Dear SCA families,

How blessed I have felt over the past five weeks, being a part of leading this wonderful SCA community. I am very grateful for the opportunities I have had, meeting so many families and getting to know all of our wonderful students. 

As I have visited the classrooms this week, I have shared conversations with our students about our four core principles and what they mean: 

1. Be Faithfilled: show respect, kindness and Christian values.
2. Be Community: be welcoming, cooperate and participate. 
3. Be a Learner: show interest, dedicated and excitement.
4. Be a Leader: lead by example, be helpful and compassionate.

This week has been a wonderful opportunity to celebrate St Clare of Assisi and the importance of fulfilling our core values. 

Silence and stillness does have a magic to it. It doesn't matter where you find it — in your home, your workplace or your classroom. However in our fast-paced world it is getting harder and harder to find. Maggie Dent is an author who explores the cognitive and emotional benefits of silence and stillness, demonstrating how crucial it is for children as well as adults. One of the books she has written Saving our kids from a chaotic world talks about ways we can support our children through some of the challenges they face in our world. I have found this to be a great resource.

Christian Meditation is a tool that we use in our school as a valuable strategy to provide our students with stillness during their day. These opportunities of stillness not only provide a space for our students to be with God but enable each child to breathe and take charge of their bodies and minds. I encourage you to talk with your child about Christian meditation. 

Student Well-being and Management

As we embark on the halfway mark of term three, for some students this can become an increasingly  challenging time. Over the past weeks I have met with some students and families around the expected behaviour of our students. Please be assured, student wellbeing and management is a key priority of SCA and addressed accordingly. I thank the parent community for their support and communication. 

Technology is becoming more and more prevalent in our world. Particularly with our children. Some days (or most days!) it is incredibly challenging to capture our children’s attention, when they are more interested in an xbox, youtube channel, iPhone, iwatch or iphone! So how can we as Parents and carers educate our children around cyber safety?

Below is some information about Think u know  https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/ along with some helpful links to support parents and carers with Cyber safety for our children.

ThinkUKnow is a free, evidence-based online safety program that provides presentations to Australian parents, carers and teachers and students. The program gives parents, carers, teachers and students information on how to stay safe online. Topics included within the presentations are specifically aimed at educating and increasing awareness about online child sexual exploitation including avoiding unwanted contact, online grooming, self-generated content, sexual extortion and how to get help.

Here are some helpful links to support families with online safety…

Parental controls

WHAT IS IT?

Parental controls are designed to manage how children can use their devices in order to protect them from inappropriate or harmful content.

You can restrict access to certain apps, games or websites, the device’s camera or can even choose the settings you want on their phone – including the privacy and location settings.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Tailoring access to specific sites, apps and features is one way to help protect your child from inappropriate or harmful content.

It’s a good idea for adults to supervise the use of the internet for children who are under 10.

More information visit our page on age appropriate content.

https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/what-we-see-online#age-appropriate-content

TOP TIPS!

• Know the device your children are using
• Know how your children are using the device
• Know what parental control options are available

Factsheets for parents and carers

The fact of the matter is, both adults and children will be using social media and programs that require us to communicate with others online in some form on a daily basis.

The best way to ensure our safety is to be aware. We encourage parents to be aware of the purpose of apps and programs, aware of the risks associated and what to do if something does go wrong.

At St Clare of Assisi we apply and use appropriate practices to facilitate and support ICT throughout the school. The practices are aligned under the organising elements of the Australian Curriculum: Information and Communications Technologies capacities.

All students who have access to ICT (including use of Chrome books) are to agree and sign an IT agreement which outlines the appropriate use of technology at St Clare of Assisi.

Online bullying is not accepted and certainly won't be tolerated at St Clare of Assisi. Cyber safety is paramount and all students at St Clare of Assisi (including outside school hours) have the right to feel safe.

Here are our factsheets for parents and carers including frequently asked questions for some popular apps and websites.

• View and Download Factsheets for Parents

https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/resources/factsheets-for-parents

MOBILE PHONES

A reminder to all families that students are not permitted to ring their parents using their own devices during school hours. To ensure the safety and well-being of all students. All correspondence to families is to go through the front office.

Parent Information Session

SAVE THE DATE!

On Tuesday, 31st August at 5pm we will be facilitating a parent information session on developing emotional resilience, friendships and how we can best support our children with the challenges they face in our world. This session will be led by our school counsellor, Ima. A light supper will be provided and our wonderful staff will be providing supervision for your little ones in the next room, so that you are able to attend. We really look forward to seeing as many of you as possible.

Please register on the link below:

https://stclareconder.schoolzineplus.com/form/156

Canteen

If you can spare an hour or two, Michelle and the SCA community would be very grateful for any helpers in the canteen. Please call the office if you are able to assist! Thank you.

With thanks for your continued support.