Catholic School Parents Queensland warmly invite all Catholic School Parents, Carers, Principals & School Staff to join us on a live Webinar with Susan McLean from CyberSafety Solutions.

This is a FREE WEBINAR hosted by CSPQ to support our families in Catholic Schools.

This informative webinar will look at the issue of ‘phone bans’ in schools and provide information to support the importance of this occurring. There is extensive evidence that students do not have the capacity to make good choices when phones are involved and during the school day, it becomes a ‘duty of care’ issue for schools. Support from home will be vital for the success of these rules. We will look at the how and why a parent can support their child’s school in relation to this and the reasons behind the restrictions.
We will also cover more broadly, cybersafety, the risk and the reality of the online world, with time for questions at the end

Susan McLean is Australia’s foremost expert in the area of cyber safety and was a member of Victoria Police for 27 years. Widely known as the ‘cyber cop’ she was the first Victoria Police Officer appointed to a position involving cyber safety and young people. In 2003 she was the Victoria Police Region Four Youth Officer of the Year. She has also been awarded The National Medal and the Victoria Police Service Medal and 2nd Clasp, and the National Police Medal.

In 1994, Susan took her first report of cyberbulllying involving a group of Year 8 school girls. Having identified the then emerging problem of internet harassment and witnessed first hand the significant increase in issues relating to internet misuse over the past years, Susan began to research the issue and looked to the international arena for evidence of exemplar practices. In August 2006, she travelled to the United States of America, where she completed the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children’s, ‘Protecting Children On-line’ training program, and then travelled to Dallas, Texas where she attended and completed training at the internationally recognised 4th Annual Internet Crimes Against Children Conference where she participated in many training programs. She also spent time working with the Dallas Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) taskforce team.

Susan established and managed the Victoria Police Cyber Safety Project that ran from March to October 2007, which researched and reported on the issue of internet safety as it applied to young people and adults with an intellectual disability. It is remains the only such research completed in Australia.

Susan established Cyber Safety Solutions in March 2007 and this has grown to be the most highly respected and in demand cybersafety consultancy in Australia. She is also in demand internationally as a leading expert in online safety. Susan is one of only two Australians to have successfully completed the ‘University Certificate in Child Safety on the Internet’ from the University of Central Lancashire, United Kingdom. In August 2012 she re-attended the renowned Dallas Crimes Against Children's Conference where she updated her extensive knowledge and then spent time at Meta USA meeting with key people and discussing child online safety issues, reporting practices and general issues surrounding the use/abuse of social media by Australians especially teens and young people.

Susan is a passionate advocate for child safety online and has established an enviable working relationship with most of the key players in the online world who value her extensive knowledge, balanced commentary, and commitment. She has is regularly invited to present on the international stage. The major companies such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X) and YouTube defer to her with relation to issues affecting Australian Children. She has been asked to review prior to launch in Australia, Google’s YouTube for kids. She is also a member of the Meta Australia Safety Advisory group. Law Enforcement, corporations, schools, parents and children themselves find Susan knowledgeable, approachable and most importantly, she often has the ability to assist when others have failed. Susan is an Ambassador for Collective Shout and Positive Schools and is a Board Member of SafeTeens Online.