Principal's Message

Wawa, Wominjika.

Here at Old Orchard Primary School, we acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land we visit each day, the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung people of the Kulin nation. 

We acknowledge and respect the elders and leaders past and present and the elders and leaders of all of the cultures and nationalities that are part of the Old Orchard Primary School community. We express our gratitude towards the orchards that were kept in place by the peoples on this land before us. 

We thank the traditional owners for sharing this beautiful land that we all love, and for keeping the land, sky, waterways and animals all in great condition for thousands of years, not only for themselves but for all the generations to come.

Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea

Thank-you once again to everyone who supported our Biggest Morning Tea last Friday, raising funds for the Cancer Council. The final total of funds raised was an incredible $1477.00.

5/6 Sports Round Robin

Congratulations also to our students (Wesley, Bonnie, Edward, Henry, Jed & Abbie) who participated in the Division Cross Country event on Monday. All the students did a fantastic job and should be proud of their efforts. Henry and Wesley did extremely well and have progressed through to the Regional Finals.

Cyber Safety Project

Throughout this week we have welcomed Trent Ray from the Cyber Safety Project to continue the great work he and his team do with our students. The primary cyber safety sessions are designed to empower young people to take control of their own digital safety and wellbeing through engaging and interactive presentations. All student sessions align to the Cyber Safety Project Curriculum Framework values of Responsibility, Integrity, Strength and Empathy with a focus on either Digital Safety or Digital Wellbeing.

Feedback about the Cyber Safety Project from our students:

Eddie - Year 6

I learnt some great things about Cyber Safety.  It’s important to always think about safety online. We also need to be aware of distractions and one way of doing this is to disable notifications on your device. A very important strategy is to never communicate with people you don’t know in real life or add them as a friend. We should try to minimise our screen time - 30 minutes a day is a good guide. 

Genevieve - Year 5

We learnt that it’s very important to keep your passwords safe and never share them with anyone. It’s also important to not spend too much time in front of screens and to have plenty of breaks and fresh air.

Elena & Lewis - Year 2

Cyber Safety was exciting and educational. We learn about screen time and not to spend too much time on screens. We were taught about SART:

SWITCH off

Do something ACTIVE

Have a REST

TIME to go again

Austin - Year 4

It was fun and interesting learning about personal safety online. We learnt that you should avoid using chat rooms in online games, unless you actually know the people you are communicating with.

Ava - Year 4

If you ever need help, you can call or message the Kids’ Help Line. You can always talk to your parents or another trusted adult about anything that is concerning or worrying you. If you feel unsafe or feel that someone is bullying you, you should leave the discussion immediately and talk to a trusted adult.

Resources

Families - Cyber Safety Project

Please click on the above link to access a range of fantastic free resources that will enhance your cyber safety skills and awareness. There is also a link to the All Access Pass which includes a range of webinars and workshops. At a cost of $49.00 this is a very small price to educate ourselves and to prioritise our children’s safety.

Social media & online messaging

The use of social media by some of our older students can be very problematic. We know that many of our older students are active on social media, even though most of the apps they use have an age limit requirement or recommendation that they do not meet. It is incumbent on families to monitor their child’s technology use at home and to ensure that their child is using technology safely and appropriately. The eSafety website has many fantastic resources available and I strongly encourage you to access this site. 

Message groups are a significant challenge for our students and for parents to monitor. While these group message platforms can be very beneficial and convenient when arranging activities, etc, there are also significant dangers, particularly when children are totally unsupervised and the ‘chats’ are not monitored. We occasionally receive reports of concerning conversations taking place and at times these have involved very inappropriate language and targeting of individual children. If your child is part of a message group on Facebook Messenger, Messenger for Kids, etc, I urge you to monitor the chats on a regular basis. I will send home a separate email containing a great ‘iphone contract’ that a parent created for their 13 year old son - this makes wonderful reading. 

Parent use of messaging apps can also be problematic. We know that group messages are a fantastic way to communicate with multiple people about a particular issue or event, but we also have a responsibility to ensure that the interactions are respectful and courteous, in the same way that we would expect in face to face interactions. I was extremely concerned recently to hear of a WhatsApp discussion that mentioned specific students (in this case, in a negative manner.) This is totally inappropriate and does not align with our school values and the values we are endeavouring to instil in our students.

Communication on messaging apps about school matters should be treated as public communication. Confidential information or views you would not raise in person should not be raised on a WhatsApp Group. Concerns about teachers, the school, a particular student or students should be addressed directly to the school and never be raised in WhatsApp groups.  

Please note – defamation law relates to the protection of a person’s reputation and comments online could contravene this law.  

We are fortunate that the vast majority of our Old Orchard community are respectful to all staff, volunteers and students. Our expectation is that this also applies in any online chats or discussions.