Celebrating Catholic Education Week

Friday 19 May to Friday 26 May

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.

Monday 22 May - AFL Clinics Year 6, Year 5 AB, Year 5 LH and Year 2 SW

Tuesday 23 May - Year 6 Leaders to SFX Officer Reconciliation Mass

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

Thursday 25 May - We Celebrate Catholic Education Special Persons can visit Learning Spcaes from 8.50am to 10.30am

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

Wednesday 31 May - SSV Division Cross Country for selected students

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 **

Newsletter Week 5 Term 2 2023

Religion

Last week I explained how students are assessed on their knowledge and skills in Religious Education, not their faith, using the curriculum To Live in Christ Jesus.

This week I share with you the content covered by our Year 5 and 6 students during Term 1 and Term 2 2023:

Year 5

During Semester One, Year 5 students have explored how people, through their actions, show society how to live in communion with God and others. Students have deepened their understanding of Lent and Easter and the messages they can learn from these traditions that apply to their lives today. Students have explored their mission and the responsibilities that go with belonging to a group. Students have begun to understand how the life of the Church nourishes the faith journey of its community through the feasts and celebrations in the Liturgical Year.

Year 6

During Semester One, Year 6 students identified how prayer is experienced and expressed within Catholic communities and other religious traditions. Students showed their understanding of how Jesus’ life, death, Resurrection and Ascension reveal God’s love for us. Students explored the history of the Catholic Church in Australia and Mary as the Mother of God. They identified the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit and explained how these can be demonstrated in people’s lives. Students explored passages in the Old and New Testaments and explained some similarities and differences between the four Gospels.

Dates to Remember:

Saturday 20 May 6pm Commitment Mass for all students receiving the Sacrament of First Holy Communion in 2023 at St Patrick’s Parish

Wednesday 24 May 9.30am Year 5 students at St Patrick’s Parish for Mass 

Thursday 25 May 8.50am - 10.30am We Celebrate Catholic Education Special Persons visit to Learning Spaces for students

Thursday 1 June Parent Night 7pm - First Holy Communion Information Evening at St Patrick’s Parish

Saturday 3 June and Sunday 4 June - First Holy Communion Masses at St Patrick’s Parish

Wednesday 14 June 9.15am Mass for Foundation to Year 2 students at St Clare’s

Saturday 17 June and Sunday 18 June -  First Holy Communion Masses at St Patrick’s Parish

Parent's and families, we have another exciting incursion beginning. On Monday we had our first incursion session of Karate, the children enjoyed learning all about the different techniques used. If your child would like to be a part of this incursion you can book them in for the next four three Mondays and it goes between 4-5pm.

Parents, please note you must sign your child in and out of the service. We are still having some children getting dropped off at the gate in the mornings and they are having to walk themselves in. Due to policies and procedures, we are unable to allow this. Please bring your child to the door and sign them in.

Chels, Pooja and Steph your OSHC team

n this edition of SchoolTV - SEXTING

As teens develop an interest in sex, technology and apps make sexting easy, and unfortunately, acceptable amongst today’s youth. However, many parents are shocked to learn that children as young as 10 are sending naked pictures of themselves to friends and classmates via text and social media. This type of behaviour is seeping into primary school playgrounds causing irreversible damage to young minds.

Sending this type of content is problematic for a child of any age, but over the years there has been a staggering increase of pre-teens using mobile phones to share sexual images and videos. Not only is this type of behaviour detrimental to a young person’s moral and ethical wellbeing, it also has legal implications placing them at risk of a criminal record.

In this edition of SchoolTV, parents will learn how to approach the subject of sexting with their children, as well as offer helpful strategies on dealing with the fallout should their child send or receive content containing sexual imagery.

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 Sexting edition of SchoolTV

https://stclaresofficer.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/sexting

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.