Filter Content
Dear Parents and Carers
What an amazing day we had on Monday for our whole school Athletics Carnival. Considering the weather of the weekend we were very fortunate with the sunshine that graced us on Monday, even if it was a little wet underfoot. It was wonderful to have parents and family in attendance either as helpers or spectators creating a special St Clare's Community feel. A big thank you to our PE teacher Mark Trounson for his coordination of the event, the SFX students and staff who were of great assistance on the day and all the staff of St Clare's. Any event of this scale requires the coming together of all to create a successful day.
Year 6 Winter Sport Program
Our year 6 students will be particpating in an Interschool sport program against other local Catholic Primary Schools on Friday afternoons during term 3. For our home games we are required to provide umpires for AFL and Netball, so this is where we are putting a call out to our St Clare's Community for assistance. You do not need to be an "umpire" just having a knowledge of the game and it's rules is sufficient. The games run for approximately an hour commecning at 1pm. If you can assist or would like more infomation, please contact the office on 59406777 or email admin@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu.au
Parent Teacher Meetings
Susan McLean – Cyber Safety Expert will be visiting St Clare's on Monday 29 July.
Susan will be running workshops with the Year 3 – 6 students at school and will also have a Parent Session on this night at 7pm.
Please complete this link to register your attendance (thank you to those parents who have already done this)
Hello everyone! My name is Liz Hunt and I have the privilege of being the Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader at St Clare’s Primary School. I am part of the Mental Health in Primary School ( MHiPS) program that is still being initiated all over Australia. This program is aimed to help families, schools and our community to recognise, prevent and support mental health and the wellbeing concerns that may occur in our children over their schooling years. My role is to promote a whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing to students, staff and families.
The reason why primary schools are starting to be more involved in the mental health of children comes from the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.They have found that 8 percent of children between the ages of 4-11 may have a diagnosed mental health disorder. The data has also identified that over 20 percent of children experience mental health difficulties that could inhibit their daily function and impact their schooling and adult years.
So what is mental health? Mental health is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realise their abilities, learn well, work well, and contribute to their community.
We understand that due to life's stressors our children and even our own mental health is something that we cannot ignore but must work on to help us enjoy what life throws at us and has to offer.
At school your children follow the Personal and Social Capabilities of the Victorian Curriculum. These help teachers build students' social skills of resilience, tolerance, empathy and generosity but also educate students to identify their emotions, stressors and how to manage these in all situations.
For more information on mental health please see
School TV- Mental Health Series
Beyond Blue https://beyou.edu.au/
"Without good mental health in students, there is no learning." Dr Michael Carr-Gregg
Liz Hunt
Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader
This Term, we will be celebrating ‘100 Days of Foundation’ on Wednesday 31 July. We are encouraging you to dress your child as an elderly/100-year-old person! On this day students will participate in varied activities throughout the day that incorporate the number – ONE HUNDRED.
We will have a short assembly and parade in the morning to celebrate this special day and families are most welcome to attend.
Looking forward to a great day!
The Foundation Team
Dear Parents and Carers of students celebrating the Sacrament of First Holy Communion in 2024
Your child has been preparing for the Sacrament of Eucharist at school. You can help your child prepare in many ways such as sharing family prayer and attending Mass regularly.
This letter outlines your commitment, as parents/carers, for this Sacrament including the booking details.
PARENT WORKSHOP (ONLY PARENTS) - it is an expectation that all parents/carers will attend on this night.
When: Thursday 22nd August 2024
Time: 7:00 pm
Where: St Patrick’s Parish Hall
Commitment Mass - it is an expectation that all parents/carers will attend with their child on this night.
Students receiving the Sacrament of Eucharist and parents are to attend the Commitment
Mass on Saturday 31st August, at 6pm at St Patrick’s Church, Pakenham.
First Eucharist Masses
Saturday 7
th September 2024 at 6.00 pm
OR
Sunday 8
th September 2024 at 10.30 am.
OR
Saturday 14
th September 2024 at 6.00 pm
OR
Sunday 15
th September 2024 at 10.30 am.
Bookings for your preferred date will be open at 10.00 am on Monday 12 August 2024.
Please use this link on 12 Aug from 10am onwards:
https://stpatrickspakenham.com.au/fhc/
We have allowed for approximately 20 students per Mass to register.
Please feel free to contact Gab Verstraete, Religious Education Leader, via email at gverstraete@stclaresofficer.catholic.edu.au
In this edition of SchoolTV - GRIEF & LOSS
Grief is a natural response to loss. It might be the loss of a loved one, relationship or even a pet. The more significant the loss, the more intense the grief is likely to be. Children and adults grieve differently due to their developmental stage, and this can prove difficult for parents to understand.
Young children fluctuate in and out of the stages of grief rapidly, as they may not comprehend the permanency death. They express their grief more physically. Teens on the other hand may not know how to express their grief and will need some space to process their loss. Some may choose to grieve alone, not wanting to stand out or be seen as not coping. Whilst others, who may have a greater understanding, can start to question their own mortality.
In this edition of SchoolTV, parents can learn how to acknowledge their child’s feelings and the best way to support them through the grief.
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 seek medical or professional help.
Here is the link to the Grief & Loss edition of SchoolTV
https://stclaresofficer.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/grief-loss
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.