Dear Parents and Carers,

This year in the wellbeing space, our school continues to focus on:

Building teacher capability to activate student voice and agency within the classroom
Reducing the % of students with 20+ days absence from 39% in 2019 to 25% in 2024.
Embedding a whole-school approach to the development of the social and emotional wellbeing of students
Developing and implementing strategies that involve parents and carers as partners in their child’s learning

Grade Attendance Ladder

Congratulations to 3/4B for the highest number of students who had above 93% attendance this fortnight. Individual attendance milestones are also recognised and celebrated each fortnight at Assembly. Keep up the great work everyone!

Anglicare Early Help Services at ETRS

Coffee Club Connection Continues

With Parent Partnerships as one of this year's Key Improvement Strategies Coffee Connections will continue next Thursday in the staffroom , March 23rd from 9am. It has been great to see lots of new faces join us. Anglicare will kindly provide drinks and slices from the ETRSS Cafe for all of us to enjoy. Everyone is welcome including younger siblings. Coffee (Hot Chocolate, Tea or Water) Club aims to bring people together and help both new and old families feel welcomed and valued at our school.

School Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) Family Handbook

Playgroup Starts in Term 2

Echuca Twin Rivers Primary School and Echuca Twin Rivers Specialist School together with Anglicare are launching Echuca Twin Rivers Playgroup in Term 2. It will be held in the Performing Arts Space in the Centre. This will occur every second Wednesday morning from 10am - 11:30am. Our first session will be on Wednesday April 26th (Term 2 Week 1).

This is an initiative we have been working on for a little while now and we are very excited about providing such a great service for our community. This is open to all families in our Echuca Moama community. A flyer has been included in this week's newsletter outlining all the details. Anglicare have kindly offered to provide drinks and food for these sessions.

Parents will need to sign in at the office first and then order a drink at the Cafe if they'd like before making their way down to the Centre. It is open to all families who have children who are not yet at school. Parents need to remain with their children for the session.

Playgroup offers a unique opportunity for young children to share quality time, play and socialise with their parent and other families. Playing is how children experience the world; at playgroup they make new friends and learn through play including the enhancement of social and emotional skills. Through the care and guidance of other families and/or a playgroup mentor, there is an opportunity for parents to develop individual strengths, increase parental capacity and find their place in a connected, supportive community (playgroup.org.au)

Please spread the word and ask anyone interested to contact the school for more information.

Rural Health Connect

Rural Health Connect is an online platform that links people to psychologists over video calls and phone calls. RHC originated in Central QLD in response to a clear need for better access to psychologists in rural areas and have now expanded across rural Australia. Rural Australians deal with drought, bushfire, floods and isolation on top of all of life’s other pressures yet access psychologists at less than a fifth of the rate of people in cities. RHC want everyone, regardless of where they live or their life circumstances, to be able to access the psychologist that is right for them. And to be able to conduct their sessions without disrupting their daily lives.

A new pilot with Federation University, supported by the Victorian Government through RHC are providing a direct, free of charge, link to a provisional psychologist, without needing to see your GP for a mental health care plan. Provisional psychologists are students in their 5th and 6th years of study, who are gaining their final experience before registration. All provisional psychologists complete regular sessions with board approved supervisors .

This service is for children, adolescents and adults who are noticing signs that they may not be functioning at their best, as a method of early intervention. If you have a diagnosed mental illness please speak to your GP about what would be the best service for you.

This pilot is for people in rural and regional Victoria only.

Signs that you might not be functioning at your best include frequent feelings of sadness, trouble concentrating, feeling overwhelmed, problems with your work, family or social relationships (ruralhealthconnect.com.au).

Areas of interest addressed via this service are:

Anxiety
Depression
Stress
Anger
Grief and loss
Sleep problems

If you would like to access this service or would like more information, please refer to this link: https://ruralhealthconnect.com.au

Harmony Week

Our schools will be celebrating Harmony Week on Tuesday 21st of March (next Tuesday). Harmony Week is the celebration that recognises our diversity and brings together Australians from all different backgrounds. It’s about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone (www.harmony.gov.au). We are encouraging our students and staff to wear orange to show our support for this nationally recognised day on Tuesday next week.

Rural Health Connect-

Wishing everyone a great weekend.

Kind regards,

ETRS Wellbeing Team.