Dear Parents and Carers

Last Friday our Year 6 students represented St Clare's in the SSV Lightning Premiership Day very proudly and with great sportsmanship.  Both the boys and girls soccer culminated with a penalty shoot out in their final game. With the girls being victorious and crowned Champions.  All students who particpated were highly commended on their particpation and support for the team.  Thank you to our staff who made the day possible through their coaching, supervision and oragnisation of the day.

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.   Pizza orders must be placed via CDFpay by Thursday 26 June.  If you need assistance please contact the office.  Late orders cannot be accepetd as we must place the order with the Pizza Store on Friday.

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.

2026 Enrolments 

Our first round of offers for 2026 Foundation have been sent out.  If you have a child to enrol we encourage you to get the enrolment form and relevant documents in before the end of this term.  Likewise if you know anyone looking to enrol encourage them to do the same.

Meet and Greet sessions for our 2026 Foundation students will be held early in Term 3.

Semester 1 Student Reports

These reports will be made available to parents via PAM in the last week of term.  If you need assistance with accessing PAM please contact the school office. In week 3 of Term 3 Parent Teacher Meetings will be held on Tuesday 5 and Wednesday 6 August.  Parents will have the opportunity to catch up with teachers and discuss the semster 1 report at these meetings.  Further information and bookings for the Parent Teacher Meetings will open early Term 3.

Homeless Jesus 

SFX have kindly lent us their replica of the 'Homeless Jesus' sculpture.  It is in the Welcome Room.  Over the past week, learning groups have visited the Welcome Room and spent time exploring this work and the sculptor’s reasons for creating the sculpture.

The sculpture was created by Timothy Schmalz. The sculpture is designed to be “a visual representation” of the Gospel of Matthew passage when Jesus teaches his disciples about the need for compassion, 

“as you did it to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to me.” 

The passage slowly reveals his message as does ‘Homeless Jesus’. At first, you just see the statue of a homeless person but with closer investigation, you realise it is Jesus by the visible crucifixion wounds on his feet protruding out from the blanket.

CONFIRMATION FAMILIES - PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE WILL NOW BE ONLY ONE CONFIRMATION MASS THIS YEAR.  IT WILL BE HELD ON SATURDAY, 30TH 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:

24th June 2025 1.00pm - 2.00pm

27th June 2025 1.00pm - 2.00pm

1st July 2025 6.30pm-7.30pm

Upon enrolment, parents will receive paperwork to complete along with further information and instructions regarding First Eucharist.  Parents are asked to pay a sacramental enrolment fee of $20 when they enrol their child.  Forms, certificates and prayer cards received at this time will then be returned at one of the commitment masses. 

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.