Newsletters – Term 4, Week 1

“We must study the correlation between life and its environment. In nature everything correlates. This is the method of nature. Nature is not concerned with the conservation of individual life: it is a harmony, a plan of construction. Everything fits into the plan: winds, rocks, earth, water, plants, man, etc.”

(Maria Montessori, Citizen of the World)

It is lovely to see all our families return for Term 4, the final term for 2023. During this term there are a multitude of event across the whole school as we finish of the year and celebrate the year that has past. During this time we are also in the midst of preparing for another exciting year ahead. We are looking forward to a wonderful 2024 with all our Northside Community.

During the holiday period you will have noticed that the planned tree removal which was a condition on our development application has been completed. While it is sad to see these trees go, it certainly provides an opportunity to re-imagine the use of these spaces and has certainly opened up the potential for play spaces once our construction is complete.
Due to the large number of events that are occurring this term, we have included the calendar at the end of this newsletter. We will also be sending home early next week a copy of this that you will be able to put on your fridge to remind you of these events.
Again we welcome everyone back for Term 4 and look forward to sharing the many celebrations and events that will occur in the life of our school in the next 9 weeks.

Kind regards
Adam Scotney
Principal

The 6-9-year-olds embarked on an exciting excursion to the Jurassic World exhibition. The children from both classes had an incredible time, delving into the world of ancient giants that once roamed our planet. During the trip, they not only had fun but also gained a better understanding of the significance of learning about these prehistoric creatures and where they fit in the timeline of life.

The children had the unique opportunity to get up close and personal with some lifelike dinosaur replicas. Here are some of their experiences and impressions shared by a few children from both the classes – Clementine said, “she was fascinated with the T-Rex and Ankylosaurus” and expressed how much she enjoyed watching them. Liam said his favorite was the massive Brachiosaurus and was impressed on its sheer size and grandeur. Kash and Eduardo engaged in a discussion about the name of a particular dinosaur they encountered at the beginning of the exhibition. They’re even considering reaching out to Jurassic World for clarification. Lulu said, “she had a wonderful experience walking inside the Jurassic World exhibition”. She remarked that it felt incredibly lifelike. Keerti said, “she liked the atmosphere created by the red lighting and the presence of the velociraptor, adding to the overall excitement of the visit”.

Children and adults had a memorable experience during this excursion.

Thanks,
Vyshnavi and Linda

It was great today to have all our Adolescent program students join together for the Year 7 Orientation. It was great to see some new students who will be joining us next year from other Montessori schools, along with the number of students from Northside who are continuing in our high school program.

On Wednesday evening a number of parents attended the Cycber Safety presentation titled ‘Think U Know’. The presentation provided an overview of the challenges that online activities present for our children.

While there was too much information in the session to cover it in full, here is a brief outline of the night.

There was an emphasis on the importance of parents doing their own research before allowing their child to use certain apps on phones, computers or tablets. It was also highlighted that nothing beats good supervision, and avoid allowing children to have devices in their bedrooms and unsupervised locations in the home.

With the average age of online gamers being 34 years of age, we should be aware that if our children are playing games online and having live chat, then they may well be interacting with adults who they have never met in real life.

The presentation explored the dangers of messaging, image sharing and video creation platforms.

Children are looking for as many followers as possible and will often have the privacy settings on their apps set to the minimum to capture followers. This opens them up to all people online, rather than limiting their posts to known friends and family.

The challenges for all apps are privacy, self generated content, online grooming and sexual extortion.

A proactive approach can prevent your child from harm.

Being aware of what information your child is sharing online. Personal information is shared when creating social media accounts. It is also important to be aware of location settings and privacy settings.

App developers are constantly changing settings around privacy so these need to be monitored regularly.

Parents also need to be aware of how they share vital information about their own children online. Sharing information and images that identify locations such as home, holiday locations, etc are often used by predators to build a profile of your children. The seminar encouraged parents to check their privacy settings and ensure that their accounts are secure. It is important that you only share images of your children with people you know and trust.

Self Generated Content
Self generated content are often naked images of children taken by themselves. These images often referred to as nudes or naked selfies. This material is considered child abuse material, and often created when children have significant time with their device unsupervised.

