Souths Cares eSafety initiative has created a huge impact this year, seeing close to 15,000 primary and high school students throughout 2021.
Delivered in partnership with the Federal Government’s eSafety Commissioner, the initiative aimed to improve education and awareness about critical issues young people are experiencing online such as cyberbullying, sexting, protecting privacy and online gaming addiction.
A total of 14,723 students from 53 individual primary and high schools throughout NSW completed eSafety workshops this year. The initiative also saw Souths Cares hosting a free weekly eSafety webinar via Zoom, which was available to anyone across Australia.
Brad Mitchell is the Principal at Oran Park High School and participated in the workshops on the 8th December. He explained the program was well received by the school.
‘The e-safety presentation was held over zoom for our Year 7 and Year 8 students and it was both engaging and informative. Our staff and students alike both enjoyed the workshops’, Brad said.
Sasha Juric is a Teacher St. Anthony’s Public School whom also participated in the workshops earlier this year in June. He stated the workshops included a wealth of information which was also engaging for students.
‘The Souths Cares team were fantastic. They were knowledgeable and well prepared for all the presentations. The students loved the important messages being addressed and were always fully engaged due to the team’s enthusiasm’, Sasha said.
Kalinda Bolt, Souths Cares Health and Wellbeing Programs Coordinator led the project throughout 2021, and despite the challenges associated with COVID this year was proud of what had been achieved.
‘I’m really proud of what our team achieved this year delivering eSafety workshops. I feel it’s a really important topic for young people to understand how to protect themselves and stay safe online. This was especially important during the COVID lockdown with many students learning from home’, Kalinda said.
Souths Cares would like to acknowledge and thank all of the schools who participated in our eSafety workshops and webinars throughout 2021.
