Holy Week is fast approaching and our children are preparing for this most significant event in our liturgical calendar. Every morning in Holy Week we will gather as a community in the Piazza to recognise the events leading to Christ’s death and resurrection. To prepare for Holy Week some students in Years 4-6 are participating in the Sacrament of Reconciliation with Fr Luan this week . Lent is a wonderful time to celebrate the reconciling love and healing grace of our Lord. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is the most natural way to celebrate God’s forgiveness and love.
This Thursday we are having a whole school Mass to celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation. The Annunciation is the moment Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her she would give birth to God’s son, Jesus the King. Mary believed in God and trusted what the Angel told her even though she didn’t understand it and was scared. This is the message that we teach our children, that anything is possible with God and to say ‘yes’ to God just like Mary did. Parents are very welcome to attend the Mass at 9:30am in the Church.
We look forward to seeing many of you at our Holy Week Community Prayer gatherings,
Blessings for the week ahead,
Melissa Canil
APRIM
Wellbeing News
How to Build your Child’s Digital Intelligence
Parents and Carers play an important role in helping children to develop digital intelligence; the social, emotional and practical skills needed to successfully navigate the digital world. Even for preschool children, it is never too early to instil good habits, and as your child gets older it is useful to keep reminding them of these basic digital intelligence principles: respect, empathy, critical thinking, responsible behaviour and resilience.
Promote respectful communication
- Encourage your child to use the same positive manners and behaviour they would use offline, understanding that others may have different cultures, backgrounds or points of view. If it is not OK to say or do something face to face, it is not OK online.
- Remind them to avoid responding to negative messages and to tell you or another trusted adult if they receive them. Tell them it is OK to report others who are not being nice.
- Emphasise the positives. For example, ‘I know what a kind and respectful person you are, and it makes me so proud to see you acting the same way when you're online. You are such a great friend — I can see how much everyone looks up to you at school.’
Encourage empathy
- Help your child to imagine being in someone else’s shoes, so they can relate to diverse opinions and understand what might make people behave in different ways.
- For example, you might say something like: ‘I noticed that Sam seemed a bit sad when she came over yesterday. Have you noticed anything? What do you think is wrong? Would that make you sad? What can we do to help?’
Teach them to question
- Encourage your child to think critically about what they see online. Teach them to ask questions so they can identify content or messages that may be misleading or exploitative.
- Talk to them about ‘fake news’, or false information that is designed to look like a trustworthy news report, and how quickly it can spread on social media. Teach them to fact check news sources and do their own independent searches on issues, so they can see the variety of opinions on a particular issue and make up their own mind.
- Remind them to be careful when making new friends online as people may not be who they say they are. We are increasingly seeing ‘Finstas’ (fake Instagram accounts) and other impersonation accounts. So it is important to question whether what they are seeing online from their friends is real or not. If it seems out of character, it could be from a fake account.
Encourage safe and responsible behaviour
- Work on achieving a healthy balance in your child’s online and offline activities and set boundaries for digital device use in your home.
- Remind your child of the importance of safeguarding personal information that can be used to identify or locate them.
- Explain why they should be suspicious of unsolicited messages and emails, and avoid clicking on pop-up ads on websites.
- Ensure your child uses strong passwords on devices and accounts, and explain the importance of not sharing passwords, even with friends.
Help them build resilience
- Keep your cool if your child experiences a negative experience online. Remember, the choices they make as they navigate difficult situations can help them learn.
- Remind your child that they can screen who they accept as online ‘friends’.
- Make sure they know how to block and report users or pages on the sites they use.
- If they have a negative online experience, find out how they are feeling about it, offer support and encourage them to keep things in perspective at the same time.
- Build your child’s confidence and encourage positive ways of thinking — looking on the bright side, thinking rationally, understanding that difficult times are a part of life but there is help and support available.
Resource: Australian Government eSafety Commissioner
For more information go to https://www.esafety.gov.au
|
