Tomorrow marks the start of the Beaconhills College home learning program. It’s a new endeavour for our College. We are all adjusting to a very different routine in a bid to collectively fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are just a few starter tips from Beaconhills eLearning staff and the Australian Government’s eSafety Commissioner.

Mental and physical health

• Current circumstances are not just about physical health, there are social and emotional impacts as well. Students may be feeling isolated or anxious, or observing family members in distressed states. Ensure students know that they can still contact teachers and other support people at the College.
• Remember it is not healthy to sit at a computer, or use a tablet, for extended periods of time without a break.
• Although the College will ask students to attend their scheduled virtual classes, the lessons are likely to be much shorter than at school and work may be set to be completed later
• Encourage children to enjoy physical exercise and play while at home and to interact with family members.

Chat about expectations and boundaries

• It’s not possible to be at your child’s side every second of the day, so it’s important to talk with them about online safety issues to help develop their critical thinking and ability to make good choices. Set boundaries about when they can use devices

Parental controls

• Parental controls can help block your child from accessing specific websites, apps or functions. But beware! You can’t always rely on them and they should be used in combination with other online safety strategies.

Be alert – know the signs

• It’s important to keep an eye out for cyberbullying. It can include mean posts, comments and messages, as well as being left out of online group activities.

Some handy links with many resources for parents: