Dear Armstrong Creek Community,

Welcome back for Term 4! What a wonderful start we have had. The first two weeks of the term have been filled with plenty of activities and adventures and some terrific learning. Term 4 is my favourite term at school, generally the weather is better and we are preparing for 2025!

I am excited to see the End of Year celebration come to life in November and look forward to seeing more of you as I move around the school each day. Thank you to many of you who have reached out and spoken with me and continue to welcome me so warmly.

What a great place to be apart of.

Prep Writing Thursday 19/9/2024

Our wonderful prep students had been working hard on their writing in class last term. It was lovely to see how proud they were to share their work with the Principal Class Team - well done!

Social Media 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. The Department of Education recognises this important issue and has developed fact sheets about supports to help keep students safe online and what to do if they are involved in an online incident. The fact sheets contain links to evidence-based information on supporting positive and safe online experiences, signs a child or young person might need support, what to do if something unsafe happens online, and where to reach out to for more support.

To access the fact sheets, refer to the Safe Socials webpage.

The fact sheets are available in 19community languages. The government is also launching public consultation on age limits for social media. You and your children can share your experiences to inform proposed changes via an online survey, before 5 pm on Friday 1 November 2024.

For more information on the survey and to take part, refer to the Proposed changes to social media age limits on the Engage Victoria website via the link below:

If you have any queries about this information, you can contact the department by email:bullystoppers@education.vic.gov.au

Thunderstorm Asthma – Be prepared this pollen season

Grass pollen season, which typically runs from October to December each year in Victoria, brings an increase in asthma and hay fever symptoms. It also increases the risk of thunderstorm asthma. For people with asthma or hay fever, especially those who experience wheezing or coughing with their hay fever, thunderstorm asthma can be sudden, serious and even life threatening.

ACS will implement a range of measures to keep our school community safe as the risk of thunderstorm asthma increases. Many of our staff are trained in asthma first aid, and we will monitor the VicEmergency app to receive thunderstorm warnings, and, where appropriate, keep students indoors when weather forecasts identify greater risk.

During the season, there are some things you can do to prepare and protect yourself and your family:

• If your child has ever had asthma, talk to your doctor about what you can do to help protect them from the risk of thunderstorm asthma this pollen season, including updating your asthma action plan. Taking an asthma preventer properly and regularly is key to preventing asthma, including thunderstorm asthma.

• If your child has hay fever, see your pharmacist or doctor for a hay fever treatment plan and check if you should have an asthma reliever puffer. These are available from a pharmacy without a prescription.

• If your child has hay fever and experiences wheezing and coughing, it is important to make sure they don’t also have asthma. Speak to your doctor about an asthma action plan.

• Where possible, avoid being outside during thunderstorms from October to December, especially during the wind gusts that come before the storm. Go inside and close your doors and windows. If you have your air conditioning on, turn it to ‘recirculate’.

Have a great weekend!

Armstrong Creek School Newsletter

Care, Collaboration, Commitment

Issue 11 · 18 Oct 2024

In this issue