Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
Over the next month or so a major focus for the students at St Mary’s is the ‘Keeping Ourselves
Safe’ programme. This programme has been taught at St Mary’s over a number of years. It is a
programme that is taught in conjunction with the New Zealand Police and focuses on way that
young people can keep themselves safe and as they get older, others safe.
It is a programme that is practical but also addresses the theory and reasoning behind why we
should or should not behave in certain ways.
In fact the key behaviour that helps us support our young ones to keep themselves safe is
communication.
Talk to your children often, even when what they are saying doesn’t really interest you, and listen
to what they say. If they know that you are listening to them, then they will go to you for
guidance, and more importantly you will be more aware of what's going on in their world.
With the advent of social media: Facebook, ask, snap chat, twitter etc., people who may be distant
are able to communicate as simply as they can with someone sitting in the same room.
Obviously this has massive benefits, you can Skype your sister in Melbourne and it’s almost like
a face to face meeting. But as with all technologies it has a dark side, unwanted intrusions into
you or your families life being the paramount concern. Sometimes it would be nice to retreat into
our log cabin and bolt the door. But the reality is that in our technological world, this is not
possible. To keep ourselves and our children safe, communication is again the answer.
Encourage them to come to you if they are ever in a situation that makes them feel
uncomfortable or confused.
Have a great week
Mike Brosnahan
Our RE focus in each class h