Hi WPS Families,

Term Three has flown past, and we are heading into the final round of holidays before the end of the year!

Over the past 2 weeks, Grade 3 and 4 students have participated in their third eSaftey lesson for the year. Both year levels looked at online profiles and the importance of not sharing personal information online.

The Grade 3 students focussed on what personal information is.

-- Things that identify you, like your name and birthday. Things that can be used to identify your location, like your address or the name of your school.

-- Things in photos that can identify your location, like your school uniform or a shot of your house showing the number and street sign.

-- Things that are personal just to you, like your phone number and email address.

We discussed that these are all considered personal information. Personal information could even include the sports team you belong to or your favourite park, as this can reveal where you spend your time.

In small groups, students read through 2 websites (listed below) and answered questions on privacy, passwords, settings and posting/sharing online.

Sharing photos and personal information online and Security and privacy for my device.

To conclude the lesson, students looked at spending money online. Students discussed and read about avoiding in-app purchases, being tricked into spending money, clues that a website might be fake or unsafe, steps to take before you buy something and problems with pop-ups.

As a class, we visited the following website, Spending Money Online to drive our conversation.

The Grade 4 students focussed on identifying what personal information is safe to put online, describing and using strategies in situations where they feel uncomfortable or unsafe online, recognising that people they meet online may pretend to be someone else and seeking assistance if things go wrong online.

To support the lesson and discussion, students watched a short animated video following a scenario of a student sharing personal information online and the dangers of doing so.

To conclude the lesson, students made an online profile on paper, remembering to keep their personal information private. To do so, students had a profile picture of nature, an animal or an avatar that comes with the online platform. They only included information that was generic and non-identifiable, like favourite food, colour or musician. Their profile name was created without using their personal name. Students enjoyed trying to guess whose profile belonged to who.

Parents are strongly encouraged to look at all online profiles their children have and if it contains personal information, to change it. Also, looking at settings and ensuring the location settings is deactivated and turning profiles to private.

Click on this link for more information on privacy tips for parents.

As we head into the holidays, another great resources to utilise to help determine the suitability of games, apps, TV shows, movies and even books is Common Sense Media. Search for the game, app or movie your child is thinking of accessing, and you will be given age guidelines along with important information on the suitability of the game, app or show for your child.

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/

Finally, please note updated parent information about Google Workspace for Education can be found attached to the newsletter and on our website.

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:

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