Safe physical and online spaces for our young people
Young people spend a significant amount of at school and/or online – the majority of their waking hours! At Sacred Heart, we work to create safe school spaces where young people feel secure and respected. We utilise a firewall and receive notifications when students try to access inappropriate sites or search topics of concern for mental health and wellbeing. We expect that all students place their mobile phones in their lockers and only use them if directed to do so by a teacher for learning purposes. We teach and expect responsible use of IT. Our aim to support young people access online spaces in as safe and developmentally appropriate way as possible.
We are also mindful that parents can feel under pressure to provide their child access to phones and apps that they may not be developmentally ready for, or sites captured by the Federal Government’s social media age restrictions. Young people can be under pressure to be online too – to follow; to post. And whilst there is a lot of good content, there is also content that harms or undermines self-confidence and a healthy view of self and the world. Just like food, a healthy and well-balanced online diet is important for healthy outcomes.
Please let us know if your child is experiencing online challenges – we are keen to work together to help our students, your children, feel safe and respected.
There are also resources that you can access independently and at any time:
SchoolTV https://shgc.vic.schooltv.me/
eSafety online: https://www.childsafe.org.au/
eSafety Commissioner: https://www.esafety.gov.au/
Social Media and Mental Health: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/mental-health/social-media
Helping Young People Stay Safe Online: https://headspace.org.au/our-organisation/media-releases/helping-young-people-stay-safe-online/
