Positive Education
Connections
Ms Murcott - Head of Positive Education
Throughout this past term we have been focusing on connecting with our friends, family, teachers and the wider community; this edition is no different. You will hear about how the students at Mullum Primary School are connecting within their classrooms through Meet and Make sessions; connecting with the wider community as grade 5/6 students wrote to residents at various aged care facilities around Ringwood; connecting beyond our local community as Miss Daniel volunteers her knitting skills and donates a scarf she made to a wonderful cause. Read on to find out...
Meet and Make session with 3VH
On Tuesday 25th August, 3VH met for a “Meet and Make” session. We smiled and chatted as we spent time together making snowflakes. We will do a "Meet and Make" session each week. It will not be a time to talk about work, rather, it will be a time to connect by talking about our creations or other interests.
Although there was not a great deal of verbal chatter, there was many connections made along the way. The chat function was filled with thoughts and responses, just like these:
"It looks good Makyiah."
"Your work looks epic."
"Yeah Makyiah it’s looks so good and amazing!"
Makyiah's responses were:
"Thank you so much guys that made my day 😇😇😇😇😇😊😊😊☺️☺️☺️☺️😸😺
:) You guys are so nice."
This week 3VR connected online by making a variety paper chains. What a great way to spend some time together during these times, extremely creative students.
Grade 5/6 students wrote to residence at local aged care facilities
To connect with people beyond our school gates, Grade 5/6 students have written to over 70 elderly people in our local aged care facilities. Although our students have surprised these recipients by thinking of them during this time and writing to them, they have also provided hope. Following are two letters which were sent out into the community and one photo of Cath from Olivet receiving her letter from Sanne in 5/6M. She was overwhelmed that elderly people was even on the minds of such young, kind and generous students.
Hi Marianne,
My name is Reinette, I go to Mullum Primary School, I’m in year 5, and this year started off great but then came the virus, it changed term 2, and now term 3. How have you been in the second lockdown? I’ve been bored, but not always, and now, somehow my sister and I spend most of the time out of school on the computer, watching, or playing games. What have you been up to in the second lockdown?
Every second morning I walk to the coffee shop with my mum, sometimes I don’t want to but at least I can go out for exercise. I’m writing to you to hopefully make you feel better, in all this craziness. Now that we are at home we have the fire on a lot on cold days. We visit our chickens regularly, and sometimes the guinea pigs go outside in their cage. The fish hardly do anything, they really only give us more to clean up but the cats have the most freedom, the whole house to roam and outside to go. They go to the neighbours more then they come to us, sometimes they even come home smelling like perfume from the neighbours! What are you enjoying the most about where you live? Here are pictures of our pets:
Here is a picture of a shoe that I drew in an art class, I thought you might like to see it, it took around one hour to do, I’m proud of it, but I don’t think it’s finished even though I don’t know what else to add, I only used grey leads, we were supposed to do it in colour but I thought mine would look best just grey and white. I have been doing quite a few art classes like for water colors or drawing with an eraser, and the shoe was from a detail drawing class.
Every Monday my class has a video call on Webex to talk about the week ahead, and on Tuesdays we have Webex online meetings for reading, then on Fridays we have an online school assembly. Two nights ago my family skyped the other part of our family who live in Germany.
My favorite season is winter, I enjoy the cold and the nice warm fire. My favorite drink is probably Milkes, it’s like a yogurt drink, but it tastes DELICIOUS! My chicken is also called Millkie, they are spelt differently but are pronounced the same. One of my favorite books is the series Truly Tan, it’s about a girl named Tan and her and her best friend love being spies and they solve mysteries. What is your favorite book? What season do you like the most?
Best regards,
Reinette.
Dear Helen,
My name is Lizzie and I am in Grade 5 at Mullum Primary School. I live with my parents, my brother and my dog Clyde. My favourite animal is a monkey because they are cute and playful. I like to play with LEGO. I have a whole train set and it moves around the track with a remote control. I play Hockey in winter and Squash all year round, so that is enough talking about me for now.
So how are you doing? Have you been sad that you have not been able to see your family or friends? I hope they have been speaking to you on the phone or some other way. Hope you are coping ok in this very weird time in life. Lockdown has been very different for me because I have to do school work at home and there are no sports. But I have been going for walks and bike rides with my mum and sometimes my brother. One good thing about being in lockdown is I have learnt how to cook lots of things like rice crispy treats, cakes, jelly slices, pizza, pull pork rolls and lots more.
What things have you been up to in lockdown? I have been doing my beads, playing board games like the Game of Life, Cluedo, Rummikub with my mum.
I have a dog named Clyde. He is 14 years old and 98 years old in dog years. My parents got Clyde 2 years before I was born. He loves to chase balls in the backyard, but recently he has gone blind. We have had to change things with his routine, like keeping the furniture in one spot, giving him lots more cuddles and talking to him a lot more so he knows our voices. We also have to hold the dog lead in different ways so he knows where to walk and to help stop him from running into things. It’s like me being a guide person instead of being a guide dog Haha.
I have really enjoyed writing this letter and hope you stay safe and well.
Best wishes
Lizzie from Mullum Primary School.
During the start of this second Melbourne lockdown, the Maroondah City Council distributed information about a great program they developed to help support less fortunate members of the community whilst also helping those of us in lockdown pass the time. The program is called Knit One, Warm One and asks people to knit handmade items such as scarves, beanies and gloves, that are then collected and circulated to members of the community who are sleeping rough or struggling financially.
Having always been someone who feels the cold, and having several balls of yarn that I purchased many years ago ‘for a rainy day’ I felt the best thing to do was dust of the knitting needles! Well, progress is slow, but I am almost there with my first scarf!
This program was certainly a great reminder for me to continue staying connected and involved with the community, even from a safe distance. And not to mention a great refresher of my very limited knitting skills.
Flourishing Families – Maroondah Schools
Flourishing Families - Maroondah Schools
Free event
Explore, learn, develop and apply wellbeing capabilities that will help your family to flourish together.
Flourishing Families is a series of 4 parent sessions, which allow families within our
Maroondah community to explore the key principles of Positive Education, a pilot
initiative adopted by all schools in Maroondah. Our staff and students across our
schools (Croydon Hills PS, Kalinda PS, Mullum PS, Warranwood PS, Yarra Road PS)
continue to explore, practice and embed key concepts of Positive Education and we
would like to share this common language of wellbeing. Throughout these sessions
we aim to create an awareness of how Character Strengths, Mindsets, Positive
Emotions and Positive Relationships can help us thrive and flourish individually and
collectively.
Tonight, Thursday 10 September, is the final session for this term and it is not too late to join in. Check out the link below and book a place this afternoon.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/flourishing-families-maroondah-schools-tickets-114287099792
POSITIVE PARENTING PROGRAM - TRIPLE P
Parenting during and after Covid-19
we'll get through this together
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Free access to Triple P Online for Victorian parents has been funded by the Victorian Government