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Dear Parents and Carers
What an amazing day we had on Monday 12 August to celebrate out Feast Day. We are very grateful to those who joined us for the preayer service in the morning. Then the students, and staff, had a wonderful time with Kaboom Sports and their buddies throughout the day. The joy and excitement on faces was so infectious.
2025 Enrolments
There are limited places left available for Foudantion 2025. If you have a child due to commence school next year or know of anyone looking to enrol, please get the enrolment forms in soon. We have already commenced the transition process with "Meet and Greets" being held already.
Please note we are at capacity and running a waitlist at certain year levels.
In the past few weeks year 4 students have been learning about the journeys of significant world navigators, explorers and how it has affected on other societies. These lessons further extended into conversations about colonisations of countries and how the maps were created. As a grade we talked about how Australia was discovered. Students researched about the great journeys and how Australia has evolved over time. We engaged in classroom projects, such as creating timelines of explorers and significant events and further extended our discussions about the first nation of Australia.
Here are some of the classroom projects we have done in the past few weeks to represent the great journeys that took place, colonisation of countries and ways to represent the first nation of Australia.
Let's talk about Bullying!
This week is ‘Bullying No Way- National week of action.’. It is a week where we talk to our children about recognising, preventing and knowing what to do if being bullied.
Why?
The impact of bullying on a person can have a significant impact not only on their general wellbeing but their Mental Health. We know that in Australian schools approximately 20% of males and 15% of females between the age of 8-18 years have reported being bullied at least once a week. (Australian Human Rights Commission). So the quicker we support our children the better equipped they are if they are being bullied.
Three key points to parents:
Don't wait for bullying to happen to talk about it.
Talk about what bullying is before it happens so your child can recognise it and know what to do.
Most importantly, let your child know how to get help if bullying happens.
Be You/ Beyond Blue https://beyou.edu.au/
Bullying No Way - https://bullyingnoway.gov.au/
Kids Helpline: https://kidshelpline.com.au/teens/issues/bullying
In this edition of SchoolTV - Bullying
Bullying is an ongoing or repeated misuse of power in relationships, with the intention to cause deliberate psychological harm. Bullying behaviours can be verbal, physical or social. It can happen in person or online, via various digital platforms and devices and it can be obvious or hidden. Bullying in any form or for any reason can have immediate, medium and long-term effects on those involved, including bystanders.
Despite the efforts made to reduce bullying behaviours, the research tells us that one in four students still report being bullied every few weeks. However, not all negative behaviour should be considered bullying. The key difference is that bullying does not stop on its own. It’s important young people learn how to identify behaviours that are rude, behaviours that are mean, and behaviours that are related to bullying.
Often the reasons for bullying can be complex. Some young people do it to get approval from others, some do it to regain control, whilst others may do it because it makes them feel safe. Supporting young people as they work through their emotions will help them unpack the motivation and reason behind the behaviour.
In this edition of SchoolTV, caregivers can better understand why some young people engage in bullying behaviours and what to do to support a child experiencing it.
We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition of SchoolTV and we always welcome your feedback.
Here is the link to the Bullying edition of SchoolTV
https://stclaresofficer.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/bullying
Liz Hunt
Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader
SCHOOL FEES
LATE ARRIVAL AND EARLY DEPARTURE
Students arriving after 9am must be sigend in at the school office so should be accompanied by an adult/carers who can do so.
Likewise students being collected early must be signed out via PAM or at the school office prior to be collected by a parent. Only parents are able to collect students early - please provide the school with details if someone other than a parent will be collecting them during the school day.
Collection during the lunch break - 1.30pm to 2.10pm can be difficult. Therefore if necessay to collect students early we ask they you do so either before 1.30pm or after 2.10pm.
We remind you that every minute absent from class adds up and does impact learning time.
REPORTING AN ABSENCE
To report your child's absence please do so via PAM, email absent@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu.au or call 5940 6777
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.
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.