St Augustine's College Kyabram

5-8 Community News

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

 

It has been a busy fortnight with so many extracurricular activities occurring for our wonderful community.  

 

On Tuesday last week, we had a large number of our Years 5 and 6 students attend the Train like a Vixen session, hosted by the state netball team, Melbourne Vixens.  What a special experience!

 

Another busy fortnight is coming up with extra curricular sporting activities for our students with both the F-6 and 7-12 interhouse athletics carnivals scheduled. In TA next week and in preparation for these events, all activities will be dedicated to the Athletics Carnivals. 5-8 Student Leaders have organised what looks to be a really fun week for our students.

 

Next Wednesday, students in Years 5, 6, 7 and 8 will begin exploring the life relationships unit of work, whereby the students will engage in conversations about gender, identity, and respectful relationships in an enriching and engaging learning environment. The Years 7 and 8 students will engage with presenters from Real Talk.

 

The themes from The Resilience Project continue to drive our learning spaces. Did you know our 7-8 student journals incorporate a number of these themes that can be practised at home?  Themes such as ‘Empathy and Compassion’, ‘Look up Can I get a selfie’ and active listening will all be re-taught.  You will notice with this week’s SOLE focus that ‘active listening’ continues to be a focus for our Community, especially when students are undertaking their learning experiences.

 

Importantly, the process for student leadership for 2023 has started. If your child is eager to join the College Leadership Team, now is the time to start those conversations at home as they have started at the College. The students in 2023, will lead end-of-term assemblies and work closely with Mr Poppa and Ms Morrissey.

 

You will have seen that our Subject Parent Teacher Conversations are coming up. Parents will have the opportunity to conduct conversations either face-to-face or virtually via Zoom. Bookings for Subject Teacher Conversations are now open via PAM.  Please consider a conversation with your child as it is a good opportunity to celebrate their successes. 

 

With lunchtime activities commencing, I strongly encourage you to have conversations with your children about attending, particularly if they are finding themselves bored and uninterested in the schoolyard.  We offer a lunchtime activity each day, catered to a variety of interests. The poster attached, which can also be found in our learning spaces shows the activities on offer. There are a number of activities that provide exceptional opportunities, further developing positive relationships/friendships but also creating a very safe space for our children. 

 

The boxing and netball activities have been a real hit on Monday and Tuesday afternoons with a total of 10 teams. Well done to all participants. A bigger shout out to the Defending Champs and King Gardy Angels, who currently sit tied on first place.

 

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. If you feel your child is being bullied online, please report it to your child's TA teacher and to the eSafety Commissioner. These two websites provide instructions about how to report online abuse:

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

https://www.esafety.gov.au/report

 

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 your child's phone, computer or 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.
  • Ensure that any social media profiles are not accessible for all to see and have appropriate privacy settings in place. All social media platforms allow accounts to be set on private.  It is okay to ask your child what they are using their devices for. This creates communication. Did you know that social media licences are only permitted for students over the age of 13? Our students can still access social media websites/platforms on their school devices at home, using the home internet.
  • Enable young people to control and edit their own privacy settings quickly and easily eg. 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 students 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.

TA - Please remind your child about the importance of getting to TA on time. TA commences at 8.50am and concludes at 9.10am.  It's ever so important that our students attend TA as it enables them 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. 

 

Students should not be attending Woolworths before school starts, unless they have your permission. Once students have been dropped off at the College, they will need to remain at the College.

 

Let’s encourage students to seek help from adults, where needed. If there is a challenge in the classroom where your child is not sure of a learning task or a concern outside of the learning space, please get into contact with your child's TA, or even better, encourage the children to seek us out.

 

Corey Carver and Anthony Poppa

5-8 Community Leaders

 

6-8 Partnerships excursion to Cummeragunja

What a truly touching experience for our students who visited Barmah, Dharnyha Centre and Cummeragunja.  Michael Chisolm and Aunty May Walker provided our students with an experience they will hold onto for a very long time.