Cumberland

                    Ms Karen McArdle

Parent Teacher Interviews

The Parent Teacher Interviews held these past two weeks were well attended. I hope that parents found the meetings informative and they gave you a snapshot of your child’s learning progress, strengths and areas for improvement. If you feel the need to further discuss any issues, please do not hesitate to make an appointment with the relevant teacher.

Internet Safe Education Guest Speaker: Brett Lee

On Tuesday, Brett Lee, one of the most qualified speakers in his field presented to the students and parents about staying safe on the Internet. His background is working for the Queensland Police Department for 22 years, 16 of which were as a detective in the field of Child Exploitation. Brett has been personally involved with the interview, location, arrest and prosecution of hundreds of online criminals and predators. He has also worked for the FBI and Homeland Security, as well as a number of police departments throughout the USA. He is uniquely qualified to speak about this topic and inform the students about the best ways to stay safe while on the internet.

Year 4-6 Cumberland students attended his presentation, and while they may have heard many of the messages before, hearing it from such an expert was more credible to them. His main messages to the students were:

1. People I only know on the internet are strangers
2. I protect my personal details online
3. I have rules when using the internet and computers
4. The internet is PUBLIC and PERMANENT
5. I talk to a trusted adult if I have a problem

He also spoke about cyber bullying, advising students that if they are bullied to take a screen shot of the abuse and show it to their parents. There are many websites that provide information on what to do if your child is being bullied via the internet such as

https://tuneinnotout.com/factsheets/what-is-cyberbullying/

He also reminded students about the law, one we should all be aware of:

474.17 Using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence (1) A person is guilty of an offence if: (a) the person uses a carriage service; and (b) the person does so in a way (whether by the method of use or the content of a communication, or both) that reasonable persons would regard as being, in all the circumstances, menacing, harassing or offensive. Penalty: Imprisonment for 3 years.

If you could not attend the parent session and want to know more, check out some of Brett Lee’s sites below:

https://www.internetsafeeducation.com/resources/ or

https://www.internetsafeeducation.com/handbooks/5-principles-stay-safe-online/