Sometimes these images are shared with others via image sharing apps, but not with the intention of it being shared widely however, this can have unintended consequences.

Online Grooming
Online grooming is an offence that occurs in communications online.

It is something that can occur quickly, and often the offender requests photos or video content from the child. The manner that this occurs is varied, and children often do not consider people that they communicate with online as strangers.

Online groomers will often at some point ask to meet in person.

Sexual Extortion
Sexual extortion is when children are extorted by the sharing of images and the manipulation of the victim through fear and coercion.

Children should feel that nothing is so bad that they cannot tell someone they trust.

Information about the session can be found at www.thinkuknow.org.au

What action can parents take to keep their child safe?

Just because children are more familiar with the technology, it doesn’t mean that they know more than you.

Some simple behaviours can be taken to keep children safe.

• Take an active role in your child’s online activities
• Address the behaviours rather than the technology
• Encourage critical thinking for times when they are unsupervised.

Thank you to those parents who attended the evening and we hope that it was useful in helping to inform you about the challenges of cyber safety for our children.

Kind regards
Adam Scotney
Principal

On Wednesday the Adolescent students sold ice blocks  to primary and high school students. The purpose of this fundraiser was to raise money so that we could make a contribution to the family of Jonas Stoebe, a teacher from the Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School, who sadly died last week whilst on school camp.
We greatly appreciated the support of our school community and were pleased to be able to donate $406 to the Go Fund Me page for Jonas’ family.
Thank you

Below is the Term 4 calendar – A copy of this will be sent early next week to put on your fridge.

Week 1 – This Weekend

• Saturday – Referendum Election – voting can be done at Northside

Week 2 – Commencing Monday October 16

• Tuesday– P&C meeting 7:45am
• Friday – Yr 7 & 8 Careers Presentation Day
• Sunday – P & C Dad’s Sesh

Week 3 – Commencing Monday October 23

• Thursday – Parent Education Event – 6pm
• Friday – Sunday – Umina Camping trip
• Friday – Day for Daniel Morcombe
• Friday – 4pm – 6pm – Open Afternoon for Prospective families

Week 4 – Commencing Monday October 30

• Thursday – HS Excursion
• Friday – 6-9 and 9-12 Production

Week 5 – Commencing Monday November 6

• Tuesday 9-12 – Kids Giving Back excursion
• Thursday – Transition Days ½ day
• Year 7 Spanish Excursion
• Friday – Tuckshop
• Sunday – Working Bee

Week 6 – Commencing Monday November 13

• Wednesday – Planetarium Excursion 3-6
• Thursday – Transition Days ½ day
• Friday – Grandparents and Special Friends Morning 8:30- 10:30am
• Saturday – A Day in the Life of Adolescent Program – 2024

Week 7 – Commencing Monday November 20

• Tuesday – Thursday – Full Day transitions
• Wednesday – Parent Education – Mental Health – 6pm
• Friday – High School Parent Get Together – 6pm
• Saturday – P & C Mums Night Out

Week 8 – Commencing Monday November 27

• Wednesday – HS Information Night
• Friday – Year 6 Celebration Assembly – 1:30pm
• Friday – Year 6 Celebration Dinner – 6pm

Week 9 – Commencing Monday December 4

• Monday – Garden Party – 3 – 4:30pm
• Wednesday – Student Fun Day
• Thursday – Last day of Term 4
• Thursday – P&C Picnic afternoon After School – Cameron Park
• Friday – Vacation Care  – Finishes at 12:30pm this day

Vacation Week 1 – Commencing Monday December 11

• Monday –  Friday – Vacation Care 8am – 6pm

January Vacation Care Week 1 – Commences 22 January

• Monday – Thursday – Vacation Care 8am – 6pm
• Friday – Australia Day Public Holiday

Vacation care Week 2 – Commences Tuesday 30 January

• Monday – Staff Day – No Vacation Care available
• Tuesday – Friday – Vacation Care  8am – 6pm

Term 1 Week 1 2024  – Commencing Monday 5 February  2024

• Monday – Term 1 commences. – Welcome Back