Digital Learning

Hi WPS Families,

Last week, we had the fantastic opportunity to hold our parent information evening with the Alannah & Madeline Foundation team. They hosted a session called Parenting in the Digital World. The one-hour online session covered several components, including the benefits and risks of being online (Gaming and Social Media), dealing with cyberbullying, sharenting and how parents protect their child’s identity online.

Over the coming weeks, we will share in a bit of detail what was covered. Most of the resources they shared are resources we already use here at school and have shared via this section in the newsletter.

To help develop the session, our community was surveyed to help address the main concerns about children’s use of technology. Some common themes that popped up were:

• Which messaging apps to avoid and why
• Cyberbullying
• Decoy/hidden apps (to hide risky apps from parents)
• Sextortion – sending nudes and legal consequences
• Parenting tips for parents to limit/lockdown/check and monitor online use
• Early introduction of social media/smartphones
• Online gaming and risks
• Current apps of concern kids are using right now
• Online pornography

For those parents who missed the opportunity last week, the Alannah & Madeline Foundation is running a public seminar. Please see below for details - Wednesday 18th September at 5.30pm and they can book here: eSmart Events | Alannah & Madeline Foundation (alannahandmadeline.org.au)

https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1253351

Attached below is a resource, ‘Parenting in the Digital World,’ from the Alannah & Madeline Foundation, which has multiple links for parents to use. This resource will remain in our newsletter for parents to refer to at any time.

While our parents had the online session last week, our Grade 5/6 students had their third eSaftey session with Mat. The Play it Safe & Fair workshop looked at respecting and protecting the rights of others online, sharing how students and others use the internet to contribute to community life in a positive way, providing examples of online activities that can have a positive impact on health and wellbeing and Identifying services that can support students if they have an online issue. 

Students watched a short video that the eSafety commissioner recorded as they asked three Australian athletes how they played it fair online. The athletes shared their personal experiences of trolls and positive interactions online. To conclude the lesson, students reviewed a resource with Mat on reporting cyberbullying.

Regards,

Steven Puhar

Leading Teacher - Curriculum Leader

Apps List 2024

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 a tool within a blended learning environment.

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:

https://www.williamstownps.vic.edu.au/source/Build/2020-GoogleSuite-Parent-Information.pdf