Dear Parents and Carers

We are sure everyone is on countdown to the end of what has been a very busy Term 3, so hopefully everyone has a chance to recharge the batteries a little as we then charge into the final term of 2023.  

The last day of Term 3 is Friday 15 September which is also our Footy Colours and Hot Dog Day.  Therefore students can wear free dress in the theme of "Footy Colours".  If your child would like a Hot Dog lunch on this day plesae ensure you place the order via CDFpay by tomorrow, Thursday 7 September.  We CANNOT accept deliveries from Uber Eats, Deliveroo etc at the school. Students will be dismissed at the normal time of 3.10pm on this last day of Term 3.

This week is Child Safety Week across Australia. This coincides with National Child Protection Week and Safeguarding Sunday.

Over the last few weeks our students have been involved in one lesson per fortnight covering:

• Who are our safe people (Safety Network)
• Safe/unsafe feelings and actions 
• Early warning signs – responses (feelings and physical) when we feel unsafe
• We have a right to body autonomy (body bubble/space) 
• We can identify public and private body parts and name these
• When touch might be necessary (safe people hugging us or giving us a kiss, doctors, nurses, Allied Health professionals)
• The difference between secrets and surprises

This week most of our students will participate in Australia’s Biggest Child Safety Lesson Livestream and the focus for this is consent. The session aims to teach age - appropriate personal safety strategies in an empowering manner and will provide real-world scenarios students can

use when they need to give or refuse consent. This is through the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.

You may like to view the following video where the Director of Catholic Education and Bishop Greg Bennet speak about the importance of Child safety in Catholic schools and the community: Child Safety in our Schools and Parishes

We also have our Child Safety Policy for Kids by Kids on our website and all our Child Safety policies.

You may also like to view or download the following sites and resources:

Website: Tips for Talking to Children about Personal Safety

How to Build Positive Online Behaviours - a Guide for Parents

If you wish to discuss this further or would like any clarification please contact Gab Verstraete (Child Safety Officer)         gverstraete@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu.au

On Monday, the 4th of September, Jillian West, a proud Bunurong woman presented a 'Welcome to Country' where the didgeridoo was played for students. The Year Two's then participated in a workshop where we explored traditional plants, totems and various Indigenous artefacts. 

Imogen Steer attended the World Dog Show in Geneva, Switzerland in August as the only Australian representative.  Competing over 4 days along with 100 entrants handling a Samoyed, a German Pinscher & finally a Lagotto where she was selected in the Top 6.  A great achievement for a 10 year old.

FINAL REMINDER

* Please note we cannot accept deliveries from Uber Eats, Deliveroo etc at the school.

School Fees

Term 3 fess are now well overdue.  We would greatly appreciate any families with amounts still outstanding for Term 3 arrange payment as soon as possible.

If circumstances have changes and your family now has a Pension or Health Care Card, please let the office know as this will impact your school fee balance.

For those famililes who may be experiencing financial difficulties,  please email finance@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu.au to arrange a confidential discussion.

PAM Access

All parents and families must access PAM.  This portal is vital for providing the school with current Medical Information and is how parents provide permission form school excursions and events.

Link to PAM portal

If you need any assistance with accessing the portal please contact the office

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

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.