Principal's News

Cyber Safety

Technology is developing at such an amazing rate that we are constantly having to update our skills and ideas about how it can enrich our lives and how we need to protect ourselves and our children.

All of this makes the management of technology a mine field for our children and therefore for us as educators and parents. Parents need to stay abreast of what their children are using and how they are using it, they need to embrace the technology themselves so they understand the possible issues their child may face as they navigate the ever growing programs/apps out there. We need to know what our children are using and who has access to them whilst they are on the internet.

There are so many platforms that attract our children, who are craving access to friends and make connections outside school hours. All of these sites have an age restriction, which is usually 13 years old. That would mean primary school aged children are not using these sites, however we are aware that this is not the case.

Help for Parents

Parents can download and install software that assist them to manage their child’s use of these apps and the use of their mobile devices. For further information on this please visit

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents, http://sipbench.eu/

The following web page has a list of parent control tools that have been tested: http://sipbench.eu/index.cfm/secid.7/secid2.4#tools

There are a number of great sites around that can assist parents and children to understand the complexities of the technology they are living with. A great place to start is the eSafety Commissioner's site: https://www.esafety.gov.au/

There are some basic safeguards all parents can put in place to help protect their child:

Keep your home computer is a busy area of your house and don’t allow your child to access the internet on their personal/mobile devices in unsupervised areas.
Understand the importance of technology in your child’s life, in particular the importance of online friendships and peer groups.
Set up email and chat accounts with your child. Make sure that you know their screen names and passwords and that they don't include any personal information in their online profiles.
Learn how the various social networking websites work. Learn alongside your child, let your child be the "expert" and ask them to help you understand the tools they are using online.
Know the ‘Terms and Conditions’ of the sites your child is using, including the age limits for access.
Build trust with your child. Set time limits, explain your reasons for them, and discuss rules for online safety and Internet use. Ask your child to contribute to establishing the rules; then they'll be more inclined to follow them.
Regularly go over their "buddy list" with them. Ask who each person is and how your child knows him or her.
Discuss cyberbullying with your child and ask if they have ever experienced it or seen it happen to someone.
Tell your child not to respond to any cyberbullying threats or comments online. However, do not delete any of the messages. Instead, print out all the messages, including the e-mail addresses or online screen names of the cyberbully, or take a screen shot if printing is not possible.
Tell your child that you won't blame them if they are cyberbullied. Emphasize that you won't take away their computer privileges - this is the main reason kids don't tell adults when they are cyberbullied.
Let the school know if your child experiences cyberbullying.
Let the school know if you have concerns about any of the sites your child is visiting. We can help to alert other parents.
Attend sessions made available to parents which will support you navigate the issues and access for your children.

Please contact the school or your child’s teacher if you have any concerns or questions.

Robyn James