Pastoral Care Report – April 26, 2018

2018 Pastoral Care Program: Information for- Parents

Year 7 Mother Son Evening

This term, the Year 7 Mother Son evening will take place on 22^nd May, in the gym.- More details about this event will be circulated very soon, via email to all Year 7 parents. All Year 7 students will also be invited to write an invitation to their mother or significant female mentor, a few weeks ahead of the event.

A core part of our Pastoral Care program is the Keeping Safe curriculum.- St Patrick’s College is continuing to run this pilot program on behalf of the Catholic Education Office, Ballarat, at the request of Bishop Paul Bird.- This ground-breaking program teaches students to recognise abuse, understand appropriate behaviour and to develop protective strategies.- The curriculum has been developed by child protection experts and experienced educators from South Australian schools.- During term two, Keeping Safe is being delivered to all junior school students on a weekly basis, as well as to Year 12 students during extended pastoral care sessions.-

Keeping Safe: Information for parents

As part of St Patrick’s College mission to create a safe and secure learning environment for our students, it is crucial that our broader community of parents are well-informed with the latest information and research available, so we can work as partners to keep our students safe.- This week’s focus is online grooming.- Online grooming is where an adult predator tries to lower a young person’s inhibitions, or heighten their curiosity, with the aim of eventually meeting them in person.- The process may start with sending inappropriate images to normalise the predators intentions, and then move to requests for images from the young person, or to engage in inappropriate online behaviours.- This can take place via all forms of digital technologies,- including social media, games and gaming sites, email, instant messaging programs, forums and chat rooms.- For more information, please click the link below, an online resource from the Bully Stoppers program.- Please note the action you can take as parents and the warning signs listed on the second page of the PDF document.- I would also recommend having a discussion with your son about this issue, as being well-informed is the first step to managing and preventing online grooming in our community.

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/programs/bullystoppers/smgrooming.pdf

There are a number of whole-year-level wellbeing programs happening this year. Please take note of the following dates:

Key event dates for 2018 wellbeing calendar:

Year 7:

Brainstorm Productions

Student Workshop (During the day) – July 30

Link: http://brainstormproductions.edu.au/

Mother / Son Night

Evening event -“ registration required -“ May 22

Link: http://www.time-space.com.au/

Year 8:

Brainstorm Productions

Student Workshop (During the day) – July 30

Link: http://brainstormproductions.edu.au/

Year 10:

The Resilience Project

Student workshop #3 (during the day) -“ November 26

Parent information evening -“ registration required -“ November 26

Link: http://theresilienceproject.com.au

Year 11:

Carmen Road Safety

Student workshop (during the day) -“ August 6

Link: https://motivationalspeakeraus.com.au/carmen

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For more information on our Pastoral Care program, please visit:

https://www.stpats.vic.edu.au/en/st-patricks-college/pastoral-care/

I would encourage all students and parents to fully engage and participate in all of our wellbeing programs on offer, as they are an integral element of our broader mission to educate the whole person.

Kind regards,

Mr Bradley Murray

Pastoral Care Coordinator