Volume Fourteen, Friday 17th September

From Br Steve Hogan

We made it.
Together we made it.
Amen.

The word amen has Semitic origins and is found in both the Old and New Testament and is commonly used in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

It means “certainly,” or “it is so,” something firm, fixed or for sure. It is a comforting and consoling word, and why it is also used as an expression of agreement more colloquially in modern times.

Today, Friday 17th September as we finish a long ten weeks of remote learning, I think we can all salute amen to that and wish hopefully, never again. Next term brings the hope of returning on site, even if in staged ways, being better than the term just gone.

Even though we are more than pleased that the term has ended, as Lasallians we still have a sense of gratitude for what was attained and possible. I have a huge sense of gratitude and want to thank you all for your achievements: the Newsletter each fortnight captures only some of the amazing achievements, events and service that has still been possible by our amazing staff, students and parents.

I am very proud as Principal and grateful for all students, Years 7-12, staying the course and staying connected even though some days were a struggle. You now know you can do it: you can get through stuff that is hard, unplanned and unpredictable. There will be other times in the future and you will now know that you can do it. Remember, it is true, what Marcus Aurelius, JFK, and Master Shifu say, it will be tough, but, if it is up to you, know that you have the measure.

I am grateful for the support of all parents who have supervised and encouraged you all while at the same time working from home and keeping house – you are amazing parents and if nothing else, deserve a big Certificate of Achievement at Graduations at the end of the year.

I am grateful for our amazing staff at Oakhill College (teachers and all support staff) that kept developing, inventing and improving new learning tools and strategies, and activities and events and competitions etc going above and beyond for their students.

I am grateful for the confidence and trust of Year 12 who although anxious did amazingly with the first-ever exams and assessments online – all in your stride; and Year 11 who followed suit.

I am grateful for every single member of the Oakhill College community and ask you now to put your laptop aside for a while and have a complete change of routine from Saturday and create that holiday experience we all need.

Of course, we can do it. We have just managed ten weeks of remote learning with flying colours, we can do anything. This is the Oakhill College spirit. We are up to the challenge knowing that life’s journey is not always clearly defined, straight or predictable with the strength of spirit that enables one to rise above the fleeting things to engage life consciously.

I wish to conclude the term with a blessing for you all. It is taken from the Book of Numbers. It is also in the song, A Blessing for Australians, in the video that follows.

Take care and keep well. I wait eagerly to seeing you all in some context in Term Four.

May the Lord bless you
and keep you;
May the Lord let his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;
and give you His peace.
Amen.

Blessing Australia, Churches Unite

Br Steve Hogan fsc
Principal

Unwanted Contact and Grooming

Socialising online can be a great way for children to build friendships, but it can also put them at risk.

Unwanted contact is any type of online communication that your child finds unpleasant or upsetting, or that leads them into a situation where they may be unsafe. This can happen even if they initially welcomed the contact. It can come from strangers, online ‘friends’ your child has not met face-to-face, or from someone they actually know.

The worst danger is ‘grooming’ — someone building a relationship with a child in order to abuse them. This abuse can happen in a physical meeting, but it increasingly happens online when children or young people are tricked or persuaded into sexual activity on webcams or into sending sexual images.

How to Deal with Unwanted Contact

If someone is contacting your child and this contact is unwanted or makes them feel uncomfortable, here are some things you can do to help:

Make their accounts private
For older children, suggest they make their social media accounts private, or revise their privacy settings so they can control who can look at their photos and posts. By adjusting their privacy settings, they can stay in control of who sees what they post online and who can contact them directly. For more information on privacy settings see the eSafety Guide.

Delete contacts they don’t really know
Encourage your child to delete contacts they don’t know actually know in person. Ask them to go through all the people who follow them or they are friends with on social media and check that they actually know them. If not, it is probably a good idea to delete them.

Report and block
Let your child know that they can talk to you at any time if they receive any contact that is inappropriate or makes them feel uncomfortable — and there are steps you can take together.

