We wish all students and families a very Merry Christmas and may you cherish this special time with family and friends. 

LAST DAY OF THE YEAR

The last day of the 2024 school year is Tuesday 17 December.  Students are welcome to wear casual clothes on this day and we ask them to bring a gold coin for our collection for St Vinnies.

Students will be dismissed at the normal time of 3.10pm

END OF YEAR MASS

On Tuesday 17 December at 9am we will hold our end of year Whole School Mass.  We invite all family and friends to join us for Mass.  Following Mass we will announce the 2025 School Leaders. 

SEMESTER 2 REPORTS

Your child's 2024 Semester 2 Report will be available through PAM on Friday 13 December.  Please take the time to read this with your child and acknowledge the development in their learning throughout 2024.  

Important Dates

Advent - Week 2

Luke 3:1-6

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

All people shall see the salvation of God.

In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the lands of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. He went through the whole Jordan district proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the sayings of the prophet Isaiah:

A voice cries in the wilderness;

Prepare a way for the Lord,

make his paths straight.

Every valley will be filled in,

every mountain and hill be laid low,

winding ways will be straightened

and rough roads made smooth.

And all mankind shall see the salvation of God.

Reflecting on the above Gospel you might like to discuss the following with your child/children:

John the Baptist told people to prepare for the coming of Jesus. What sort of things might he have said?

How can you help your family and friends prepare for the coming of Jesus this week?

Source: Liturgy Help

We have been notified by Cardinia Council that the Official Opening of the Officer Regional Park on Lansell Drive will take place at 9am on Tuesday 17 December.  There will be traffic management and inspectors in the neighbouring streets so please leave sufficient time to get obtain a park in an appropriate area if needed (they will be patrolling for vehicles parked in "No Standing" zones). Traffic movement in and out of Lansell Drive will also be impacted for the day.  See the diagram below.

As we are coming to the final days of school for 2024, students may be starting to feel the end of another year with all kinds of emotions.  

In this edition of SchoolTV - School Transitions

Whether it is starting school for the first time, moving up to a higher grade or embarking on a journey through secondary school, there is no doubt that any school transition is a very exciting time for children and parents. It means your children are growing up!

However, transitioning is an ongoing process. It can continue long after students have entered their new environment and may encounter difficulties at a number of different stages. These stressors may appear as anxiety and frustration and result in negative or disruptive behaviours. Such behaviours can become problematic making the transitioning process even more difficult for children and parents.

In this edition of SchoolTV, parents will learn practical strategies to assist your child during the transition process and reduce stress and anxiety levels.

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 for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to the School Transitions edition of SchoolTV
https://stclaresofficer.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/school-transitions

As the holidays can at times be challenging for our young people please see the following links by Be You/Beyond Blue:

Supporting young people in the holidays

Self care over the holidays

Wishing you all a safe and joyful holiday season!

Liz Hunt

Mental Health in Primary Schools Leader

Thank you to those families who have finalised their 2024 School Fees.

As per our school policy, it is requested that all outstanding school balances for 2024 are paid by the end of November. Therfore sany outstanding amounts now are OVERDUE. If you are experienceing financial difficulty please email finance@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu for a confidential discussion.

If you have a pension or health care card please ensure the school has a copy of your current valid card.  Without this you will not receive your fee reduction.

LOST PROPERTY

If you child has lost any uniform please call into the school office.  We have a large pile of unnamed clothing.  Any items remaining unclaimed at the end of the year will be donated to the secondhand uniform shop.

Here is the link to access PAM

Your usernsame is the email address you have registerd with the school.  If you have forgotten your password please use the "forgotten password" feature to set a new one.

Please take note of the following Term Dates & School Closure dates for 2025

Term 1 Dates

31 January - First Day of school for Foudantion ONLY

3 February - First Day of school for ALL other students

7 March - Staff Professional Development Day

4 April - Last day of Term 1

Term 2 Dates

22 April - First Day of Term 2

6 June - Staff Professional Development Day

3 July - Last day of Term 2

4 July - Staff Professional Development Day

Term 3 Dates

21 July - First Day of Term 3

25 August - Staff Professional Development Day

18 Septemer - Last Day of Term 3

19 September - Staff Professional Development Day

Term 4 Dates

6 October - First Day of Term 4

31 October - School Closure Day

3 November - School Closure Day

21 November - Early 12pm Finish for Twilight Market

17 December - Last day of Term 4 (TBC)

Good News: New CDFpay mobile app coming soon!

St Clare's will be using the new CDFpay mobile app for online events & fundraising purchases at our school from the start of Term 1 2025. 

What do you need to do?

• Keep using your current CDFpay login to access CDFpay until the end of Term 4 2024.
• Use up as much of your CDFpay account balance as possible before the end of Term 4 2024. We will let you know the process for account balance transfers at the end of the year.   
• Keep an eye out for further communications advising you when the new CDFpay mobile app is available to download for our school, and how to set up your new account.

Can I continue using the current CDFpay platform in Term 1 2025?

No, the current CDFpay platform will no longer be available, and you will be directed to register for a new CDFpay account.

We look forward to providing you with a further update soon.

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.