COVID-19 REMOTE LEARNING UPDATE

As outlined by State Premier, Daniel Andrew’s in his news conference yesterday, the COVID-19 Lockdown and Remote Learning for all school students will be extended to Tuesday 27th July.

During this current Remote Learning Lockdown, we have noticed a significant increase in the number of children attending school for Onsite Remote Learning.  As we have outlined very clearly in previous information sent to our Parents / Carers, the Onsite Remote Learning is only available for students who meet the following criteria:

1. Students of parents, guardians or carers considered an essential worker who cannot work from home. Where there are two parents, guardians or carers, both must be essential workers, working outside and away from home.  Any parents working from home must keep their children at home with them to complete their remote learning offsite.
2. For single parents, guardians or carers, the essential worker must be working outside away from the home
3. Vulnerable students including:

• children in out-of-home care
• children deemed by Child Protection and/or Family Services to be at risk of harm
• children identified by the school as vulnerable (including via referral from a family violence agency, homelessness or youth justice service or mental health or other health service).

I understand that Remote Learning presents a range of challenges for all of us; students, staff and families, and I want to acknowledge the incredible response of you all to these challenges. However, I do need to reiterate the importance of families adhering to the criteria outlined above for children to attend school during Remote Learning, and only send children if your family/child meets this criteria.

The onsite Remote Learning intentions form is located on our school website.  Please fill this out and send it through to school Admin before dropping your child off for Onsite Remote Learning.

I will continue to remain in contact with all parents and carers via ClassDojo and Schoolzine app and thanks so much for your patience and understanding during these challenging times.  It really means a lot to the St Ita’s Staff.

Keep safe and thanks for the ongoing support.

BEING CYBER SAFE IN REMOTE LEARNING

You may have seen in the media reports about the need to be extra vigilant when your children are online during the lockdown.  In this article, you will find useful information provided by Netsafe to help keep your family safe.

Due to the Victorian Lockdown everyone will have an increased online presence including children.  Most primary age children are working from home while the lockdown is in place and parents may feel that they don’t have as much time as normal to monitor their children’s internet use.  Unfortunately, online offenders are an increased online presence during these challenging times.

To be on top of protecting your children and preventing sexual predation, sexting, cyber-bulling and other types of cyber-crime occurring please refer to the link and information provided by Netsafe:

https://www.netsafe.org.nz/online-safety-for-parents/ https://www.netsafe.org.nz/the-best-online-safety-tips-for-lockdown/

While the internet is a great place for supporting your child’s learning and education during remote learning there are some significant dangers and things that parents and caregivers should remember to be aware of to try and prevent children and young persons from becoming victims and exploited online.  Discuss internet safety with children of all ages and agree with them on what they can do online including sites to visit, appropriate behaviours and the Apps that they are accessing.

As parents you can;

• Review and approve games and apps before they are downloaded
• Review privacy settings of sites and applications
• Check your children’s profiles and what they are posting online and be aware that anything that is posted online will be permanently on the internet
• Take the time to understand what sites they are visiting and who they are talking with and check in regularly
• Some social media sites have age restrictions to join, check these before letting your child use them or join
• Monitor your child’s use of the internet and consider having them use it in an open, common area of the house
• Make sure your children know to report any activity they don’t feel comfortable with to you straight away.

Remember if your children were going out you would go with them or depending on their age check where they are going.  If your children are online you should be with them or check what sites they are visiting.

If you think your child or a child in your care is the victim of online exploitation or abuse, please do not hesitate to report it.  If we all work together to make sure children are safe online, we can make the internet a great tool for people of all ages.

COPING WITH STRESS

The techniques listed above will work best when your child is in a calm state of mind that’s conducive to thinking critically and logically.  You can help your child achieve this calm state using stress-management techniques.

There are many strategies for managing stress, so consider trying a few of the techniques listed below to determine what works for your child:

Deep breathing: Breathe in deeply, hold the breath for a moment, then slowly release it. Repeat the process until your child feels calmer.

Progressive muscle relaxation: Pretend you’re squeezing a lemon, then drop the lemon and relax. Pretend you’re pushing your toes deep into a mud puddle, then step out of the mud puddle and relax your feet.

• Stretching: This helps release built-up tension in muscles.
• Listening to music
• Playing, exercising, or heading out into nature
• Using brain breaks when facing a difficult academic challenge
• Laughing: Laughter can be a good stress reliever. Make silly faces or tell jokes to calm your child before discussing the problem.
• “5-4-3-2-1” Technique: Identify five things you can currently see, four you can hear, three you can feel, two you can smell, and one you can taste.

Meditation: It can be as simple as having your child close their eyes and breathe in and out.  Tell your child to count each breath (a breath in and a breath out makes one single count), focusing on the sound of their breath.  When they reach a minimum count (50, for example), your child can take a deep breath, release it slowly, and open their eyes.

