eSocial 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 19 community languages.

Tips and resources to support your primary aged child on social media

The eSafety commissioner website is also has a wealth of resources and advice. This link will provide you wtih information about

How to navigate key online milestones with your child.

A number of our students have their own phone, a smartphone can provide open access to social media. This information from the eSafety commissioner provides guidelines which can assist you with that first phone.

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 Proposed changes to social media age limits on the Engage Victoria website.

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

Thunderstorm Asthma - be prepared for 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.

Boroondara Park PS 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’.

Protect yourself this pollen season – managing asthma and allergies matters.

For more information, speak to your doctor. You can also visit the Better Health Channel website.

Respectful Relationships

As part of our whole school approach to strengthening student wellbeing and mental health, we continue to plan for successful implementation of programs, initiatives and approaches including Respectful Relationships.

Respectful Relationships education is a core component of the Victorian Curriculum from Foundation to Year 12 in all Government Schools. The Royal Commission into Family Violence identified the critical role that schools and early childhood education have in creating a culture of respect to change the story of family violence for future generations.

Respectful Relationships is a Department of Education and Training mandated curriculum and is part of our whole school approach to wellbeing at Boroondara Park Primary School.

Everyone in our community deserves to be respected, valued and treated equally. We know that changes in attitudes and behaviours can be achieved when positive attitudes, behaviours and equality are embedded in our education settings.

In the primary years, Respectful Relationships is taught as part of the Health and Physical Education and Personal and Social Capability areas of the Victorian Curriculum. The curriculum supports schools to promote and model respect, positive attitudes and behaviours. It teaches our students how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence.

These age appropriate and evidence based materials are designed to enable teachers to develop student’s social and emotional capabilities to promote positive, healthy and respectful relationships.

This term we are focusing on a range of lessons from Topic 7 & 8.

Topic 7: Gender and Identity

These age- appropriate learning tasks focus on assisting students to challenge stereotypes and explore the influence of gender norms on attitudes and behaviours.

Topic 8: Positive Gender Relations

Learning tasks in this topic focus on building positive relationships between and within genders and the importance of accepting difference and diversity.

For information about this curriculum follow this link:

https://www.schools.vic.gov.au/respectful-relationships-whole-school-approach

If you have any questions please contact Kristen Schultz at school office.

Parent Zone programs

Attached is a flier for parent programs being run by Parent Zone (Anglicare). Most programs are 6-8 weeks and ahve a specific focus.

Building better behvaiour online
Surviving Separation online
Tuning in to Kids online
Parenting Axcious Childnre online
Talking Teens online
Dadss Matter online
Emotion focused parenting
Stengthening Parents Support.

School Saving Bonus - reminder

As shared with you previously, parents and carers of every child enrolled in a Victorian government school in 2025 will receive the one-off School Saving Bonus $400 support.

The Department of Education will send you 2 email communications for each of your children enrolled in Victorian government schools.

By Friday 18 October 2024, please ensure that your child’s 2025 enrolment is completed and that your contact information is up to date.

The 2 emails from the Department of Education will:

Confirm your email address between mid-October and late-November.
Provide you with your unique $400 School Saving Bonus code by the end of November.

If you do not receive a confirmation email from the department by late-November, please check your spam or junk folders and contact the school office if needed.

You can read more about the School Saving Bonus on the Department of Education website, with key information now available in 14 different languages.

Dear Ms Lowe - tell me about your child

Each year as part of our planning process I invite parents to spend time considering their child's learning, social and emotional needs for the coming school year.

This is the opportunity for you to consider what you know about your child and enables you to share your thoughts about your child's specific needs so we can work together to provide the best possible learning environment.

As a parent you advocate for your child, you want what is best for them, you support and fight for their needs. It is important we clarify good advocacy. Letting us know your child learns best in an active learning environment, with opportunities to negotiate their learning is good advocacy, whilst requesting a particular teacher for your child is not good advocacy. All children experience different teachers throughout their education. It is important you share information about your child's needs but not tell us which class they need to be placed into.

As indicated above this is not an opportunity to select a teacher - this is not school policy and any requests for specific teachers will not be taken into consideration.

We are proud of our teaching staff, and we work as a highly functional team, planning and working to provide the best learning environment possible at Boroondara Park PS.

Putting together classes is a complex jigsaw, we work to support all students and their needs. It is important to note, we will take your thoughts into consideration, but it will not always be possible to fulfil your requests.

Students will get the opportunity to let us know who they think they would work well with in a class, they will have at least one person on their list in their class.

2025 plans - is your child leaving Boroondara Park PS?

For many reasons students arrive or leave Boroondara Park PS at the end of each school year. This term we have had seven new students join our community. Families often experience change for one reason or another.

If you know your child is moving to another school, or you are moving suburbs, cities or countries please fill in this form to let us know.

When students start to put together the people they work well with for class creation it assists if we know a child is leaving.

We are offering the opportunity for exit interviews before you leave, please tick this box if you would like to participate in a conversation before you leave.

Leaving Boroondara Park PS in 2025

BPPS Facebook and Instagram

Don't forget to follow our social media accounts and see what is happening at school each day. Boroondara Park Primary School Facebook

Search @BoroondaraPark on Instagram to follow the school.

Awards and Celebrations

Care, Learn and Share Awards