5-8 Community News

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Where has the time gone this term? It's has been a busy, busy term but one that I hope has been memorable for many of our 5-8 students.

On Friday 18th March, we celebrated 'National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence'. Students in the 5-8 Community undertook the opportunity to spread kindness amongst their classrooms. Students brainstormed what bullying could look and sound like.

On Wednesday 6th April, we would like to welcome you to the College as we undertake our 5-8 Assembly and Celebration. The assembly will take place in the Bridigidine Centre from 9.10am. For those families that are familiar, it’s a great opportunity to listen to our students who will present their learning for the term and is a very rewarding experience. Visitors will be required to provide evidence of double vaccination before entering the Brigidine Centre.

Please continue to encourage your child to not only bring their hats to school but to wear them at school. It is still quite warm outside. Our Hat Policy states that the students are required to wear their hats until Anzac Day, so the beginning of Term 2.

Please continue to remind your children to attend TA on time. Being involved in a TA Community, enables students to feel a sense of inclusion amongst their community which will foster opportunities for students to further develop long-lasting relationships with their peers and teachers.

Again, throughout the past fortnight, there continues to be a strong focus on having students label their emotions. We know the transition from home to school is at times daunting, and we value the opportunity for our students to return to school, feeling even more supported. Across the term, students have familiarised themselves with the Zones of Regulation. As staff, we encourage our students to label their emotions and for the students to find and use strategies to support them when they find themselves in one of the four zones. Please use this visual to support your child's wellbeing if needed as it will be consistently referred to in the classroom spaces.

Over the past fortnight, there has been focus towards the following themes from the The Resilience Project (TRP): 'Understanding Perspective' and ‘Active listening’.

Students have engaged in practical activities that expose them to looking at individual scenarios where they have to analyse a teacher's perspective but also have our teachers look at it from the student's perspective.

Please consistently check in with your children about their use of technology and personal devices. At the moment, apps such as Snapchat, Instagram and Discord are posing some challenges at home which are then being brought into the school grounds. If you feel your child is being bullied online, please report it to your Child's teacher and to the E-Safety Commissioner.

These two websites provide instructions about how to report online abuse:

https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/esafety-guide

https://submit.esafety.gov.au/Produce/wizard/ca3acccd-07bf-4a12-9c0e-f93e50a46ab6?portal=1

Here are some strategies you might like to use.

Mr. Poppa's top tips for creating safer spaces for young people online:

As trusted adults, let’s moderate, safeguard and support young people online at all times. This looks like setting up a learning space where you can monitor the children's phone/iPad screen.
Ensure that students' emails are used for school purposes only. Conversations, which use explicit language, should not be permitted on any email address.
Enable young people to control and edit their own privacy settings quickly and easily - talk about what's appropriate to share online and what isn't.
Make terms, conditions and rules of engagement upfront, transparent and easy for them to understand. Setting boundaries with your child is really important. For teenagers using their devices in their room, the door open policy is a good one.
Refer to our school-wide SOLE matrices as a means for supporting your children.
Ensure that children have had enough time to rest from being in front of their screens. Set some times that are appropriate where your children are not on their screens. It's important that the children are getting 8-10 hours of sleep and are heading to bed at a reasonable time and without any technology around. This can be stored away from the child's bed.

This slideshow can help support any of the troubles you may have: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tRqyXTglZq3-nqCo06SlRHy7p7lfMCMb-s54xy9Gvn4/edit#slide=id.gcdfaed6094_0_20