Dear Families,

School events this time of year bring great joy and pride to us all.  As I have the privilege of joining our students with teachers at the many celebrations of talent and effort; Athletics days, Choir, Band and Strings performances, class culminating showcases etc. I am reminded once again, why I love my job so much. As educators and caregivers, we share the delight and awe of watching our children and young people find their place in the world through personal effort and drive. This innate ability of all children to learn and achieve is supported by opportunity and adults who hold them with unconditional positive regard and belief in their potential. What a privilege!

There is growing alarm and concern from educators, professionals and families on the effects of social media and unsupervised access to the internet on the safety and mental health of young people. At Yeronga State School we are increasing our controls at school to limit the capacity for our students to be exposed to and engage with content that is not part of their required teaching, learning and assessment of the Australian Curriculum (AC). At Yeronga State School the device for engaging our students with the AC Digital Technologies and ICT capabilities standards are iPads. We have invested heavily over the years to provide access to 1:1 devices in an equitable way for all students as well as building the bandwidth and wireless network throughout the school to maximise the portability, creativity and flexibility iPads. With the support from our families, we have moved from a 1:1 BYOD device program commencing in Year 2 to school owned and managed 1:1 devices. From Year 4 this year we commenced the hire scheme of the devices for the purpose of taking them home to complete home learning tasks. Coming up at the next PandC meeting will be an opportunity for families to provide input into the future priorities for our school as we navigate the digital landscape over the next few years for our students. Please look out for communications from the PandC in this newsletter. If you are curious about what the Australian Curriculum digital technologies and information communications curriculum covers, please go to the following links.

Digital Technologies - Sequence of Content.pdf

Information and Communication Technology Capability.pdf

Have a wonderful week,

Eunice