Wendy Hudson - Yr 5&6 Topics
Dear Families
Constable Wendy and Constable Tim joined us yesterday and spoke about really important topics. Please partner with us in learning by speaking with your son or daughter and ask:
- What did you learn?
- What did you already know?
- What surprised you?
- Is there anything you didn't understand?
These open-ended questions may help start a conversation that helps your child to make smart choices and follow the right path as they hit their teenage years.
Whilst Kindergarten to Year 2 talk about staying safe, Years 3 and 4 start delving into more complex topics and Years 5 and 6 go into greater detail in the same areas:
Topics Covered for 5&6
-Why do we have police officers and what do they do?
-Bullying and Harassment (online, in person, of peers or adults)
-Mum and Dad are the boss - you follow their rules at home.
-Social Media & Online Gaming - It is illegal for children under 13 to be on Snapchat, tiktok, Instagram, facebook. Snapchat and other chat groups cause a lot of issues into high school. Online gaming like Fortnite, Roblox, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto have chatrooms full of adults. Some of the context in these games are not appropriate for primary school children. Police note that grooming happens in these chat rooms all the time.
-Assault (a crime from 10 years old)
-Affray (supporting, filming, attending a fight - you can be charged with an affray)
-Carrying knives - (illegal for u18 unless for a valid reason e.g. fishing knife in the bottom of tackle box with fishing rod at breakwall)
-Graffiti - (illegal to carry paint cans under 18 or large marker pens)
-Lighting fires - fires must be attended to with an adult, even in back yard
-Vandalism - (the more we spend on fixing things the less we have for our community)
-Shoplifting and Stealing - Often starts with stealing at home or school. The Police can identify offenders by checking CCTV images and sending them to school Principals who identify offenders within a few hours.
-Drugs, Alcohol and Cigarettes
-E-Scooters - are illegal - $389 fine for riding outside private property
VAPING -
| Wendy said this is a big problem as students enter High School. Vapes often taste like lollies but are made of chemicals, such as toilet blue, in backyard labs overseas. Wendy has seen countless hospitalisations of teenagers, sometimes from as little as one Vape, and has anecdotally seen the mental health consequences and brain function diminish due to vaping. It is not "SAFE" as portrayed in advertising and since Jan 1 2024 new laws came into effect making most commonly used vapes illegal. More information |  |
| Ingedients often used in VAPES |
Nicotine – up to 50 milligrams per vape = 2 ½ packets of cigarettes Propylene and diethylene glycol – anti freeze, paint solvent, artificial smoke Carcinogens – acetaldehyde, formaldehyde Acrolein – herbicide (weed killer) Cadmium and heavy metals (tin, lead, nickel) Benzene – a volatile organic compound (VOC) found in car exhausts Consequences for crimes above can include being arrested from 10 years old. |
Talking to people online
| VIDEO 1: The children watched a video of a young girl who was speaking to who she thought was another young girl online. After chatting for a while they agreed to meet up after school the next day. When she told her dad, the dad reported it to police. It turned out that it was an older man who had being this to lots of young girls in the area and he was arrested. |  |
Don't give out personal information, including in pictures and usernames. E.g. JohnSmithLaurieton2010 tells someone how old you are and where you live.
Create online accounts that are set to ‘private’ or ‘friends only’ so that you can choose who sees your information.
Don't check in to places and share photos that identify where you are right now.
Saying to a stranger, "I have to finish the game because my parents get home at 5pm" tells them you are home alone until 5pm.
Sexting
| VIDEO 2: The second video, a cartoon version, gave a scenario very common in high school of a boy who pressured a girl into sharing a photo of herself on a promise of a formal date. This photo was then shared with all her peers at school and the girl did not want to return to school after that. |
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Wendy explained the prevalence of this in teenagers is very high and that most students will be asked, or ask, for a nude photo in the next 6 years.
-Personal image sharing or ‘sexting’ is the creating, sharing, sending or posting of sexually explicit messages or images via the internet, mobile phones or other electronic devices.
Once you’ve taken and shared an image, you lose control of who sees it and where it ends up. Not everyone will respect your privacy and keep your photos private.
If you take, share or receive and do not report a naked image of a person under 18, you are committing a crime and can be charged and have to attend court.
- SNAPCHAT is there forever!
Most photos taken are also saved to the cloud on the internet- they are not just on a device, best advice is not to take the photo to begin with!
Remember, if you are on Facetime or a video chat, screenshots can be taken!!
Also, the E-Saftey Commissioner page has every resource/ video/ situation and strategies for most situations- good to share this link: https://www.esafety.gov.
Don’t even send any images to your best friend. You don’t know who can get hold of or see that image.
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Thank you for your support.
Our children will make mistakes as they learn and grow up and by educating them and having those hard conversations now, we can give them the best chance of making the right choices into their teenage years.
Kind regards,
Maria Wilson
Assistant Principal - Mission and Pastoral Care