Digital Learning

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all looking forward to a great school holiday break. The holidays can present greater opportunity for our students to engage in online activities such as gaming, messaging, creative designing and accessing social media. As always, we encourage families to have open conversations about the things students are doing online.

Below are a number of links to help guide families with conversations about staying safe online as well as resources to help families have a better understanding of the types of games students are accessing. 

Taming Gaming – video game information for parents https://www.taminggaming.com/

Dolly’s Dream – Family Tech Plan -  https://dollysdream.org.au/family-tech-plan/#/ 

eSafety Commissioner – eSafety Guide Informs parents/guardians about the latest games, apps and social media, including how to protect personal information  https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/esafety-guide

Digitalk –Promoting content for parents to support their kids online  https://www.alannahandmadeline.org.au/learning-resources/digitalk?showing=18

Common Sense Media – reviews a range of content students can access from games and social media apps to TV shows and movies  - 

 https://www.commonsensemedia.org/       

This term our Grade 2 and Grade 3 students have been working on their publishing skills with brand new wired keyboards. Students have been learning and developing their typing skills on the keyboards and navigating the layout of a physical keyboard. 

Some areas that were focussed on were the use of caps lock and the shift buttons for capital letters, exclamation marks and question marks. Students also practised including page breaks, using the return button for a new line and importantly, naming their files correctly.

We are all looking forward to reading our students newly published work in the future!

Warm regards,

Steven Puhar

Apps List 2023

Digital Statement

Williamstown Primary School acknowledges the recent Human Rights Watch report on Edutech in privacy violations and findings. 

Williamstown Primary works closely with the DET’s Digital Learning and privacy teams to ensure that all DET guidelines regarding the implementation of digital devices are followed.

Attached is the school’s digital statement outlining the online platforms and their privacy policies that the school uses on a day-to-day basis. 

As part of the school’s ongoing student education, the school will further enhance key understandings around user privacy, as well as the tools available on selected devices.

This will be embedded within the current school’s eSafety program that currently sees students undertake numerous digital workshops run by both school leadership, classroom teachers and external providers such as the Alannah and Madeline Foundation’s eSmart organisation.

Parents are advised of a key iPad feature to turn tracking off. This feature will be explicitly demonstrated to students within the school-based workshops.

Go to Settings > Privacy > Tracking.

The list shows the apps that requested permission to track you. You can turn permission on or off for any app on the list.

To stop all apps from asking permission to track you, turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track (at the top of the screen).

Williamstown Primary Digital Information

Below is a link to the schools Digital Learning page. This page contains key information about the school's implementation of the digital technology curriculum as as a tool within a blended learning environment.

JB HiFi Digital Purchase Portal 2023

The JB HiFi purchase portal is again available for Willy PS families. The schools recommended minimum specification device is the iPad Gen 9, but the portal does also offer a range of iPad models and accessories. Although students have access to bluetooth keyboards we also recommend the Smart Keyboard or a 3rd party keyboard incorporated within the cover. This accessory will add value to the users experience.

Please also note the change in School Code.

Although the portal is set up through JB HI-FI on behalf of the school, we encourage families to explore all purchase options.

School Code: WilliamstownPS2023

Further GoogleSuite for Education Information 

Please find attached documents released by DET.

The first document gives a deeper understanding of the DET licences G Suite for Education, how it is set up and how it differs from the public Google platform.

The second document provides families with supporting resources on how to protect individuals privacy online.

The Department of Education information pack for parents is available from the following link:

http://williamstownps.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/2020-GoogleSuite-Parent-Information.pdf