From the Principal

Dear Parents
This week is Child Protection Week with the theme “Putting Children first”. The aim is to promote positive sense of a child’s wellbeing and address the issues that have arisen around abuse.

Recently all the students participated in an online survey (Pulse Survey) that was undertaken by all students in Catholic Diocesan Schools in South Australia. We are waiting for the student responses to the survey that will guide us on how the students are feeling about their school, their learning and their wellbeing. I am compiling the responses to provide feedback to the staff, the students and the school community. The feedback will also give a student voice to areas that can be improved that enhances student wellbeing.

The social media issue this week on the Tik Tok platform has given me a prompt to remind parents about the responsible use technology. As a principal, I received a letter in the response to the issue from the government’s eSafety commissioner reminding us of their role in supporting safe practices for children when online.

The advice from the commissioner can be summarised as:
• Engage in your child’s online activities-especially whether the apps are age appropriate
• Use parental controls to limit what children are exposed to
• Help them report and block upsetting content
• Let them know they can come to you about anything upsetting they see online

I would recommend the www.eSafety.gov.au website that has excellent resources for parents.

I personally would like to remind parents about the use of digital devices. They should be used in public areas of the home with an agreement to how the devices are to be used. Too often I hear that students are using devices in bedrooms without any supervision from parents. Technology is a great resource to support the possibilities for learning as long as the students use them in a responsible manner.

Yesterday was R U OK Day?

I hope you all are.

Kind Regards

Greg Haynes
Principal