Assistant Principal - Pastoral Care
Schools Liaison Police Officer (SLPO) Visit
This week, our SLPO, Senior Constable Steve Jeffrey visited the College for our annual Cyber Safety presentations. Officer Steve met with students in Years 7, 8 and 9 to share his expertise and offer recommendations for how students can safely navigate the online environment. Potential implications of young people conducting themselves unlawfully in the online world were also discussed. We encourage parents of our Years 7 - 9 students to engage their child in a reflective discussion about the learning they experienced during these sessions.
Young Men Online - A Report from the Office of the eSafety Commissioner
eSafety has published the latest in a two-part body of research investigating young men and boys’ online experiences, drawing on insights from 16 expert practitioners and psychologists who work with young men.
Practitioners observed that:
- Young men are interested in learning how to become good, kind men, and can be empathetic and think critically.
- Being online can be positive for young men, allowing them to express themselves, connect socially and develop their critical thinking skills.
- Young men are feeling defensive, disenfranchised, uncertain, rebellious and lonely.
- Harmful online content, creators and communities can appeal to young men by meeting their needs for validation, guidance, edginess and belonging.
- Algorithms and recommender systems push harmful content onto young men.
Read the full report from the eSafety Commissioner via THIS LINK.
Upcoming Webinars from the eSafety Commissioner that may be of interest to parents:
- Algorithms and adolescents: the rewards and risks of recommender systems for young people - 19th March, 12.30pm
- Understanding and using parental controls to help protect your child online - 14th May, 12.30pm; 3rd June, 3.30pm.
Learn more about these parent webinars and register via THIS LINK.
Love Bites Program
Unfortunately, the Year 10 Loves Bites Program needed to be rescheduled due to last week’s unexpected school closure. The new date has been set for Monday 7th April (Week 7). This will be a compulsory day of school attendance for Year 10 with really valuable, essential learning on offer. A copy of the parent communication about this program can be accessed at THIS LINK.
Attendance
To support students and families, and as part of compliance, we will inform some families of student attendance rates in Week 7. Families of students whose attendance rate is below 90% will be informed via a letter to ensure an awareness of this rate. We recognise/acknowledge illness or family commitments may account for these absences. In these instances, letters are for information sharing and awareness purposes only. Please contact your child’s Leader of Student Wellbeing if we can be of support with your child’s school attendance.jennifer.furney@lism.catholic.edu.au