If your child receives any unwanted contact from someone they know or a stranger, encourage them to report and block this person on the site or service used to contact them. The Safety Guide has online safety information and direct reporting links. If the contact persists, or it becomes aggressive or threatening contact your local police.

Delete requests from strangers
Encourage your child to delete friends or follow requests from people they don’t know. A good tip is to get them to check whether new requests share mutual friends. If they feel unsure about someone, encourage them to delete the request.

How Does Online Grooming Happen?

Grooming involves building a relationship with a child in order to later abuse them.

Groomers can use sophisticated strategies to gain your child’s trust online:

They frequent sites that children use, sometimes pretending to be young people themselves to trick children into chatting and sharing.
They may be adults. They may also be under 18 themselves and groom a younger child, or they could be another young person that is coerced into obtaining sexual images of other children.
They use personal information they have gathered about a child to develop a connection with them and as the relationship grows, the child becomes comfortable sharing more information about themselves.
They build secrecy in the relationship and aim to physically and emotionally separate a child from their family and friends.
They test and gauge how willing a child is to engage in sexual activities. Some young people may use the internet to explore their sexuality and initially welcome and be open to online contact that facilitates this.
They share explicit material and may ask for an intimate image of the child. This can then be used as a tool to pressure the child to send more material, or to meet in person. See also our guide to sending nudes and sexting for parents and carers.

The risk of online grooming increases if your child does any of these things:

Posts personal details like their full name or school on a social networking site without using the privacy controls — this means the information is accessible to people who could use it to build an inappropriate relationship with your child
Accepts contacts or ‘friend’ requests from people they do not know — this allows strangers to access their personal information and images
Responds to anonymous users on apps and websites
Visits sites targeted at adults, such as some social media dating, online chat or gaming sites — this increases the likelihood of your child being contacted by older teens or adults for sexual purposes
Posts ‘sexy’ photos and messages or uses a sexually suggestive screen name — children may see this as being mature or funny, but it might attract dangerous people.

For further information including details on how to protect your child from online grooming, the warning signs to look for as a parent and advice on what to do should things go wrong – visit https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/big-issues/unwanted-contact

Mr Peter Morrissey
Infrastructure Technical Lead

Sport - Around the Grounds

Well done to all our players and coaches on what was a successful Winter Sport season in the circumstances that confronted us. As we remain under restrictions, it is even more evident that we should be grateful for the games that we were lucky enough to play this season. Congratulations to our award winners across our sports and thank you to all those players and parents that took the time to watch and enjoy our Winter Sport Presentations online.

Special mention to our Year 12 men and women who have played their final game of sport for Oakhill. On behalf of the entire Oakhill Community, thank you for being the role models that you are and good luck in your HSC and beyond. You are welcome back always.

Last chance - Summer Sport Season Registration / Expression of Interest - NO FEES

Registration will close this Saturday 18th September at 5.00pm. Please register your expression of interest now!

For those that have registered, we will use your contact details to send updates and information about your sport. Those that have not registered will not receive up-to-date information, so don’t miss out.

We do have a good number of players that have registered an expression of interest and we are looking to play an ISA Summer competition, across all sports, in Term 1 of 2022. We are hopeful of grading our Oakhill ISA teams in Term 4 with the possibility, following advice from NSW Health and other advisory organisations, of playing ‘friendly’ games in November. Round 1 of the ISA competition will be Saturday 5th February.

Expression of Interest for Summer Sport – No Cost (via Trybooking)

Basketball Expression of Interest – https://www.trybooking.com/BSZWM
Touch Football Expression of Interest – https://www.trybooking.com/BSZWJ
Seniors Cricket Expression of Interest (those playing 1st XI and 2nd XI and are over 16 years old) - https://www.trybooking.com/BSZWV
Junior Cricket Registration (U13 – U16 cricket) fees still apply to junior cricket registration (but you can use your ‘active kids’ voucher)- (https://play.cricket.com.au/club/oakhill-college/314ed8ad-86d8-eb11-a7ad-2818780da0cc)

Mr Andrew Wisemantel
Head of Sport

Volume Fourteen, Friday 17th September

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Volume Fourteen, Friday 17th September