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Dear Parents and Carers
How exciting it was to see all the students involved in Book Week Celebrations which included the Parade on Monday, where Dalamations were spotted in abundance. A big thank you to our parents for your part in arranging costumes. The Book Fair has been very popular with the last chance to purchase books before they are collected being tomorrow (Thursday morning). Come along and check out the range of books in the welcome room.
PUPIL FREE DAY - Monday 25 August is a pupil free day, there is no school for students on this day while staff particpate in Professional Development for the day. Camp Australia are providing care on this day if required.
UPCOMING DATES:
On Monday, our whole school gathered at the basketball court to join in on our Book Week parade. All year levels took turns to do a lap of the court to showcase their amazing costumes. From blow up dinosaurs to Winnie the Pooh, St Clares students were very creative and definitely nailed the 2025 theme.
I personally think Grade 5 did the best on their coordinated and matching costumes, they had Mario and Luigi, a group of minions and Alvin and the Chipmunks.
At the end the teachers were called to show off their outstanding 101 Dalmatian costumes, matching perfectly with Ms Staindl who was Cruella de Vil.
Overall, we had lots of fun celebrating Book Week 2025.
Estelle 4EH
Key Dates for Confirmation
A reminder to parents of students who are preparing for their confirmation. You are expected to attend the parent workshop on Thursday 21st August at 7:00pm. This is for parents only and will be held in the Parish Hall at St Patrick’s.
In addition to this, all Confirmation candidates are required to attend a weekend mass this weekend on Saturday, 23rd August at 6:00pm or Sunday, 24th August at 9:00am or 10:30am. Students will receive a blessing at these masses.
The Confirmation Reflection Day will also be held next week at St Patrick’s.
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Parent Workshop |
Thursday 21 August 2025, at 7.00 pm at St Patrick’s Parish Hall |
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PARENT WORKSHOP (ONLY PARENTS) IT IS AN EXPECTATION THAT ALL PARENTS OF CHILDREN RECEIVING THE SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION WILL ATTEND ON THIS NIGHT |
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Blessing mass |
23 and 24 August, all weekend Masses Saturday at 6 pm and Sunday at 9:00 am and 10:30 am. |
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Reflection Day at St Patrick’s |
Tuesday 26 August |
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Celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation |
Saturday 30 August, 3 pm |
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
Do you have a child ready to commence Foundation in 2026?
Do you know anyone looking to enrol for 2026?
It is time to submit enrolment forms. We have limited vacancies 2026. An enrolment pack is available from the school office or we can arrange to send one home for you. Contact the office now.
Young people today don’t have the maturity to use their digital devices responsibly. For example, giving a smartphone to an 11 year old can be akin to giving them a ‘loaded gun’.
Dr Michael Carr-Gregg
In this edition of SchoolTV - Internet Addiction
In today’s digital environment, the internet can be viewed as a valuable tool for education, research and entertainment. Young people today tend to go from one screen to another, but how much is too much? Time spent in the ‘screen world’ has parents concerned that their kids may be missing out on real life experiences. Therefore, it is vitally important to a child’s wellbeing for parents to regulate a child’s internet use.
Internet addiction can cause significant psychological and social problems for children in years to come. The true effects on future generations is not yet known, but there are strategies that parents can implement now.
In this edition, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg discusses what causes internet addiction, who is most at risk and what parents can do to regulate the amount of time their kids spend online each day.
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 Internet Addiction edition of SchoolTV
https://stclaresofficer.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/internet-addiction
Liz Hunt
Mental Health in Primary School Leader
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.
