Messages from Mrs Inglis
Hello everyone. I hope you are travelling well. As we sit in winter, it can certainly challenge our mental and physical wellbeing with the cold, dark days and not having as much opportunity to get outside. I know I can gravitate to the comfort food more than I do in the summer months. One of our students uses affirmations to support her mental wellbeing and they are great. I have asked her to provide me with some so I can share them with the community through the newsletter, assemblies and we might even put one out on the front sign. Here is one she has chosen for us today:
‘I’m choosing to have an amazing day.’
Book Week
We are holding our Book Week celebration on Thursday 18th August. On this day we are asking all our students to dress up as a character from a book. This year’s theme is ‘Dreaming with eyes open’. We are using this week to celebrate and encourage all our students to engage in reading. We will have special whole school activities to promote visualising and connecting to the text. The SRC are also organise a fundraising day on this date and more information about this will be coming soon – I will let them introduce it to the community first.
At Beacy, we love all our students to be able to and enjoy reading. We know that we can read for pleasure and open up our world to great ideas. We also know that we can read to learn about new concepts and topics. Have fun working with your child to choose an outfit for the dress up.
Tree Planting
On Tuesday we hosted Brad Battin at our school. Brad provided our school with trees to plant in our school grounds. We selected some of our grade 6 students to meet with him to plant them near our grade 1 portables – under the coverway. The plants are all indigenous to Beaconsfield. The students had a great time planting and then spent some time asking Brad questions about looking after our planet, what we can do as a community and at school level, and renewable energy. He was put under a bit of pressure with the questions, and I reflected that if this is what is on the front of the minds of our young people, our future looks good.
Thank you to Trish for organising this for our students. Here is a recount from our school captain, Tahlia:
“On the 26th of July the school captains, science captains, SRC captain, Max, Caleb and Sophie met up with Brad Battin, our local minister, to do some planting. It was a really fun time planting all the beautiful indigenous plants and asking Brad Battin questions we came up with. Overall, it was a really fun day and now have some new plants in our school.”
eSafety – Parents support
Last week the leadership team listened to Susan McLean speak about cyber safety. Susan was a member of the Victorian Police for 27 years and is widely known as the ‘cyber cop’. She was appointed to a position involving cyber safety and young people. She now spends her time educating parents, schools, businesses and sports clubs on cyber safety.
We all know that the internet and smart phones have changed the way we live and have provided us with many benefits. However, we also know that they have made our lives more complexed and challenging – and we are adults. When we put these devices in the hands of our young people while they are still forming their brain to know ‘right from wrong’ and what is safe and unsafe practices, we need to tread slowly and cautiously. We are often told of analogues such as ‘you wouldn’t send them to Westfield on their own and encourage them to speak to strangers, why are we sending them the message that it is acceptable to do this online?’
To support your parenting and making educated choices about your child’s online activity, I have provided some websites that have great support for parents.
The first is an article from the eSafety Commissioner site. This site is a great resource but it is also where you can go to report if someone has put anything inappropriate online about you or your child. My understanding is that you first need to report to the platform where it has been uploaded to ask them to take it down. If they do not comply, then you can report to the eSafety Commissioner. The link is to an article titled, ‘Are they old enough?’
https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/skills-advice/are-they-old-enough
The second link is to Susan McLean’s site and the article is titled, ‘Internet Safety Tips for Parents, Teachers & Carers’. I hope you find some of her strategies supportive. Her website does contain a lot of information about cyber safety and tips in other areas.
I hope you find this information useful. You may be in a situation where your child is just beginning to use these devices and apps, and looking into how to introduce, what and when. Or your child might be heavily using these devices and apps and you are looking into how to manage, reduce and support your child through their experiences. One message that Susan asked us to make sure all our community is aware of, was that many of the social media apps do require all users to be 13+ years of age. This is a term and condition that is agreed to when signing up. This is required due to the nature of the content that is accessible and people that are using these platforms. Our young people are still forming their adult brain and if in the inappropriate environment, could potentially place themselves in harm.
Jeff Wallace
We acknowledge the recent passing of former Beaconsfield Principal Jeff Wallace. Students attending BPS during 1974-1977 when Jeff was Principal will remember him fondly.
We send our condolences to his wife Helen and family.
As the Commonwealth Games have started today, it is great opportunity for our students to see our athletes and what they go through to achieve success – personal bests or medals. There are always great stories that come out of the games and I am interested to see who we are all talking about as the fortnight evolves. I will be watching the women’s cricket team closely and hoping that they achieve a gold medal. What event or athlete are you following?
Heidi Inglis