On Monday, our Secondary students took part in the Optus Digital Thumbprint program, a practical, real-world online safety and digital citizenship session designed to help students make smart choices in the spaces they’re already living in every day - online. Across the day, students rotated through sessions in the CLC, with content targeted to what’s most relevant for each Year Level:
Year 7: Cyber Security
Year 8: Cyber Bullying
Year 9: Digital Discernment
Year 10: Digital Identity
What was most appreciated was that it wasn’t just 'a talk'. The sessions were interactive, relatable, and based on real situations students face, things like protecting passwords and privacy, responding well when things go wrong online, thinking clearly about what they’re seeing on social media, and understanding how quickly a digital reputation can be formed.
At Avondale, we talk a lot about student wellbeing, and that doesn’t stop at the classroom door or the playground fence. For many students, a big part of life happens online, and what happens there can have a very real impact on confidence, friendships, mental health, and even future opportunities.
This program is about more than just 'being careful'. It’s about helping students understand that what they do online can either build them up or trip them up. We want our students to be equipped, not naïve, and to have the knowledge and tools to make wise choices when no one else is watching.
Through Digital Thumbprint, students were encouraged to think about things like:
Well done to our students for the way they engaged with the sessions. The more seriously they take this now, the better placed they’ll be to protect themselves and others down the track. We’d also encourage families to keep these conversations going at home. When school and home work together, we can build a safer, more respectful online culture for everyone.
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