Curtin Primary School Newsletter

We at Curtin Primary acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, past, present and future.

We would like to thank the traditional custodians for nurturing this precious land where we live, learn and play.

We promise to protect plants, animals, earth, water and sky and care for everyone in our community.

Wow, we are nearly to the end of another very busy term.

As you can see the fence has started to be built. They have focused on the areas that require a mowing strip first, which is why it is not consistent around the school yet. The concrete trucks were here on Tuesday this week so these are now complete, and we will see movement on the rest of the fence posts from now on. There will be some foliage that will need to be trimmed as they are a climbing hazard but, overall, we are keeping all the greenery we currently have on the perimeter of the playgrounds. Along Theodore and Carruthers street playground areas the fence will be inside the trees and foliage for much of the perimeter. This means we will have foliage on the street side of the fence to break it up visually. Once the fence is complete, we will have three gates along the oval side, one near Fred Ward Gardens, and the gate on the junior playground will be relocated to near the crossing. We are currently working on plans to further enhance our play spaces once the fence is complete.

Just a reminder that if you are moving or planning on not being at Curtin in 2020 can you please email the front office at curtinPS@ed.act.edu.au and let us know.

Good luck to our five TOMs teams of year 5 and 6 students who are competing in the ACT finals this Sunday. This is quite incredible considering there were a record 114 schools competing in the first round and Curtin teams managed to get in the top 4 for every category! We know you will all be fantastic. GO Curtin! 

Over the past few weeks we have had a lot of discussion about the use of social media by primary school aged students. This is our Directorate policy:

The ACT Education Directorate has clear policies governing the appropriate use of the internet and personal electronic devices within schools. Whether it is working online or communicating by personal electronic device, students should feel safe and not be exposed to inappropriate material.

The ACT Education Directorate has policies on:

·         the acceptable use of Personal Electronic Devices (PEDs)   

·         providing safe schools.

The following policies have been developed and are available:

·         Safe and Supportive Schools Policy — includes cyberbullying

·         Communities Online: Acceptable use of ICT — Parents and Students Policy

·         Use of Personal Electronic Devices in Schools Policy.

All policy documents can be accessed from the ACT Education Directorate

The https://esafety.gov.au website has a lot of resources for parents and is certainly worth browsing through.

Here is an article from the esafety website that might provide some answers to common parent questions regarding children and social media.

When are they ready for social media accounts?

Both the physical age of your child and their level of maturity and resilience can affect their ability to have positive experiences on social media.

Each social media site and app has its own criteria for minimum age requirements. Most require users to be at least 13 years of age before they can register, although some sites are created especially for children under 13.

Generally, the 13-year age requirement is not necessarily because the site is unsafe for children to use but to comply with a US law — the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), which prevents collection and storage of personal information from children under 13 years of age.

Key questions to help determine your child’s readiness for social media

We suggest considering these questions to determine whether your child is ready for social media.

Is your child able to withstand negative online experiences?

If you think your child would be very upset by a negative experience online, you may need to guide them closely if you allow them to establish a social media account.

Look through online profiles and public feeds together and talk about how some people behave differently online. Teach them how to filter abusive comments, block and report people. 

Does your child understand the importance of protecting their personal information?

Explaining to a child why privacy is important can be difficult. Start by describing what personal information is. Emphasise that it includes anything that can identify them, such as their mobile number, email address, photos, the name of their school, and any sporting clubs they belong to. Remind them that photos can contain information that could be used to identify them, such as a photo taken right outside your house or a photo of them in their school uniform.

Let them know that if they share personal information online, it could mean that others, including strangers could use it in ways they may not have thought about. Someone could even post bullying messages or inappropriate photos on social media while pretending to be them.

See privacy and your child for more tips on this.

Does your child understand how privacy settings for social media work?

Show your child how to view the privacy settings for each social media service you use and talk them through how you decided on which settings to use in your own accounts. You can find advice on privacy settings in the eSafety Guide.

If you would like help with technology, including how to use social media services yourself, Be Connected provides step-by-step advice on the basics and beyond.

Does your child understand what is safe to share online?

If you are concerned your child may post personal information that allows people to identify and locate them — even after you have talked through the dangers — then they may need your help to use social media sites.

Talk about the risks of 'checking in', tagging people in photos, sharing nude or sexually suggestive pictures, meeting online friends in person, making offensive comments, and what is not acceptable.

Does your child know how to report cyberbullying and other kinds of abusive content?

Although there are huge benefits to being connected through social media, your child may experience some form of online bullying or harassment. If this happens, it is important that they know how to manage and report this behaviour. Together with your child, check the safety resources for individual social media services and look for information about how to block and report. You can find online safety advice and direct reporting links for social media, apps, games and websites in the eSafety guide.

You can also report abusive content to us. We deal with three key types of reports:

• Cyberbullying — if you are under 18, or making a report on behalf of someone who is under 18, you can make a complaint about online bullying.
• Image-based abuse — if an intimate image has been shared, or someone is threatening to share it, without your consent, you can make a report no matter what your age.
• Child sexual abuse material — we prioritise the investigation of online child sexual abuse material and work with law enforcement to remove this content wherever it is hosted.

Is your child willing to let you establish clear rules and supervise their social media activity?

It is a good idea to supervise your child’s online activity, at least initially and certainly with younger children. Be clear on things like when and where online devices can be used and when they need to be switched off. The way a preschooler or younger child begins to use connected devices will instil good online habits from the start and help them transition to using social media later on.

When your child first starts to use social media, talk with them about how to do this in a way that you are both comfortable with. Help them to understand why and how you would like to support them as they begin to explore. It may be tricky having this conversation, particularly with tweens and teens, but getting their agreement will keep the lines of communication open between you and ensure that they feel able to come to you for help if they encounter any problems. This is especially important so you can continue to support them.

