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Dear Parents and Carers
The 2023 school year is rapidly progessing with many events happening during the remainder of the year. Including St Clare's Feast Day, Annual Book Fair, Excursions to Old Gippstown, Legoland and CERES, Swimming and Year 4 Camp to Grantville just to name a few.
Permissions for excursions, swimming and camps will need to be granted via PAM, so please ensure you check emails and log into PAM regularly to keep up to date.
ENROLMENTS FOR 2024
Foundation enrolments for 2024 are rapidly being submitted. If you have a child to enrol or know of anyone planning enrol, we encourage you to do so as soon as possible. We are nearing capacity for our 2024 Foundation classes.
We remind everyone that students are NOT allowed on school grounds prior to 8.30am. Camp Australia offers before school care for those who may need to drop students prior to this due to work commitments. If students are dropped off on Majestic Drive prior to this time parents are still responsibe for their child. The school does not take reposnsilibity until 8.30am when our duties commence.
Likewise students are to be collected by 3.30pm at the end of the day. If they have not been collected we will begin with contacting parents and then emergency contacts if we are unable to reach you.
ST CLARE'S FEAST DAY
On Saturday 12 August, St Clare’s will be celebrating Mass together at St Patrick’s Church at the 6pm Parish Mass. Afterwards, families are welcome to stay for pizza. Further details and a booking form will be available shortly.
BOOK FAIR
Our Book Fair will be held in the Welcome Room from Friday 11 August to Wednesday 16 August. Further details regarding times will be provided soon.
Confirmation
Please pray for our 34 students in Year 6 who are preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation.
A reminder to all parents/carers that the link for booking in for Saturday 19 August at 3pm or 6pm Mass was opened at 10am on Tuesday 25 July.
St Patrick's Parish, Pakenham: Confirmation 2023
The link is on the St Patrick’s Parish website under Menu - Sacraments - Confirmation. Please book on this day to avoid disappointment - there are set numbers for each Mass. If you have not booked in please do so as soon as possible.
Please note that you will need the baptism date, First Holy Communion date, Saint name and Sponsor name at the time of booking.
Don’t forget:
The Confirmation Commitment Mass is now Saturday 5 August (not the following week as previously stated) at 6pm at St Patrick’s Parish. Confirmation candidates are expected to attend this Mass.
The Parent Evening (for parents only) is on Thursday 10 August at 7pm at St Patrick’s Parish hall.
If you have any further questions, please contact Gab Verstraete via email.
On Friday 21 July we had our first Winter Sports event for this year.
St Clare’s competed in the sporting activities at St Brigid's in Officer where it was a beautiful day and the students represented the school proudly.
St Clare’s won all of their games and there was a lot of team spirit between the students.
Netball was fun because we were really involved in the game and played as a team - Tiani Year 6TP.
Footy was great because we got to all play together and it was a experience to verse another school. - Luca Year 6LN.
I loved how everyone was supporting each other and how newcombe brought the year level together and we were united in playing the sport. - Anoop Year 6NS.
Scores:
AFL: 73 - 35
Netball: Game 1: 14-12 Game 2: 8-6
Newcombe: Game 1: 27 - 25 Game 2: 25 - 6
Free webinar
As part of our involvement with Esmart (Alannah and Madeline Foundation) parents and carers are invited to register for a free webinar called Parenting in the Digital World on Friday 8 August at 7.30pm. If you wish to register please use the TryBooking link below:
https://www.trybooking.com/CJFXJ
In this edition of SchoolTV - DRUG & ALCOHOL USE
Many parents are concerned about the use of alcohol, as well as other drugs, as their children grow up. For kids, a one time or infrequent use of alcohol or drugs can unfortunately result in tragedy such as unintentional injuries, homicide or even suicide. Young people who use alcohol and drugs before their brain is fully developed, are often at greater risk of future addiction.
Research has shown that a young person’s brain keeps developing until they are in their mid-twenties, making alcohol more harmful than previously thought. Even the casual use of certain drugs can cause severe health problems, such as an overdose or brain damage. Parents will often feel overwhelmed when having to deal with substance abuse issues. However, they are encouraged to lead by example and set behavioural boundaries for their kids.
In this edition of SchoolTV parents will learn how to deal with the issues surrounding drug and alcohol use and the impact it can have on a child’s development. Alcohol and drug use can lead to serious problems such as poor academic performance, loss of friends, behavioural issues and even lasting legal problems.
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 Drug & Alcohol Use edition of SchoolTV
https://stclaresofficer.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/drug-alcohol-use
Please complete the Application for Leave During Term Form if your child is going to be absent for more than 3 school days. The form is below and can also be accessed via PAM in the Knowledgebank.
Here is the link for the St Clare's Parent Access Module (PAM)
St Clare's PAM
You username is the email address that you have registered with the school. The first time you log in we ask that you use the forgotten password feature to set your own password.
ALL parents must access PAM to receive up to date information and grant necessary permissions. Students will miss out on events if permission is not granted.
School Fees
Term 3 fees are now due and payable.
If you are experiencing financial difficulties please contact the school via finance@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu.au for a confidential discussion.
If you financial situation has now changes and you have a Pension or Health Care Card please let us know that this will impact your school fees payable.
CDFpay is a secure, safe and efficient method for ordering and paying for items through school.
Below you will find instructions for setting up your CDFpay account both if you are an existing parent "already have a CDF pay account" or a new parent.
Here is the link to head to our school CDFpay shop St Clare's CDFpay Shop
How to Help Kids Stay Safe Online
Adapted from: https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/blog Office of the eSafety Commissioner
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.