -if you search "Roblox Sex" online, you will get millions of links to adult entertainment websites where Roblox videos have been uploaded. I am very concerned that some of these "Roblox Sex" videos may be children's avatars engaged in these acts - there is no way to tell. Children have reported what is nothing short of in-game sexual assault to me on more than one occasion, which has been reported to the police. As far as we know, only one major Adult Entertainment company has made the word Roblox and all of the ways it may be written (R.O.B.L.O.X for example to circumvent security) completely unsearchable on their sites.
Our active involvement, guidance, and open communication are pivotal. Let's foster an environment where our children feel comfortable discussing their online experiences, assuring them they can always turn to us or a trusted adult without fear of being banned from games or devices. They will speak up without fear so we can help them stay safe. There are concerning behaviours being normalised on Roblox, such as children's avatars lying next to strangers' avatars or encountering avatars lying around together in underwear.
At Safe on Social, we educate children to perceive their interactions on Roblox as visiting a place rather than merely playing a game. We encourage them to envision Roblox as visiting a vast shopping centre alone. Imagine if your child was wandering alone in a real-life shopping mall, and a stranger offered them money for inappropriate activities. The immediate reaction would be to flee, seek a trusted adult, and report the incident to authorities. We emphasise that the same safety principles should apply online within platforms like Roblox. Talk to them about Roblox like they are going to a shopping mall. We aim to cultivate a sense of online vigilance and safety among children, encouraging them to respond to uncomfortable online situations with the same urgency and seriousness as they would in real-life unsettling encounters.
Please learn to navigate the online playgrounds your kids are in, ensuring that your children's online adventures are safe, respectful, and joyous. Making sure they know it is safe to speak up is a great place to start.
You can download our free guide to Roblox here
Warm regards,
Kirra Pendergast - CEO Safe on Social Group
Sydney - Brisbane - London - New York - Florence
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The purchase of a candle can assist