Talk with your child about which social media services they would like to use and come to an agreement you are both comfortable with about how they can use these services. You might discuss the following:

• Which types of content they can post — it is a good idea to look at examples together and discuss the pros and cons of different posts.
• How often they should post.
• How often you are comfortable with them checking social media.

Is your child willing to let you establish clear rules and supervise their social media activity?

You can read more about creating a family online safety contract in online safety basics.

Another strategy is to become their friend or follow their social media accounts. This will enable you to observe what they are doing online and support them to make safer choices about what they share and how they share it. But be prepared to learn more than you might like about their friends and possibly about them.

Try to resist talking about the specifics of their online activity unless, for example, you are worried about particular things they have posted — and keep your comments offline. It is much better to start the chat in person, one-on-one, and let them guide the discussion if specific issues come up, than it is to post online safety tips in comment form. If you intervene too much or comment publicly, it can embarrass them and break their trust. This may prompt them to use a separate profile without your knowledge or restrict what you can see by sharing to restricted groups of friends or followers, before you think they are ready to venture out on their own.

Finding the right balance about how much to supervise your child’s online activity will depend on your family’s culture and the individual needs of your child. Be prepared for your child to need more support from you at particular times, and to resist your support at other times. Eventually they will be ready to explore on their own — but keep the lines of communication open so they can come to you with any concerns they may have.

Maryanne Hayes, Deputy Principal

Events may be viewed and added to your personal calendar on the Skoolbag app

Notes may be downloaded from links found below

A useful link about children’s mental health:

http://www.copmi.net.au/parents/helping-my-child-and-family/worried-about-your-child

Curtin Primary School is excited to be offering Year 2 students the opportunity to acquire essential life skills in water safety and survival through Royal Life Saving ACT.

It is our aim to have 100% participation.

The ACT Education and Training Directorate provides substantial funding for Year 2 students in ACT Public Schools to participate in the Royal Life Saving ACT Aqua Safe program – a series of 10 practical and 5 theory lessons focused on general water safety and personal aquatic survival skills. This targeted approach will ensure every participating student has the opportunity to access structured aquatic activities during primary school.  These lessons will be held over a 1 hour (2 sessions per day) 1 week program.

PLEASE NOTE:  These are not ‘swimming lessons’ they are survival skills

Notes will be coming home today. The medical note that you return to school IS NOT the enrolment note. You MUST enrol and pay online.

The next P&C meeting will be held this Thursday, 12 September in the staff room.

The focus of this week's meeting will be planning for the Twilight Fair, so please come along if you would like to get involved or are coordinating a stall and would like to hear more about the planning process.

Light refreshments served from 6.30pm, meeting start from 7pm.

The uniform shop is located opposite the canteen and is open from 8.30am until 9.30am each Wednesday. 

The canteen is open from 8.45am until 1.45pm. If you have any canteen queries, Lizzy can be contacted on 6142 2581 during these hours.

Please find attached Woden Community Service's upcoming School Holiday Program for October 2019.

In 2019, the Gungahlin College Theatre Company is excited to present the popular play Mort ®  . A cast and crew have been working hard to take you  to Terry Pratchett’s ®  Discworld ® , which is the fourth book in the series. The book has been adapted for the stage by Stephen Briggs and looks at everyone’s mortality from a new, comedic perspective.

Terry Pratchett ®  was the acclaimed creator of global bestselling Discworld  ®  series. His novels have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he was the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal, as well as being awarded a knighthood for services to literature. He died in March 2015.

Death comes to us all. When he came to Mort, he offered him a job.

But when Mort is left in charge for an evening, he allows his heart to rule his head and soon the causality and the future of Discworld ®  itself, are at risk. Along the way, Mort encounters not only Death's adopted daughter, Ysabell, and his mysterious manservant, Albert - but also an incompetent wizard with a talking doorknocker, and a beautfiul, but rather bad-tempered  dead princess. He also, of course, meets Death.

Presented by the Musical & Stage performance students and crewed by the Live Production & Services students, this is sure to delight!

DINNER SHOW - available on Thursday, September 19, including a 3-course meal for only $30/person plus your ticket price. Please book your tickets on stagecenta.com, then use the  link  further down the page to book your seat at the table.

Places are limited, so get in quick!

Local schools are given a great opportunity to see any production of Mort with students offered tickets at a reduced rate of $10 and accompanying teachers are free. This is a wonderful opportunity to see this popular, comedic and thoroughly entertaining  piece of theatre performed by our students.

Running time approximately 140 mins (erring on the generous side).

Gungahlin College students and staff are very proud to invite all Canberra region residents to see the College’s major production for 2019 performed and crewed entirely by students.

Advisory Information:PG Rating

Strobe lighting effects used

Smoke effects used

Some mild coarse language and adult themes.

Dates:

Tuesday, September 17                 7:30PM

Wednesday, September 18                          7:30PM

Thursday, September 19                               7:30PM

Friday, September 20                                     7:30PM

Saturday, September 21                                12:30AM - MATINEE (unconfirmed)

Saturday, September 21                                7:30PM

Location:             Gungahlin College Theatre

Bookings for the evening performances:               Stagecenta.com

Cost: Adults - $20, Student/Pensioner/Concession - $15, Family (2 Adults and 2 Concession) $55

Special Thursday night 20 September dinner and show:

Book your show tickets through Stagecenta and for the 3 course dinner on the following link:

https://forms.gle/tkG3edHF29qTRY8s7

Further Information:                      61421013 or adam.salter@ed.act.edu.au