2022 | Issue 13 | SJC Newsletter

This week of the 4-10 September 2022 is National Child Protection and National eSmart Week in Australia. The theme for this year is ‘Every child, in every community, needs a fair go’.

We will be sharing a short video and pledge with our students, created by the Child Safety Officers at St Joseph’s, reminding students of their individual rights, and providing personnel and links to many child friendly websites that can be accessed by any young person who feels unsafe in any aspect of their life.

We will remind students to refer to the posters that we have in every classroom across both campuses, these posters provide a graphic and a message specifically reminding them of their rights, designed by the eSafety student team at SJC. The posters also include a QR code that provides our students with access to the student-friendly version of our Child Safety Policy.

We will always continue to consider what works to keep children safe and supported… what children are telling us… what families are telling us… what the evidence is telling us… and how to translate this knowledge into action.

As parents and carers, you are the most important part of the wraparound care provided to young people. Challenges with online behaviours that young people engage in are an ongoing focus of the work we do together. Therefore, we are encouraging our students and families to partake in the 7-day Online Safety Challenge to start and/or continue regular conversations around online safety.

• Have you considered privacy settings on personal accounts and how you share your personal information online?
• Do you know the apps and games that your child is accessing and whether they allow anonymous ‘in game’ chat?
• Are you able to recognise suspicious online behaviours and respond appropriately?

The link is provided here - Family Challenge: 7 Day Family Online Safety Challenge.

• https://www.accce.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-04/7-day-challenge_A4_web_1.pdf

We highlighted concerns around online behaviours in our last newsletter, and again offer some links that can assist in supporting our young people to be proud, digital citizens. We also include some links below that address child safety more broadly: how they may well look to mimic our behaviours, and the importance to them of the adults in their lives.

• How can I protect my child online? https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/skills-advice/taming-technology
• How much does what I do impact how my child acts? https://youtu.be/jOrGsB4qG_w
• How important am I to my child? https://youtu.be/3It8-dWXDfw

Article written by Kerry Drever Head of Student Services and Susan Dickinson Head of Innovation.