Dear Parents and Carers

We currently have 36 candidates who have begun the process of preparing to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation with attendance at Commitment Masses last weekend.  Please remember them in your prayers as they travel this journey.  Information has also been sent home for those students in Year 4 who are planning to participate in First Holy Communion this year.  If you have not received the information please contact the school.

We remind you that the last day of Term 2 is Thursday 3 July and students are dismissed at normal time, 3.10pm. This is also our annual Pizza and PJ day.  If your child would like Pizza for lunch on this day don't forget to place the order via CDFpay by Thursday 26 June.

The first day of Term 3 is Monday 21 July.  Camp Australia are running their Rocketeers Program if families require care over the school holidays.

CONFIRMATION FAMILIES - PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE WILL NOW BE ONLY ONE CONFIRMATION MASS THIS YEAR.  IT WILL BE HELD ON SATURDAY, 30 AUGUST AT 3PM

Recently a PAM communication went out to families with children in Year 4 who are able to receive the Sacrament of First Eucharist this year.  If your child is ready to be receive First Eucharist and is in Year 4 but you did not receive the information, please contact Alisha Johnston via email - ajohnston@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu.au

In Term 3 those students that have received their First Reconciliation will be invited to receive the Sacrament of First Eucharist.  Preparations for this will begin this term.  If you would like your child to receive the Sacrament of First Eucharist this year, please take note of the following dates.

For the first time, this year parents will need to enrol their child for the Sacrament of First Eucharist at the St Patrick’s Parish office.  This can be done at the following times:

24 June 2025 - 1.00pm - 2.00pm

27 June 2025 - 1.00pm - 2.00pm

1 July 2025 - 6.30pm-7.30pm

Prior to this, you need to register to indicate which time slot you will attend:

https://www.trybooking.com/DCFYJ   24 June 1.00 pm

https://www.trybooking.com/DCFYW 24 June 1.30 pm

https://www.trybooking.com/DCFZA  27 June 1.00pm

https://www.trybooking.com/DCFYZ 27 June 1.30pm

https://www.trybooking.com/DCFZC 1 July 6.30pm

https://www.trybooking.com/DCFZG  1 July 7.00

REPORTING AN ABSENCE

To report your child's absence please do so via PAM, email absent@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu.au or call 5940 6777

If you have a Pension or Health Care Card please ensure you have provided the school with your current card. CSEF applications MUST be submitted by 4 July 2025.

If you family is having financial difficulty with payment of fees, please email the school via finance@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu.au  to arrange a confidential discussion.

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.

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.