Kapunda Primary School Newsletter

Social Media

As you would be aware, we have been managing a social media issue that, although occurring outside of school, involved members of our school community. Due to the nature of the issue, we have spent a significant amount of time working through the issue; notifying police, following Department for Education processes, engaging eSafety, talking with students and parents, and identifying and implementing preventative measures. We have been vigilant with our approach to this latest issue and are taking it extremely seriously. Our highest priority is on the wellbeing of our students and staff and both of these have been compromised.

The misuse of social media platforms such as TikTok is a significant detriment to the positive mental health and wellbeing of those who are targeted. As a school we can only do so much, and we need the support of parents and carers to be vigilant about monitoring what their children are doing on their devices. What we have found is that our children are extremely knowledgeable about setting up fake accounts and how to hide their tracks. This starts the process that is then continued by children following, liking, sharing, commenting on and re-posting negative, derogatory and abusive content. This shows support for the original post and has the same impact as being a bystander to bullying behaviour. None of us want our children or loved ones to be the target of these, so we must work together to also ensure that our children are not perpetrators or supporters.

We strongly recommend that children are not given access to TikTok, Snapchat and Facebook, as we have only experienced negative outcomes for children who are involved with these platforms. Prevention is always a better option.

SAPSASA

Congratulations to the huge number of Kapunda Primary students who have been selected for SAPSASA in cross country, swimming, athletics and football. Well done to you all! A special shout-out to Lewis McCarthy who has nailed a trifecta. He has been selected to represent South Australia in the State School Sport U12 Boys football. Lewis has also been selected as Captain for the SAPSASA boys football team and broke the Cross Country record for 11 year old boys that has been in place since 2009. That is some serious achievement in the space of a few weeks.

We wish you all a lovely weekend.

Sharon, Kerry and Dan

** Please note that these dates are subject to change **

Hi all,

I have been part of this school for 35 years.  Wow!  How lucky I have been. From the first day I arrived I have felt part of an amazing, wonderful revolving team of educators.

At this school I was given every opportunity to upskill for my professional development and I grabbed these opportunities with both hands.  Having these opportunities gave me skills to support all areas of student learning and I gladly shared my specialised training with my peers.

I have had so many memories …beautiful memories. There have been sad ones too involving our school community.  In these times it required us all to dig deep ,  wrap our arms each other and give any support we could.  I think that is what I’m most proud of :-  how our school really cares for its community and in turn the broader community cares for this school.

Our school strives to generate a safe, caring & learning environment.  If a child can feel safe and open to the power of learning from the first time they walk through our gates they will flourish.

I could go on an on but one thing I do know is that I will always look back on my time here and feel really blessed.

So on closing  I wish to say a big thank you Kapunda Primary School as I would not have wanted to spend my 35 years anywhere else.

Warmest regards,

Mandy Beckel