On Tuesday 18 March, the College was privileged to have Mr Grant Clayton from Microsoft present at our first Parent Forum for 2025. Grant volunteered time from his busy schedule to discuss online and internet safety on behalf of ThinkUKnow, an organisation supported by the Australian Federal Police.

Grant shared some valuable insights, including:

• Having regular, consistent and reliable conversations with your children about their online activities
• Having rules for gaming:
  • Make sure games are played in an open space where the screen is visible
  • No headphones, so that you can hear game noises and player interactions
  • Knowing who your children are online with – have you met them in person?
• Only allowing your children to have an online presence on one social media application – Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok
• Establishing a phone contract before allowing your children to have access to a phone.
• You pay for the phone, so your children should ask for your permission to download the app. If you are unfamiliar with the app they want to download, trial it for yourself for a month to understand its functionality and appropriateness for your children

As a College, we are committed to working with you to ensure your children are making safe and positive choices online. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to your child’s House Leader or PC Teacher, if you would like some support in this area.

You can also find some valuable information on these websites:

ThinkUKnow – https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/

esafety Commissioner – https://www.esafety.gov.au/

Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation – https://www.accce.gov.au/

Our community is in my prayers during this final fortnight of the term.

Liam Lunney

Acting Assistant Principal: Student Wellbeing