Dear St John's families,

This morning we celebrated our mums and those who play that very important role in our lives. Thank you to our K, 1 and 2 teachers who provided a beautiful breakfast including tea, coffee and muffins for families. It was a very energised community event.

Thank you again to our parents who prepared the many Mothers Day gifts for students to purchase to give to their mums. These were distribute to classes today.

Teaching Child Safety

Following from last week's newsletter, I wanted to tell you a little about the Protective Behaviours program we teach to students across our school. This program began in the 1980s in Australia as a response to the increasing number of children disclosing experiences of abuse. The intention was to give children the understandings and skills to be proactive in both protecting themselves and seeking help from trusted people.

I first began teaching Protective Behaviours in South Australia in the 1990's and it has continued to remain largely the same, with some changes to suit new contexts such as culture, age, identity and technology.

There are two main themes that are repeatedly talked about throughout the Protective Behaviours program:

This week I would like to explain a little about the first theme:

We all have the right to feel safe all the time

From Kindergarten to Year 6 we remind students that they have the fundamental  right to feel safe at all times of the day, wherever they are (including online), with everyone - family, friends, teachers, grandparents, carers, shop assistants, etc.

One important concept for them to understand is that feeling 'unsafe' is not always

something to avoid. There are not two states of being: safe or unsafe. In fact, nervousness and taking a risk is okay in fun situations where we have some choice and control, such as going on a ride at the fete, your first day at school or watching a scary movie. We all have a right to choose when we accept feeling a little scared or take a little risk.

We also teach about Early Warning Signs. These are the sensations we experience in our bodies that tell us we are feeling unsafe, such as 'butterflies', clammy hands, wobbly knees, etc. Remembering again that anxiety and nervousness are normal human experiences we listen to our early warning signs to help us know to stop, take note of what is happening and to take some action if needed. With anxiety and nervousness we say 'let's get our butterflies in formation'. With genuine lack of safety we teach students to take action to get safe or seek support (I'll write about this next week).

You will have heard about children and families being 'groomed' for quite some time prior to and following a perpetrator committing abusive acts. One particularly well-known grooming behaviour is that of asking a child to keep a secret about what has happened and to threaten unfavourable consequences if they tell.

We teach children about safe and unsafe 'secrets'. Safe secrets (or 'surprises') are when we ask children to not tell mum what we are organising for Mothers Day, or getting ready for a surprise party. These are secrets that other adults and others know about, no one will get hurt and usually have a 'due date'. Unsafe secrets are those that make us feel uncomfortable, where someone is getting hurt and have no real end date. We teach children that if someone is making them keep an unsafe secret then they need to ask for help.

Next week I will continue to write about what we teach in Protective Behaviours. If you want to know more of how you can help your child understand how to stay safe  I encourage you to read the ACT Government's Protecting Your Kids: Personal Safety Education for Parents. 

Enrolment Period

The 2025 Enrolment Period has begun. If you have a child ready for Kindergarten next year now is the time to submit an enrolment form. If your child is heading to Year 7 next year then please submit your enrolment form for SFX within the enrolment window to ensure your child will have a place there.

Parents are a great support for maintaining enrolments in a schools. If you know of any families that are curious about enrolling in our school please do encourage them to visit during one of our tour times this term. They are also very welcome to talk to me about how we can assist their child in their schooling journey.

Thank you for your ongoing support for your child and our school. I hope everyone has a lovely day on Sunday celebrating the mums they have or fondly remembering the mums they miss.

Matthew Garton

Principal