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Remembrance Day November 11
This week, on Monday 11 November, we gathered as a school to acknowledge Remembrance Day. Aboriginal people have served in every conflict and peacekeeping mission involving Australia for more than a century. For many years the service and sacrifice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service men and women had not been adequately recognised and commemorated.
This year in our service, we paid tribute to all those who have served in conflicts and peacekeeping missions including Aboriginal people.
The gum leaf wreath artwork by Nina Kelabora (above) is inspired by the late Aunty Dot Peters AM, who laid a gum leaf wreath at the Shrine each year. The colours of the leaves
are the same as those found in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags. Individual leaves, sitting side by side, proudly represent Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal soldiers who have served and continue to serve as equals in the Australian Defence Force.
Source: https://www.firstpeoplesrelations.vic.gov.au/victorian-aboriginal-remembrance-service
In this edition of SchoolTV - Raising Boys
Many parents will attest to the fact that most boys are active, loud, rambunctious and prone to rough play, but this should not affect how a parent acts towards their son. Be careful not to pigeon-hole your son into sex-specific behaviours or gender roles. The male brain is distinctly different in its development. A boy’s physical maturity is often at odds with his mental and brain development.
Societal beliefs about how to raise boys can sometimes influence their adult carers. Although we are not determined by our biology, it is a factor. It is important to support boys in their natural tendencies and nurture their strengths and abilities. Teach them the skills they need for their future and to develop a healthy identity. It is important for boys to have a role model they can connect with and acknowledge who they are. One of the most important determinants for a boy’s development is how secure they feel growing up.
In this edition of SchoolTV, adult carers will gain a better understanding into some of the more complex issues relating to raising boys.
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 Raising Boys edition of SchoolTV
https://stclaresofficer.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/raising-boys
Liz Hunt
Mental Health in Primary Schools Leader
2025 School Fees
Following DOSCEL Budget and Planning Meetings for 2025 they have advised our School Fees for 2025 as follows:
School Fees: $2,450 per family per year ($612.50 per term)
Building Levy: $850 per family per year ($212.50 per term)
Education Levy: (per child per year)
Foundation $625 per child plus $85 Swimming Program
Year 1 $625 per child plus $85 Swimming Program
Year 2 $625 per child plus $85 Swimming Program
Year 3 $625 per child plus $85 Swimming Program
plus $65 Camp Fee* Day Camp
Year 4 $625 per child plus $200 Camp Fee* Camp 2 days
Year 5 $625 per child plus $300 Camp Fee* Camp 2 days
Year 6 $625 per child plus $450 Camp Fee* Camp 2 days
* Camp Fee to be confirmed once pricing confirmed early 2025
If you have a Pension or Health Care Card please ensure you have provided the school with your current card expiry. Should our records show your card is expired we will be unable to provide the discount on your fees.
For those families who have a direct debit set up an email will be sent in the coming weeks advising of your 2025 direct debit amount.
Here are the secondhand uniform dates for the remainder of the year.
November
Wednesday 6th - 8:30-9:15am
Friday 8th - 2:30-3:15pm
Thursday 21st - 2:30-3:15pm
Monday 25th - 2:30-3:15pm
December
Wednesday 4th - 2:30-3:15pm
Tuesday 10th - 8:30-9:15am
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.