START OF YEAR MASS

Our first Whole School Mass will be held in the church tomorrow Thursday 9^th starting at 9.30am. All are welcome to attend. At this Mass the student’s leadership badges will be blessed by Father Confidence and presented individually. We hope to see you there.

SCHOOL START TIME / FINISH TIME

Just a reminder to parents that our school start time is 8.50am. School gates will be open from 8.30am and students will be supervised whilst on the yard. This allows all parents a twenty-minute window of opportunity to drop students off each morning.

School finishes at 3.20pm and parents need to collect their children before 3.40pm. On average our school children are all picked up by 3.35pm. Children will be supervised by staff. This allows parents a 20-minute window of opportunity for pick-up of your child.

If you are running late for collecting your child, please make the effort to contact the school to let us know as all teaching staff are required to attend Staff Meetings and Professional Learning on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3.45pm to 4.45pm as part of staff VIT requirements.

Camp Australia run before and after school care at St Ita's Monday - Friday and parents can set up a booking account by going into their online website Parent Portal located at https://pp.campaustralia.com.au/ or you can contact them on 1300 105 343.

We thank you for your ongoing support with school drop off and pick up.

DISABLED PARKING AT SCHOOL

Parents please don’t use the disabled parking for pick up unless you have a valid disabled sticker that is displayed on your car. Cars parked in this space without a sticker will be asked to move their car. Also, please make sure you are following the new parking rules in relation to our school crossing. Baw Baw Shire have been monitoring the crossing use and they will fine cars for breach of parking rules.

DIGITAL SAFETY AND WELLBEING 2023

Earlier this week your child participated in their first Inform & Empower digital safety & wellbeing lesson. This means that your child/children tuned in to a live streamed incursions (with their teachers) and will have one each term that focus on healthy and safe digital habits. The incursion content is all written and delivered by qualified teachers who are endorsed by the eSafety Commissioner as a Trusted eSafety Provider.

These sessions aim to help children better navigate the online world and become more aware, clever, brave and kind. They will focus on topics including navigating unwanted contact, cyberbullying, help-seeking strategies, unsafe content, balancing screen time with "green time" and sharing personal information. While Foundation (Kinder/Prep) students do not participate in live streamed sessions, they will be exploring the basics of the online world through guided activities.

You, the parents and carers, will also be given resources to support conversations with your children at home. You will receive a concise “tip sheet” each term that outlines what your child learned about in class and how you might open up these important conversations.

STUDENT SURVEYS

In Years 3-6, students completed an Inform & Empower anonymous survey asking them about their digital habits. No identifying information, such as name or school, is collected. This survey is optional. Questions examples include: What online games do you like to play? How many hours do you spend online each day/week? What are the best/worst things about the internet? The survey data will be used by Inform and Empower to help improve their programs and may be published online.

As a school, participation in this digital safety and wellbeing program forms part of our ongoing commitment to child safety within St Ita’s Primary School.

USING APPROPRIATE LANGAUAGE AT SCHOOL

One of our key focus at St Ita’s is to continually work on creating a school environment that is respectful, inclusive and safe for all. An area that we want to promote across our school is the appropriate use of language by all in our community; students, parents and teachers.

Profanity repeatedly comes up in songs, movies, and day-to-day conversations. Even children are using swear words nowadays, no matter if they know what they mean or not.

Go back a few decades or so in time and you’ll notice that swear words weren’t casually thrown into conversations like they are today. In fact, swear words were considered vulgar and extremely unacceptable to use. Today, swearing is used in conversation in many situations, some of which have reasonings backed by science.

One of the most common reasons why people swear is to let off steam. In western culture, if a person, especially a male, lets out their emotions through crying, they’ve been thought of as weak. Obviously, this isn’t true, but it’s become so ingrained into people’s thinking that it’s practically a stereotype. Scientifically, the left hemisphere of your brain is in charge of language and logic while the right side is responsible for emotions; however, many studies suggest that your brain processes swearing on its right side. For these reasons, it’s believed that swearing acts as an outlet for the pent-up emotions that people are afraid of expressing differently.

Another reason why people swear is to release their physical pain. Many people, even those who try to avoid cursing, can admit to having let out one or two curse words after stubbing their toe. Turns out, research shows that swearing in painful situations increases your heart rate and pain tolerance. One study testing how long people could hold their hands in icy water showed that those who cursed could hold their hands in the freezing water 50% longer than those who didn’t.

But, in today’s culture, swearing has extended beyond acting as a pain outlet and has become more of a social norm. The combination of people constantly being exposed to profanity and using it themselves has caused profanity to become a part of a majority of people’s vocabulary. Swearing is used for humorous purposes, to display in-group solidarity, to express one’s attitude, and the list goes on.

It can be quite a shock when your child starts to use inappropriate language. You might be wondering where your child learned that kind of language and whether they really understand what they are saying. How you react to your child’s swearing now will influence their future swearing behaviour.

Swearing: Why do school-age children do it?

Young children often swear because they’re exploring language. They might be testing a new word, perhaps to understand its meaning. When school-age children swear, it’s usually to vent some negative feelings. It’s a response to something painful, upsetting or frustrating. Children might also swear to fit in socially. They might be trying to be part of the group, or to stand out by being funny or adding shock value to their talk. Children might also be imitating others when they swear. Some children swear because it gets a strong reaction from their parents.

What to do about swearing: Immediate action:

Speaking to your child about their choice of words, rather than ignoring the behaviour. Your child might or might not fully understand a swear word’s meaning. But school age children do understand that words can hurt or offend others. Remember quite often your reaction can influence whether your child swears again. Stay calm and explain clearly that the word your child used is not acceptable. This will go a long way towards preventing future swearing.

Should you explain what the word means?

Children can get some good from a simple explanation. If you think your child might have some understanding of the meaning of the word, you can ask them what they think the word means. Then use general terms to explain why it’s not appropriate. For example, you could say, ‘That is a word for private body parts. We don’t use it like that in our family’.

What to do about swearing: The longer term:

It’s a good idea for adults to discuss and agree on acceptable language. For example, in some families, expressions such as ‘Oh my God’ are OK, but other words are not. Discuss your family rules about acceptable language with your child. For example, you could say, ‘Please speak politely or don’t speak at all’, or ‘There are some words we don’t use in our home’. You might also explain to your child that some words that are acceptable at home might not be acceptable at school (or other settings such as church or other children’s homes). Different places have different rules.

If you find it difficult to stop swearing yourself, try to find alternative words to use or another way to deal with the situation. Adults often swear when they’re frustrated or angry. Instead of swearing, try to say something like, ‘I feel really frustrated or angry’. This way you’re modelling better ways of expressing feelings. If your child has heard you swearing, it can also help to explain why you were swearing.

Praise your child when you notice them dealing more appropriately with anger or frustration. For example, if your child tells you that a playmate was using swear words to tease him, praise your child for walking away from the situation and not using those words themselves.

Your child will hear words out in public that you’ve said are unacceptable. It’s good to be prepared for this situation. If your child asks you why somebody is using a bad word, you could talk about how people in different families have different rules.

Andrew Osler

St Ita's Principal