This year, national Child Protection Week (September 6-12 ) celebrates its 30^th year with the theme:

‘Putting Children First’

With this year’s theme of ‘Putting children first’ there is an invitation to all Australians to look at how we can prioritise children in our lives – as individuals, in our families, our schools and organisations, and more broadly in our community and society. Putting children first means prioritizing their safety and wellbeing. In relation to this we need to continue with all of the great things we are doing well, however we all need to be looking ahead and focus our attention into the future. To ensure child safety and wellbeing, what do we need to do better? No doubt there are a range of responses to this question however I wish to draw your attention to one area which needs continual vigilance and ongoing education and that is the use of social media, in particular the use of social media by children.

I have observed over the last several years a significant increase in the use of social media by children. Accompanying this is overall increase, is an alarming pattern of an increasing number of younger children using social media. I urge all parents/carers to be well educated in relation to the details associated with the many social media platforms, in particular the age restrictions that are in place. Given that social media is now integrated into daily life for the vast majority of adults, we all must work together to continue to educate our children, make them aware of the very serious dangers associated with the misuse or unsupervised use of social media and continue to be good role models ourselves as adults using social media.

There are many good resources to call upon in relation to prioritizing the safety and wellbeing of children, the following links provide information about overall safety. During the time ahead additional information will be made available to you to support you.

Parents: Safe space for kids: A guide for parents

Parents: Safe Space: Information for parents and carers of children with disability

On behalf of the Nazareth School community I extend best wishes to all of our fathers, step fathers, grandfathers and all those that fulfil a fatherly role. Happy Father’s Day to you all.

Take care and enjoy the week ahead.
Peter Dempsey
Principal