Dear Parents and Carers,

Some of our parents attended the online Cyber Safety course run by Kids Helpine which was advertised in the newsletter a few weeks ago. They said the course was really helpful. When I asked what were some of the key messages they thought should be shared they came up with the following tips. They are particularly relevant this week as it is Child Protection Week and in light of some material currently circulating online.

• Talk  to your child regarding if/when they are exposed to inappropriate content online. Children should know how to:
• Shutdown the computer/browser
• Report the content to a trusted adult - discuss the content with them
• Do not share or show the content to other children
• It’s not just about screen time, it’s what your child is doing on their screen. You want them to be interactive, creative and learning. It’s the passive use of tech that you want to limit eg watching video after video.
• Kids need to be bored, this is when their natural curiosity and creative brain functions kick in, provide that opportunity by giving them ‘green’ time away from tech. https://www.informandempower.com.au/post/green-time-vs-scree-time
• Predators and groomers are real, they operate from 4pm to 2am; limiting your child’s device time from 8pm reduces your child’s risk by 50%. 
• Trial an app your child wants for a week before letting them play on it, see who approaches you and you will get a better understanding if the content is suitable. 
• If you think you can outsmart your kid with tech and sneaky screen watching apps or wifi outages you are dreaming! Instead keep those communication channels open with your child and explain why you want to help protect them by putting in certain measures.
• Do not use devices as disciplinary tools, use other things like adding chores for bad behaviour, the fear of a device getting taken away and being digitally cut-off breaks down that open communication channel you want to foster with your child.

Recommended site for parents:

• https://www.esafety.gov.au

The next webinar in this series is the following:

TOPIC: Cyberbullying- What Parents Need to Know

DATE: Monday September 21st @ 7.30pm

REGISTER (FREE): CLICK HERE

Music lessons after school

If your child has a music lesson after school please pick them up from the library. This is a safer option than having them come to the front gate alone. Please be on time for the tutors so they can begin their next lessons.

Book Character Parade

While many things may be cancelled, we can still have our beloved Book Character Parade. Yes, we will video it for you! Please see the note from Mrs Jago in the Library News in this Newsletter regarding the date and theme for this year.

Wellbeing Mufti Day - save the date. Thursday 24th September 

Uniforms

All students need a hat every day at school. We will start to enforce our No Hat/ Play in the shade rule to ensure students remain safe on the playground.

We will transition to summer uniforms after the holidays. If there are any very warm days for the next few weeks (tomorrow is predicted to be over 25 degrees) children may wear their sports uniform. If children are training before or after school they should wear their sports uniforms to school on those days as our Covid safe plan for sport training discourages students congregating in the bathrooms and using them as changerooms.

Staff Development Days

Two of our Staff Development Days for 2020 will be held on the last day of Term 3, (25th September) and the first day of Term 4, (12th October). Vacation Care will be available during the holidays and on Monday 12th October at school.  (See SCECS article in this Newsletter).

Regards

Julie Caldwell

Author Zoom

On Friday 28th August, year 5 were graced with the Zoom pleasure of famous author, Kimberely Bradley. Over the year, year 5 have been reading some of her incredible books in Modelled Reading. We have flipped through the pages of ‘The war that saved my life’ and ‘The war I finally won’. These books were super intriguing and full of surprise. Kimberley was kind enough to answer all of our questions and give us some behind the scenes knowledge of how she created the stories. She showed us that with lots of time and effort, you can achieve your goals. She truly is an inspiration!

East Timor Talk

On Monday 31st August, a lady called Tamara came into Year 5 to educate us on East Timor, specifically the village of Soibada. We couldn’t believe that East Timor is one of the poorest countries in Asia and yet is only 1 hour away from Darwin! 

Tamara taught us and showed us videos about the lifestyle of those that live in Soibada and explained how the children get their education. We were surprised to hear that they only get 1 pencil for the entire year! 

Tamara started a charity many years ago, ‘Friends of Soibada’; this charity helps to raise funds for Soibada. These funds go to educating the people and making jobs. Tamara expressed how the Soibada people don’t want ‘handouts’ they want opportunities to better their village. 

Year 5 was truly inspired and wanted to take action. As a whole grade we had a ‘Crazy sock day’ where we brought in a donation and created posters that Tamara took to send over to Soibada. A few students went above and beyond and showed their social justice attributes by completing their own ‘24 Hour Famine’. Both groups did an incredible job raising money and awareness for Soibada and each raised well over $500!

The biggest point we learnt from this experience was that we are incredibly lucky children and that even though we may be young, we can make a difference in our world. 

The next P & F meeting is Tuesday 15th September at 7pm.   Any agenda items can be sent to curransmr@yahoo.com.au before the meeting. 

Zoom link is

Link: https://scscatholic.zoom.us/j/99263390686

Password: pandf

Dear SCECS families,

COMPASS: