Teaching, Learning and Inclusion
National Child Protection Week
4-10 September 2022
"Rosemary Sinclair and Christine Stewart founded NAPCAN on 2 August 1987 with the support of Professor Kim Oates. NAPCAN began coordinating National Child Protection Week (NCPW) across Australia in an effort to engage and educate all Australians to understand they have a part to play in keeping our children and young people safe.
For over 30 years, NAPCAN has been running the annual NCPW campaign. Each campaign builds on the strengths of previous years and has evolved to provide support to communities to act on the core message, “protecting children is everyone’s business”.
As it stands today, NCPW aims to engage, educate and empower Australians to understand the complexity of child abuse and neglect and work together to prevent it. The campaign does this through sharing evidence through webinars and events as well as creating resources in order to empower communities to have conversations regarding children’s safety and wellbeing.
National Child Protection Week will continue to embrace the overarching message that ‘Every child, in every community, needs a fair go’.
In particular, this year we will be shining a light on children growing up safe and supported.
Children and young people thrive when they grow up safe, connected and supported in their family, community and culture.
They have the right to grow up in environments that support them according to their needs, now and into the future.
This year let’s talk about how we create a supportive environment for every child.
National Child Protection Week will be looking at what works to keep children safe and supported… what children are telling us… what families are telling us… what the evidence is telling us… and how to translate this knowledge into action.
We know that too many children are not growing up safe and supported and that Child Protection systems are overloaded. There are many opportunities to change the trajectory for these children.
We can stop child abuse and neglect – and reduce its impact – by working together to make sure every child in every community has a fair go" (NAPCAN, 2022).
To find out how you and your family can get involved visit the following link:
https://www.napcan.org.au/get-involved-2022/
Hair with Heart
One of our very courageous Year 3 students, Josie, has made the decision to make a difference by cutting and donating her hair to be made into a wig for someone who has lost their hair due to a medical condition. She will be chopping off around 35.5cm in around early November.
Wigs cost families up to $6,000, lasting 1-2 years, meaning families can spend tens of thousands of dollars on the purchase of wigs throughout a child's youth. By making a donation to Variety - the Children's Charity, you can help provide a wig or other vital equipment to a child in need.
If you would like to support Josie to raise her goal of $5,000, you can donate here.
Walkathon
Just a reminder that the Walkathon will be held on Friday 16th September 2022 (Week 9 Term 3). The Walkathon is a great opportunity to support the school by raising money to improve school facilities. Relations, friends, neighbours or businesses are all great sources of sponsorship!
We have been very lucky to have two Nintendo Switch Lites donated for the Walkathon prizes. One has been donated by our schools Community Council and the other has been donated by OSHClub.
The Community Council will also supply a sausage sizzle for all students participating in the Walkathon.
Just a reminder that all donations can be made via QKR or by cash. If your child has collected any cash, it can be handed into the front office incrementally in a labelled bag or envelope.
Our goal is to raise $7,000, however, if we can raise $10,000 or more, we will organise a whole school fun day.
Fundraising
Over the next 6 months, St John's will be holding a number of fundraising and community events. These include the Walkathon, a raffle and the St John the Apostle Multicultural Fete. If there are any families in our community who own local businesses and would like to support the above fundraising events, we would appreciate any donations including products, gift cards and vouchers.
Our school would be extremely grateful for your support and in return we would list and regularly mention our generous contributors in the school newsletter, in our social media platforms and on our school website https://www.sjaps.act.edu.au/.
Rebekah Brown
Assistant Principal and Inclusion Coordinator