Engagement & Wellbeing

Keeping Students Safe Online

Do you know who is in your child’s messenger or chat groups? What parental controls does your child’s device have? What content are they accessing online, what is being shared with them, and what are they sharing with others? Is your child safe online?

It's essential for parents to stay informed and proactive regarding online safety for their children. Advertising campaigns, media coverage, and articles, such as the impactful piece by the “Barefoot Investor” Scott Pape last week, have emphasised the importance of keeping children safe when using devices. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can read it here - https://www.barefootinvestor.com/articles/this-is-the-hardest-thing-ive-ever-written.

Parents often report concerns to us at school; however, it is challenging to address issues occurring at home, after school hours, and on weekends. Unfortunately, we are aware that some students have encountered inappropriate content via messaging or have accessed content by misrepresenting their age.

As a school, we will continue to educate students about how to remain safe online, as well as implementing our Respectful Relationships and School Wide Positive Behaviour programs. We also use JAMF to manage and control device access while at school.  

We would strongly encourage all families to have age appropriate conversations and a plan for how you monitor and support your child’s online safety and access to information at home. 

Consider the following steps to enhance your child’s online safety:

• Ensure strong security and parental controls are in place on all devices (there is a JAMF parent control you can use).
• Define specific areas of the house where devices can be used (avoiding bedrooms and bathrooms).
• Allow access only to age-appropriate apps, games, and websites.
• Identify safe people your child will talk to if worried about something they have seen online.
• Block and report anyone sharing inappropriate content and remove students from these groups.
• Set time limits for device use.

The eSafety commission also have a lot of useful advice for parents - https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents 

By working together, we can help create a safe online environment for our students.  

Smile Squad Is Coming To This School - Free School Dental Program

Please see last week’s newsletter for more information about the Smile Squad program and if you wish your child to participate, sign up to:

Sign up to Smile Squad at: https://bit.ly/smilesquadvic OR use the below QR code:

You can find out more about the Smile Squad program HERE

Smile Squad dental packs

All children deserve a healthy smile, and the Smile Squad free school dental program is working hard to help make sure this happens.

Your child(ren) will soon receive a free dental pack to bring home. The dental pack contains a toothbrush, full sized toothpaste, and an oral health brochure. Please take the time to read the brochure. It’s full of helpful hints and tips to help your whole family eat well, drink well and clean well – for life.

Bunjil Awards

Congratulations to the following students who received a Bunjil Award at last week’s 5/6 school assembly:

Bunjil awards recognise student achievement and those who display our school values of being respectful, responsible and kind.

Well done! All of our recipients enjoyed a hot chocolate or zooper dooper with the principal today.