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Dear Parents and Carers
Term 3 is a busy time with planning for the next year. Our enrolment numbers for Foundation 2024 are almost at capacity. If you have a child or know of anyone planning to enrol for 2024 please submit the enrolment forms NOW
St Clare's Feast Day is Friday 11 August.
To celebrate we have many activities happening.
Friday 11 August 2023 Kaboom Incursions
On this day we have Kaboom Incursions visiting us and our students will participate in rotational novelty games for 90 minutes. Students may wear free dress and/or house colours and sneakers/shoes suitable for running and jumping (not fashion shoes).
Students will be provided with a free donut during the day.
Saturday 12 August St Clare’s Feast Day Mass at St Patrick’s Parish 6pm followed by pizza (for those families who have pre-paid and wish to stay after Mass) in the Parish hall. Students are asked to wear their St Clare’s red jacket over free dress clothing at the Mass. We hope to see a “sea of red” on this evening.
Tickets for the Pizza following Mass can be purchased via CDFpay or $20 can be sent to school in an envelope with Family name and flyer sent home last week.
Thank you
We are very grateful to everyone's underatanding with the sudden closure last Friday due to the burst water pipe. The plumbers have repaired the pipe and we know just have to complete some concreting to repair the area.
Next week we celebrate National Science Week with the theme “Innovation- Powering Future Industries”. National Science Week is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate Science and create an atmosphere of innovation that fuels curiosity and inspires students to explore the realms of scientific discovery.
The aim of National Science Week 2023 is to instil in our students a deep appreciation for scientific endeavours and equip future innovators with the tools they need to succeed.
In our Science lessons at St Clare’s over the past three weeks we have been exploring the theme of innovation, focusing on ways that technology is supporting us in various industries.
The Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 classes have been exploring the farming industry and the ways that farmers are using robots to assist them with their various farming jobs such as planting and growing food and looking after their animals. They have begun to design their own farming robots during our Science lessons.
The Year 3-6 students have been looking at the differences between inventions and innovations. The Year 3 and 4 students are in the process of researching a well-known invention of their choice and finding out how it has changed over time. They will then be creating a new innovation for their invention.
The Year 5 and 6 students have also been exploring how innovation can help to minimise the harmful impact that plastics can have on our environment. In the coming weeks they will be working to develop inventions and innovations that can have a positive impact on our environment in regards to our use of plastic.
The Year 3s went to visit CERES Environmental Park on Thursday 3rd August. We did a variety of exploring and learning about Indigenous Perspectives. They were given the opportunity to taste Indigenous foods that were native and that were used for cooking and eating. They went on a History Walk to explore the environment around them near the Merri Merri Creek.
They also had a classroom experience with Aunty Kathy where they dressed up as native animals and learnt about a Native Indigenous Story - Tiddelik the Frog. They also enjoyed dancing and singing Aboriginal songs. Upon returning to school, the students worked in groups on an Action Plan to state what they would like to do to include more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures into our school. They had a fantastic time and learned many different aspects of the Indigenous Culture.
Our Book Fair will be held in the Welcome Room from Friday 11 August to Thursday 17 August.
Book Fair will be open for parents and families to purchase items at the following times:
Friday 11 August - 8.30am to 9am and 3pm to 4pm
Tuesday 15 August - 8.30am to 9am and 3pm to 4pm
Wednesday 16 August - 8.30am to 9am and 3pm to 4pm
Thursday 17 August - 8.30am to 9am
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 changed and you have a Pension or Health Care Card please let us know that this will impact your school fees payable.
Lost Property
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.