Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education. 

Students learn new things at school every day – missing school puts them behind

If students miss school regularly, they miss out on learning the fundamental skills that will set them up for success in the later years of school.

Each missed day is associated with:

• progressively lower achievement in numeracy
• progressively lower achievement in writing 
• progressively lower achievement in reading

Attendance patterns are established early!

25% of Australian school students attend less than 90% of school days

• Less than 90% attendance = approximately 20 or more days absent in a school year. 
• 13 years (Prep -Year 12) @ 20 days a year = 52 weeks
• 52 weeks = MORE than one WHOLE school year of learning lost

Non-attendance has a variety of effects on students, both academically and socially.

Absenteeism can increase:

• social isolation
• including alienation
• lack of engagement with the school community and peers

This leads to difficulties: 

• Emotional
• Behavioural

Game Profile: Among Us

Among Us is a teamwork/strategy game available to download for free on iOS and Android devices. It has been around since 2018, but has recently become one of the most successful games of 2020 after some of the most popular gamers streamed themselves playing it on streaming platform, Twitch.

As a player, you join a game, which auto-fills with people on the internet from around the world. Alternatively, you can co-ordinate to play with friends and fill your own 'local' game which requires a password to join. The game begins when all spaces are filled and the app randomly selects a number of "imposters" and allocates the rest of the players as "crewmates".

If you're a crewmate, your goal is to figure out who the imposter is before they kill everyone and complete as many of the tasks listed on the screen.

If you're an imposter, your goal is to kill as many other players as possible without being seen while sabotaging the tasks they're trying to complete.

Games can have one, two or three imposters and everyone is aware of how many there are from the beginning. Regular emergency meetings are called where people can discuss any suspicious behaviour, or when a dead body is reported. You might ask where it was found, who was near it. People will start pointing the finger at each other and then you have a timed window where you can vote for who you think the imposter is, or you can skip the vote if you're not sure.

People get voted out and you then find out if the voters were correct or not, until the imposter has been discovered or they've killed everyone in the game.

What do the experts say? 

Yasmin London, the Executive Director of ySafe, is a cyber safety expert. Here are her main concerns about the game: 

1.Violence

Among Us is not suitable for primary school-aged children under 12. While the graphics are cartoon-like there is still the use of knives and visuals of the cartoon players being stabbed and killed. Communication with others is essential to gameplay as it’s all about working as a team to find the ‘imposter.’ The online gaming feature within this app allows children to chat and play with anyone anywhere in the world and unfortunately cannot be turned off. This poses risks to children coming into contact with potentially problematic strangers and engaging in conversation with them. Accusations by team members on who the imposter is, could also potentially lead to cyberbullying style behaviours by players in the game.

2.Unmoderated chats are risky

While the online chat feature can be censored to filter out the inappropriate language it is not password protected and children can 

easily turn the censor off with a click of a button. The chat is also unmoderated and people can speak about anything they like. There are also issues with language, and in the game, we have seen players using racial slurs and offensive language as usernames. Parents need to set firm ground rules around the use of the game, such as only allowing use in communal areas of the home and only allowing gameplay with real-life friends, or those their parents have approved. Kids can do this by selecting the ‘local’ option, creating a code and inviting their real-life friends to play. Kids should be instructed not to share this link with anyone outside their "real life" friends.

3 . In-app purchases are a concern

 Removing ads and in-app purchases is difficult and the app has a button to restore in-app purchases (this cannot be done if the devices’ setting

s have been restricted with a passcode). The app also has pop-up ads after each game prompting players to use real-life money to upgrade their skins, pets and hats. It is important that parents speak to their children about protecting their personal information, understanding the consequences of in-app currency and making sure they don’t share it with anyone on any of their games.

More From YSafe.....

What do comment filters, geolocations, and report buttons all have in common?

Did you know in just six months a staggering 90 million videos were removed from TikTok for violating the Community Guidelines or Terms of Service?

While the joy and connectedness social media brings is undeniable, many platforms host a seedy underbelly of harmful and explicit content that can be damaging to young people. 

You have the power to help. 

Awareness of the functionality available in these apps can be incredibly effective in safeguarding children. Understanding the significance of removing geolocation services or activating privacy settings can help guide a child's experience from harmful to harmonious.

With that in mind, check out our cheat sheet of top social media safety tips, to help keep young people safe when on social media.