Avila Day Celebrations & 2024 House Captian Nominations

A wonderful celebration for the Avila House today. Thank you to Mr Sullivan and staff who coordinated, organised and supported this event. Thank you to all the students who undertook the leadership process to be elected to House Captains. I wish them much success.

Safe on Socials:

Article for parents from Kirra Pendergast

This week I would like to acknowledge the work of Kirra Pendergast, from “Safe on Social” education and consulting. Below is a reflection of her work Urgent update on Roblox and Online Safety. We have a number of students across the school, especially in Years 7 and 8, who are using this online gaming platform. I encourage parents to read the extract below from Kirra’s findings.

During our sessions, my team and I have seen a noticeable increase in the number of young students interacting with strangers within the game, engaging in chats and in-game activities that sometimes cross safety boundaries. In instances where children were asked to role-play as a girlfriend/boyfriend, mum/dad, nurse, or doctor, and offers of free in-game currency (Roblox) in exchange for more often than not, inappropriate interactions were reported to us. In some cases, we have had to report these to the police.

Roblox has privacy settings and features that allow us to safeguard our children's online experiences. These tools enable us to restrict who can communicate with our young ones and what content they can access, but it doesn't stop what they can see. But do not rely on this to keep your kids safe. It does not prevent them from seeing things that are wildly inappropriate.

Some of the content has become a sex fetish -if you search "Roblox Sex" online, you will get millions of links to adult entertainment websites where Roblox videos have been uploaded. I am very concerned that some of these "Roblox Sex" videos may be children's avatars engaged in these acts - there is no way to tell. Children have reported what is nothing short of in-game sexual assault to me on more than one occasion, which has been reported to the police. As far as we know, only one major Adult Entertainment company has made the word Roblox and all of the ways it may be written (R.O.B.L.O.X for example to circumvent security) completely unsearchable on their sites.

Our active involvement, guidance, and open communication are pivotal. Let's foster an environment where our children feel comfortable discussing their online experiences, assuring them they can always turn to us or a trusted adult without fear of being banned from games or devices. They will speak up without fear so we can help them stay safe. There are concerning behaviours being normalised on Roblox, such as children's avatars lying next to strangers' avatars or encountering avatars lying around together in underwear.

Please learn to navigate the online playgrounds your kids are in, ensuring that your children's online adventures are safe, respectful, and joyous. Making sure they know it is safe to speak up is a great place to start.

Upcoming Events

• Year 12 Elevate Education - Tuesday 31 October
• Year 12 Retreat - Wednesday 1st November - Friday 3 November.
• Year 11 - Year 12 2024 HSC Information Evening
• Year 9 - YAM Program 7, 14, 21 November.
• Year 9 Gender Agenda Day with YourChoicez Wednesday 8 November.
• Friday 10 November and Monday 13 November - Pupil Free Days

Thanks again to all families and carers for your ongoing support as we enter the final 7 weeks of the year.

Thank you for your continued support.

Mrs Theresa Moore

Acting Pastoral Care & Wellbeing Coordinator