As we head into the final weeks of Term 4, it has been great to welcome our 2022 Receptions to the Junior School. We look forward seeing their happy faces next year.
Many classes have had or will be having excursions and incursions supporting their curriculum learning. A number of these are focussed on health and safety.
Our Year 1 and 2 students look forward to swimming lessons at STARplex to develop their water safety skills, and our Year 2s have visited the Road Safety Centre. Our Year 5s have also had the 'Sammy D Foundation' come out to talk about bullying, violence and respectful relationships. Our Year 3-6 students competed in the Catholic Schools Athletics Division 1 on Friday 5 November at SANTOS Stadium. The Year 4 Boys and Girls teams won their year level, Simba in Year 4 took out the Year 4 Boys Age Group and Angel, Joy, Lily and Kayley set a new record and won the Year 4 girls Relay. Congratulations!
The 'Keeping Safe - Child Protection Curriculum' is an important part of learning in every year level during the year. It's foundation lies in 'respectful relationships' from early years to secondary years. Concepts which are taught at age-appropriate times, include:
- Healthy and unhealthy relationships
- Rights and responsibilities in relationships
- Power in relationships
- Sexual abuse, sexual harassment and sexual consent
- Anatomical names of the body
- Privacy, touching and consent
- Online safety, grooming and image-based abuse
- Types of abuse
- Recognising, responding to, and reporting abuse
- Trusted networks and support services.
As parents, carers and teachers, it is vital we keep having conversations with our children to build their understanding of these topics, and provide a safe environment at both home and school that is free of violence, so that they grow from a place of security and respect.
Social media, TV and online games create safety challenges that as a Junior School we often need to address. We experience children viewing or accessing inappropriate content at home, using social media improperly and before the recommended age, or watching shows with content that is beyond their ability to process. One recent example has been the Netflix show, 'Squid Games'. This is suitable only for 15 years and over, but snippets have appeared on TikTok (age 13+). Children who access content beyond their age are not able to process this information properly. They often demonstrate this in poor choices and unsafe interactions with peers, which has ripple effects at school. Please protect your child from age-inappropriate content or media use by:
- Closely monitoring their screen time
- Using parental controls on devices
- Ensuring high privacy settings on all devices
- Always using devices in a public space in the house with adults around, never privately in bedrooms.
Let’s all continue to make the safety of our children a priority.
Mrs Julie Hancock | Head of Junior School
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