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St Aloysius Catholic Primary School in Queenscliff was one of the first schools to use the new eSmart Digital Licence resources for lower primary students and has already seen a positive impact on their students.
To help celebrate and launch the new resources in October 2024, our eSmart team conducted a Digital Licence lesson at St Aloysius with the Hon Michelle Rowland, MP, Minister for Communications, and Libby Coker, MP, Member for Corangamite, in attendance.
Miriam Leahy, Principal of St Aloysius, said that the lesson on photo consent and image manipulation was a standout of the day. As part of this lesson, students were asked to take photos of each other, but only after seeking and receiving explicit consent. Then, the students had to ask for further permission to edit the images using digital pencils and stickers.
The lesson was designed not just to teach online safety, but to actively engage students in real-world scenarios. The activity helped them understand the importance of respecting others’ privacy and the potential consequences of sharing images online.
Miriam noted that the lesson gave students hands-on experience with technology while reinforcing critical lessons about image consent.
"The lesson highlighted that there's lots of fun things that genuinely come with this type of technology. But also, it gave them the direct evidence that what you see online is not always the real version.”
“The teachers were struck [by] the level of engagement of the kids and the enthusiasm to partake in the activity. They genuinely had fun.” she said.
This interactive and engaging approach – having students role-play asking for consent – allowed the students to grasp the concept in a fun, memorable way.
Miriam and the teachers at St Aloysius were also pleased to discover the involvement of both teachers and students in the co-design of these resources.
As Miriam explained, "The resources have been co-designed with both teachers and kids, so they engage with them more and will hopefully lead to some better learning for the kids in the online safety space.”
"The last thing the students want to hear is an adult telling them how to navigate the online world when they know it better than us.”
The flexibility of the resources has also been a significant benefit. Teachers at St Aloysius have found the eSmart resources to be adaptable, allowing them to respond to student needs in real time.
"We know that we can dip into the things that are relevant to us when we need to,” Miriam said. This flexibility means that even as new challenges emerge at the school, the eSmart resources will remain a valuable tool for both students and educators.
For example, the school has previously had some challenges with online gaming causing friction between students. This required the school to work with students to set expectations about what fair and kind gaming might look like at home.
As of 2025, the school has now integrated the new eSmart resources into its broader digital literacy curriculum. Miriam shared that working towards a Digital Licence – similiar to earning a pen licence – has been a motivating factor for the students.
“They are all really enjoying moving through the modules, knowing that they're eventually getting that Digital Licence after completing all four.”
The feedback from teachers at St Aloysius Catholic Primary School has highlighted the importance of engaging students through co-designed content.
“I think it's particularly relevant right now that there is that kind of approach of working with students and alongside them as opposed to against them. That’s what is so great about the Digital Licence resources. [The students] really look forward to working through the modules as opposed to just thinking it's a waste of time from preachy adults or teachers.”
Learn more about how eSmart's free, federally funded resources can help your students stay safe, smart and responsible online.
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