Dear Parents and Carers

This Sunday 14th May 2023 will be Mother’s Day.

This is a day where we celebrate the special women in our lives like our Mums, Nannas, Grandmas and Aunties. They show us unconditional love and inspire us to be the best we can be. 

Mothers are very special to us just like Mary was to Jesus. May is the month of the year where we celebrate Mary. Mary is a mother to us all and loves us endlessly. 

Our Mother's Day Assembly is being held on Friday 12 May at 8.50am in the Modular.  Families are welcome to join us.

AFL Clinics

On Monday our Foundation, Year 1 and some Year 2 learning groups participated in a one hour workshop with AFL to learn some skills such as kicking. Students enjoyed the clinics and we may have some future AFL stars!

SAVE THE DATE: Thursday 25 May 8.50 - 10.30am

Celebrating Catholic Education Week

Our school, along with the 45 Catholic schools in the Diocese of Sale, will celebrate Catholic Education Week from 19 May to 26 May. The theme for this year’s celebrations is, Catholic Schools – Places of Encounter. ‘Let the words you speak always be full of Grace’, based on Colossians 4:6. Catholic schools are more than just buildings where students come to learn. They are Places of Encounter where students can grow academically, spiritually and personally.” The ‘Speaking with Grace’ theme invites us to consider the power of our words and the impact our words may have on others. Words have the power to inspire, uplift, and transform lives but they can also be hurtful or discouraging. This year’s theme aims to encourage students and those in our school community to use their words to build up others, to speak out against injustice, and to spread love and hope in the world. Catholic Education Week is an opportunity for all Catholic schools to celebrate our distinctive mission and share features that are special about our schools.

This year, for Catholic Education Week, St Clare’s students will be inviting a special person (grandparent, aunt, uncle, parent, adult sibling) to come to school with them on Thursday 25 May between 8.50am and 10.30am. They will show their special person their work and their learning space and complete an activity together. Special people can spend as much or as little time as they have in a learning space and can move from learning space to learning space if there are siblings.

Religious Education Reporting

For Religious Education, teachers use a curriculum called To Live in Christ Jesus. This curriculum has four Strands and four Lenses.

The strands are the four areas through which content is learned and Religious Education is shared and understood.

The Strands are:

• Triune God 
• The Life and Mission of Jesus
• Sacramental Church
• Christian Life and Catholic Social Teaching

The Lenses are the perspectives through which we view the Strands. The Lenses are also bodies of knowledge divided into four learning areas:

The Lenses are:

• Scripture
• Tradition
• Christian Prayer and Liturgy
• Religion and Society (Year 5 and 6 only)

Students cover the content of the curriculum To Live in Christ Jesus through an Inquiry. During the Inquiry, they are presented with a question and then over the course of 8-10 weeks they show what they know and the skills they have gained through conversation (dialogue), work samples and research (mini projects or investigations).

Reporting on Religious Education is now the same as reporting for English or Mathematics. Teachers are required to assess students on their knowledge of the content and their skills in Religious Education - they are not assessing a student’s faith. For this reason, at the end of this Semester students will be marked below standard, working towards the standard, at standard or above standard for Religious Education.

For reporting purposes, teachers enter a mark for each of the Strands and Lenses (that are applicable) and the reporting package combines these into one overall mark.

It is expected that School Crossing Supervisors will get to know the children and adults that use their crossing. Supervisors are discouraged from becoming too friendly as such behaviour can be misinterpreted as ‘favouritism’ towards individuals, and in some circumstances, may even lead to accusations of inappropriate behaviour. Cardinia Shire Council, in accordance with the Child Safety Standards, encourages supervisors to interact with the children, but any physical contact including High 5’s and hugging and distribution of gifts such as lollies, toys or cards is not acceptable, under any circumstance.

In this edition of SchoolTV - SOCIAL MEDIA & DIGITAL REPUTATION

Social media has become such an integral part of a teenager’s life. However, many miss out on some critical social skills with most communicating whilst looking at a screen instead of another person! Statistics show that 60 percent of 10-11 year olds are using at least one social media site, with the majority using age-restricted platforms. What kids do, post and say online is permanent and most are not mature enough to manage their own digital footprint. Friendships, relationships and even future job prospects are all put at risk.

Parents need to be aware of what picture their children are painting of themselves online. Unfortunately, many parents do not see the dangers inherent of these sites, as they form opinions based on their own experience. But predators are usually not interested in grooming adults. Over the years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of primary schoolers owning mobile phones, highlighting the importance to teach kids about the dangers of social media and the implications it can have.

In this edition of SchoolTV, parents will learn how to talk to their children about the inherent dangers of social media and how to educate their kids to be responsible users in the online world we live in.

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition of SchoolTV and we always welcome your feedback. If you have any concerns about your child, please contact the school counsellor for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to the Social Media & Digital Reputation edition of SchoolTV

https://stclaresofficer.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/social-media-and-digital-reputation

Welcome to term 2, which should be a huge term for Book Club!

Why….?

Because Scholastic listened to your feedback, and the catalogues are shifting back to the old format J

Smaller size, brighter colours, and far more engaging for the kids.

