WISHING YOU ALL A SAFE, HAPPY AND HOLY CHRISTMAS

Thanks to everyone in our school community who have worked so hard this year to make Columba a truly wonderful learning environment.

Each year we grow bigger in terms of student population, and with this growth the dynamics of our school change immensely.

I thank all those in our learning community who are able to embrace this changing dynamic and work so hard to make Columba a place where all students are nurtured academically, emotionally, spiritually, physically and socially.

Thank you to all our students for the effort that they have put into their studies and for the way that they have endeavoured to live the Gospel values in their day to day schooling. Your efforts are to be commended.

To all our parent’s, thanks for your support in the partnership of learning. The research shows that the best learning comes when the student, the parent and teacher are all in sync supporting one another.

I again must ackoweldge the tremendous work of our staff and for their enthusiasm, dedication and ongoing commitment. We are blessed to have such a professional staff who constantly give above and beyond to make sure your children are respected, protected and cared for whilst on their learning journey.

Finally, I would like to thank Father Avinash for his spiritual leadership, his wisdom and his ongoing support to all in our school community.

I wish everyone in Columba learning community a safe, happy and Holy Christmas and look forward to seeing you all in the new year.

Sextortion

An Important Letter to Parents

Please download and read.

Together we can work to keep our kids safe on-line

Dear parents, guardians and carers,

Ahead of the school holidays, I am seeking your assistance in sharing an important message with the children and young people in your care.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP), through the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation are seeing a concerning global trend of teenage males being targeted online to send explicit images of themselves. The teenagers are then blackmailed, known as sexual extortion or sextortion (sextortion). Victims can suffer serious wellbeing and psychological impacts.

As such, I am urging families to have important safety conversations to prevent their child or young person from becoming a victim to this harm.

Children and young people need:

• a radar so they can understand that not everyone is who they say they are online
• to understand what to do if a conversation turns sexual in nature
• to be empowered to act if the conversation is making them feel uncomfortable by ending the chat and asking a trusted adult for support and assistance.

Families can approach online safety by:

• supervising children and young people, which can be a significant factor for preventing unwanted contact and online grooming
• having open and regular conversations about your child or young person’s online activities and interactions
• knowing which platforms, apps and games your child or young person is using and knowing who they are interacting with
• remaining open and approachable. Victims of sextortion will be reluctant to come forward if they feel they will be punished or blamed
• ensuring your child or young person knows that it is important to leave online conversations if they feel uncomfortable or unsafe
• supporting your child or young person to know how to respond if they are targeted.

To begin a discussion with your child or young person about the dangers of sextortion, you may like you use the following points:

How does sextortion occur and what is involved?

• sextortion happens rapidly
• your child or young person may receive a friend request via a social media platform
• an offender requests to move to another platform quickly and encrypted chat/private message continues
• an offender may send explicit content followed by a request for explicit content from your child or young person
• an offender makes demands of a child or young person in the form of more images/videos, sexual favours, money, gift cards or online gaming credits
• an offender threatens to share explicit image to your child or young person’s contacts if demands are not met
• an offender may continue to make more demands even if an original demand is met
• an offender may post explicit content regardless of demands are met or not.

Encourage your child or young person to recognise the warning signs that they are a target of sextortion by informing them of the following:

• friend requests are received by people who are not known to them
• requests are made to move to a secondary platform
• chats occur via encrypted chat/private message only
• there are inconsistencies in language that would suggest English is not the first language
• excuses are made for not turning on the microphone or using a camera. This is because the offender has been instructed to use the chat function only.

Resources for further information:

• Online blackmail and sexual extortion response kit
• org.au

If sextortion happens to a child or young person under the age of 18, it is online child sexual abuse and must be reported to the police. Online reports can be made to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation.

Families who hold concerns for their child or young person’s wellbeing as a result of being a target or victim of sextortion are also encouraged to contact the school for wellbeing support if required.

I look forward to continuing to work together to promote safe physical and online environments for all children and young people.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Greco

Principal

Attention: Changes to the Parent Access Module (PAM)

Dear Parents,

In January 2023, your PAM account will be undergoing a major upgrade to provide greater security and other improved functionality. During the week of the 16th of January 2023, your current PAM account will cease to function.

New PAM accounts will then be created by your school, and you will receive an email asking you to create new credentials for a new PAM account.

This will be as simple as:

• clicking on the link provided in the email

• following the prompts to create a new password for your new account.

Your username will be your email address.

Your PAM interface will not look any different, but you may receive an account per parent if you were previously sharing an account with your spouse.

Please refer to the below FAQs for further information:

1. We have a single, family email address that is used by both parents. Is that still ok?

• If the parents both use the same email address, you will only receive a PAM account for one parent. Example single email:

Parent 1 - Mother - Mrs Joanne Smith - jandcsmith@myemail.com

Parent 2 - Father - Mr Chris Smith - jandcsmith@myemail.com

A PAM ACCOUNT CAN ONLY BE ASSIGNED TO ONE PARENT, who can then share their login credentials with their spouse.

1. I do not have an email address OR have not provided my email address to the school.

• Parents with no email address provided cannot have a PAM account
  
  

• While no data will be lost in this process, it is possible that some information may become disconnected from the new account, such as historic parent notified absences.
• You may have to review your personal details (Medicare number etc) if you previously had split access with another parent to your child’s medical information.
• You will definitely still be able to access historic student assessment reports.
   

• This letter is to simply let you know about the changes that are coming. Right now, the best thing you can do is make sure that the school has your preferred email address on file.
   

• Be aware that your current PAM account will stop working as of the 16th of January.
• Look out for the email later in that week asking you to set up credentials for your new account (this may go to your junk/spam folder).

__________________________________________________________

Grade 6 - 2023 Jackets

(current grade 5 parents must purchase)

example only

Dear 2023 Grade 6 Parents,

After a vote by the current grade 5 students last week, we have come up with a design for the bomber jackers for 2023 and are looking to order these by the end of the school year so they are available to students on the first day of Term 1 next year.

The price per item is $45.00.

The jackets will need to be paid for before you collect the item next year. This can be done over the phone using EFTPOS or paying by EFTPOS in person at the office or on-line using CDF pay at the link below

PURCHASE THROUGH ONLINE CDF PAY HERE

As the bomber jackets will be worn most of autumn, winter and spring in 2023, it is recommended you purchase a size up to allow for your child’s growth over the next 12-18months.

The current grade 6 students have kindly allowed the grade 5’s to try on their jackets to get an indication of size, so please have a chat with your child about sizing, and consult the link below if in doubt.

Please email Tory Parker: tparker@bunyip.catholic.edu.au with your intent to purchase and your child’s size by Friday 10th December.

Sizing:
Standard Kid’s Sizes from 6-12
Adults range from XXXS-XXXL

Size Chart available here –
https://www.bodenclothing.com.au/en-au/childrens-size-and-fit-chart

Thank you and kind regards,
Senior School Teachers

_______________________________________