School Life
Parenting Resources
It’s never been more challenging for parents to raise happy, healthy and resilient children. Like never before, parents need to be informed with clear, fact-based information on the many challenges faced by today’s youth. St Mark's has partnered with a number of resources that our families may find helpful when navigating the world of raising children.
St Mark's School TV
St Mark's SchoolTV is an ongoing resource that is now available to the St Mark's community. Each edition addresses a major topic with expert interviews, fact sheets, parent quiz, recommended apps, books and much more. SchoolTV aggregates information from many great resources such as BeyondBlue and ReachOut, amongst others. SchoolTV provides a single stream of independent factual information that saves parents time and confusion of searching online across multiple sites for information.
The Resilience Project
This year we have partnered with The Resilience Project (TRP) as part of our Wellbeing program, Flourish. Through presentations, student curriculum, teacher resources and digital content, The Resilience Project’s Education Programs support mental health in the classroom, staffroom and the family home. You can access further information about The Resilience Project here.
St Mark's Cybersafety Hub
St Mark's has partnered with one of Australia’s leading cyber safety experts, ySafe, to provide parents and carers with support in managing their children’s safety and time online. As a part of the School's partnership with ySafe, we have a new Parent Cyber Safety Hub. This Hub is a rich source of live information directly from ySafe’s multidisciplinary team of cyber safety experts.
Access St Mark's Cyber Safety Hub
The Hub includes expert advice on the most pertinent cyber safety issues and frequently asked questions around platforms like TikTok, Fortnite, Instagram, and more. There are app reviews with age and safety recommendations, along with a range of guides and resources to help ensure healthy boundaries around screen-time and gaming and step-by-step instructions for using parental controls and filtering out inappropriate content.
Hot Topics
Does Your Child Have an Unhealthy Relationship with Technology?
Here is an interesting look at children and their relationship with technology, plus tips on dealing with screen time. Read more.
Don't Let Your Help Make Your Child Helpless
Judith Locke, clinical psychologist and ex-teacher, speaks on child wellbeing to parents/teachers at schools worldwide and has recently penned an article regarding doing too much for our children so that they become helpless. You can read her article and others here.
COVID-19
There are useful articles and videos on St Mark's SchoolTV related to COVID-19 and its impact on children and families. In addition, we will share other resources with parents here:
Managing your Mental Health during Lockdown (ABC News article)
Technology
eSafety's Parent Webinars
The schedule for eSafety's parent webinars in Term 3 is now available. The webinars explore the latest research, and they are a great way to learn how you can help your child develop the skills to be safer online. All sessions are delivered by eSafety's expert education and training team. For more information, please visit the webinar page.
Office of the e-Safety Commissioner's eSafety website provides a wide range of online safety programs and resources, with focused information for families, young people of all ages and seniors. This includes webinars and topical information on social media, and more.
ReachOut Guide to Instagram
ReachOut Parents is partnering with Instagram Australia to show you how to help your teen stay safe and happy on social media. Find out more.
Mental Health
ReachOut is the most accessed online mental health service for young people and their parents in Australia. Accessed by more than 2 million people in Australia each year, ReachOut is a free service that’s available anytime and pretty much anywhere.
Beyond Blue has been providing support and services to people in Australia for 20 years. They are Australia’s most well-known and visited mental health organisation, focused on supporting people affected by anxiety, depression and suicide.
From time to time, the School will share links to useful articles and other resources on key topics on this page. We will let you know when new information is available via the School App or our social media pages.