But there’s a couple of other changes that we’ve made too:

- We have reduced the amount of titles on each page, making it a little less congested, and clearer for the kids to see.

- We have also sharpened up the pricing (PIG THE PUG is only $3…!!!), meaning you’ll rarely see much difference (if any) between the prices of the titles in the catalogue, compared to the price you might find at the big department stores. This is a big win for everybody!

In this catalogue alone, 40% of products are $10 or under, so parents really do have a great range of bargain books to buy from.

The cut-off date for this issue is: 12^th May

Here is the link to the digital version - https://www.scholastic.com.au/book-club/book-club-parents/book-club/

Friday 5 May - Distrct Cross Country for selected students

Monday 8 May - AFL Clinics for Foundation to Year 2

Friday 12 May - Mother's Day Assembly 8.50am **

Monday 15 May - AFL Clinics for Years 3 to 5

Monday 22 May - AFL Clinics Year 6

Wednesday 24 May - Year 5 Mass at St Patrick's Church

Friday 26 May - National Sorry Day Assembly 8.50am **

Thursday 1 June - First Holy Communion Parent Workshop

Friday 2 June - Trivia Night

Friday 9 June - School Closure - NO school for students

Monday 12 June - King's Birthday Public Holiday

Wednesday 14 June - Mass for Foundation to Year 2 at St Clare's

Friday 23 June - Last Day of Term 3, Pizza and PJ Day, Whole School Assembly 8.50am **

How to Help Kids Stay Safe Online

Adapted from:  https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/blog    Office of the eSafety Commissioner

1. Start the chat

It’s not possible to be at your child’s side every second of the day, so it’s important to talk with them about online safety issues to help develop their critical thinking and ability to make good choices. It’s also good to let them know they can come to you for help if they have any concerns. You may feel they know more about the latest technology than you do, but you have more life experience to guide them.

• With primary school aged children use online devices in the open living spaces at home to make parent supervision part of the expectation for your child.
• Take the opportunity to set some boundaries around when and where they can use devices  like tablets, smart TVs and gaming consoles, to help limit potential tech tantrums — you could even fill in an Early Years Family Tech Agreement 
• Screen free time before bed is important for good sleep. Consider charging devices in a central location at a regular time each night to allow an hour screen free before bed.
• While you are all at home more, it’s a great time to co-view and co-play with your kids, so you can understand what they are doing and experiencing online.
• Learn about the games, apps, social media and platforms they are using at The eSafety Guide, including how to protect their information and report inappropriate content or conduct.

2. Use parental controls and safe search options

Parental controls can help block your child from accessing specific websites, apps or functions. They can also monitor your child’s use of connected devices and set time limits. But beware! You cannot always rely on them — they should be used in combination with other online safety strategies.

• Parental controls are available on most tablets, smartphones, computers, TVs and gaming consoles.
• You can also download family safety controls or buy robust filters out of the box. 
• You can set up child-friendly search engines, or select safe search settings on digital devices, to help prevent your child from stumbling across inappropriate sites and content.

3. Check smart toy settings

It’s surprising how many toys or devices can connect online these days, from drones and smart teddies to tablets and wearables. While they can be both entertaining and educational, they can reveal your child’s personal details and location — and allow other people to contact them without you knowing. You can help keep them stay safe by:

• setting strong passwords
• turning off location settings 
• limiting the amount of personal information shared.

The eSafety Gift Guide has advice on what to check for and how to stay safe.

4. Look out for unwanted contact and grooming

Unwanted contact is any communication that makes your child feel uncomfortable or unsafe, even if they initially welcomed the contact. It can come from a stranger, an online ‘friend’ or even someone they actually know. At worst, it can involve ‘grooming’ — building a relationship with the child in order to sexually abuse them.

You can help by:

• making sure their accounts are private — including chat functions on games
• encouraging them to delete requests from strangers and any contacts they don’t know in person
• checking in with your child as they use online devices in the open living spaces at home
• reporting and blocking anyone suspicious on a website or service 
• remembering that if suspicious online contacts become aggressive or threatening you should contact your local police.

5. Know the signs of cyberbullying

Kids who are bored by long periods at home can pick at each other, and that happens online too. So it’s important to keep an eye out for cyberbullying. It can include mean posts, comments and messages, as well as being left out of online group activities like gaming. 

• Remember, when they are away from school, kids have less access to their usual support systems, including friends, teachers and counsellors. 
• eSafety research shows that girls are more likely to be affected than boys and the person doing the bullying is generally someone they know from school.
• Watch out for signs such as your child appearing upset after using their mobile, tablet or computer, being unusually secretive about their online activities or becoming withdrawn.
• Cyberbullying can make social isolation worse and the longer it continues, the more stressed kids can become, impacting on their emotional and physical wellbeing.

What to do if your child is being cyberbullied

As parents, our first instinct may be to ban our children from social media, disable the wi-fi or turn off the data access. But this can actually compound the problem, making your child feel as if they’re being punished and heightening their sense of social exclusion.

There are four simple steps that can help minimise the harm:

• report the cyberbullying to the social media service where it is occurring
• collect evidence of the cyberbullying material
• if the material is still public 48 hours later, make a report to eSafety — we work with social media platforms to have the harmful content removed.

block the offending user.