Remember these techniques are not intended to eliminate stress. Rather, they help your child reach a calm state of mind so they can address the source of their stress and solve the problem.

RECAP

When we view all stress as negative and unhealthy and attempt to eliminate it, we ultimately create more stress, for both ourselves and our children.

Instead, it’s best to teach our kids that stress is a natural part of life that can be managed effectively.

Start by helping your child reframe stress, shifting from a fixed mindset, and the idea “stress hurts” to a growth mindset and the belief “stress helps”.

Help your child learn to recognise and stop catastrophic thinking, and teach them how to identify the stressor (main problem) and then brainstorm solutions.  You can also try stress-management techniques to help your child reach a calm state of mind.

Your child can’t control how stressful situations unfold, but they can control how they respond to them.  Instead of going into meltdown mode, they’ll go into problem-solving mode, allowing them to conquer the challenge and learn valuable lessons along the way.

Children and COVID-19 Anxiety

How to support your kids if they’re anxious about the pandemic

It would be hard for anyone to get through the pandemic without feeling anxious about the virus and worried about the future. As parents, it’s natural to be concerned about your kids and the anxiety they might be experiencing.

There’s a lot to deal with as parents, and often we aren’t always aware how our children are feeling, or if they’re concerned or anxious. If they are, it’s not easy to know what to say to them, or how best to reassure them.  Because for parents, making our children feel better is really all we ever want to do.

Here we have some tips for talking to your kids about any anxiety they might be experiencing.

COVID anxiety has affected children of all ages

Kids have had to deal with restrictions, snap lockdowns, and physical distancing too.  And often if children are worried, they don’t know how to express those concerns to their parents, let alone “process this information” and manage it alone.

For younger children who have had long periods away from school and have missed social contact with friends, that may have taken a toll.  Snap lockdowns mean some parents may still be juggling working from home and home-schooling, and that sudden overload is stressful for parents, too.

And even a run-of-the-mill runny nose or cold can mean an unpleasant test – for young kids that can be especially hard for them to cope with.

For teenagers, restrictions have hit during some of their most formative years at school. They’ve had months of virtual learning and have missed important graduations, performances and sports events, as well as disruptions to exams.

Senior students have especially been concerned about how the pandemic will negatively affect their future, especially their first year “out in the world”.

Survey shows parents are worried about their kids

If you’ve been concerned about your kids’ mental well-being during the pandemic, you’re not alone.

At Chology, we surveyed 1,000 Australian parents and asked them how they believed the pandemic had affected their children’s behaviour, mental health and well-being, and how they were managing those changes.

We found two out of three (67%) parents are concerned about the long-term impacts of the pandemic on their kids’ mental well-being and behaviour.

Just over a quarter – or 27% – of parents said they didn’t know what steps to take to give their children the support they need.

As well, a third (32%) have turned to Google to research parenting strategies.  One in three parents, or 30%, hadn’t taken any action to help their children’s mental well-being, and of that group, only one in 10 (9%) planned to - suggesting that parents are generally unsure what to do next.

Parents also have their own concerns to deal with, of course: finances, job insecurity, extra workplace stress, health concerns and less social contact.  Even leaving the house to break the monotony and stress of a day at home with young kids can become fraught with worries over potential exposure to COVID.

How the pandemic has changed children’s behaviour

During the last year, parents have observed more anxiety in their young ones about doing everyday things, such as visiting the shops or seeing friends. Children have also shown more defiant and challenging behaviour.

The survey found:

• 67% of children were more worried about doing normal, everyday things like visiting the shops or catching the bus
• 68% were less interested in academic learning
• 66% were more anxious in social situations, such as a fear of seeing friends
• 67% wanted to spend extensive amounts of time on screens
• 33% were increasingly defiant and exhibited more challenging behaviours.

These figures tell us that many parents have noticed more anxiety in their kids and changes in their behaviour.  Yet only 12% of those parents have sought help and advice from their doctor, and only 9% planned to take action.

One valuable source of support has come from schools.  The survey found that more than a third (35%) of parents were working with their child’s school to support their mental health and well-being.

Some parents may be at a loss when it comes to managing concerns about their kids. And that is completely understandable, because your own concerns are normal given the upheaval of the past 12 months.

As a parent, simply being able to recognise the signs of anxiety or behavioural issues is a really powerful thing.

How to support your kids

If your children are anxious, there are ways of helping them through it. Some ideas for helping to break the cycle of anxiety include:

• Check in with your own levels of stress, anxiety and over-protectiveness.  Children will feel much safer in the presence of a calm and collected caregiver.
• Slow things down.  Gentle, deep breathing can help to take the edge off a moment of anxiety.
• Provide a safe space to talk about the worries.  Give your child the opportunity to open up about any fears in a comfortable environment.
• Seek professional support.  If you feel your child’s experience of anxiety is frequent or begins to impact daily life, talk to a mental health professional.