Assistant Principal

Wellbeing

Welcome back and well done on the amazing job you have been doing during the term break, looking after your children. This is a different period of time for all of us and we all need to ensure that we look after our own personal wellbeing so that we can continue to look after our students and children. If you or your children have any wellbeing concerns please feel free to contact me on 0418 442 325 or at stonehouse-melke.rebecca.m@edumail.vic.gov.au, so that I can help liaise with the DET Regional Health and Well-Being contact to access additional referral services if required.

 

As we have been directed to move to remote and flexible learning arrangements, it is important to remember that this is a new learning environment for all students, parents and teachers. Our staff have been working very hard prior to and during the school holidays to help make this transition flow as smoothly as possible.

 

As part of my wellbeing role I subscribe to many different wellbeing websites and apps.  Each time I will be writing in the term 2 newsletter I will endeavour to guide families to different health and well-being websites and apps which may be of use to you during this period of time.

 

The first app I would like to direct you to is Smiling Mind.  Smiling Mind has been developed by psychologists and educators to help children and adults who may need support to improve their emotional health because of issues with either sleeping, feeling stressed or anxiousness. Smiling Mind encourages the use of mindfulness meditation techniques to help improve our sense of awareness, clarity and a sense of calm. Some of our students may already be familiar with the app, especially if they have had a class teacher in the past who has used it in the classroom. It is easy to download on your phone or iPad and I have heard many favourable responses from parents who have used it with their children before.

I wish you all a great  term 2.

SRC - Student Representative Council

Last term students in years 3 to 6 were selected to become members of the 2020 Syndal South Student Representative Council. As part of the Year 6 leadership roles we also have a wonderful group of SRC Value Ambassadors who were chosen to represent our Foundation to Year 2 students.

 

Being a member of the SRC is an important role as it provides a forum in which student voices can be heard. According to the DET document Amplify “Empowering student’s in school decision making is recognition that students are knowledgeable experts in their lives. It acknowledges they can contribute to improving their schools and communities, it is about students having the power to influence change”. With this premise in mind, the first task that the group was given was to find out the answers to four interesting questions. How are teachers at Syndal aware of, listen to and respond to students’ voices and agency?

 

The following questions were presented by the SRC’s to their class during class meeting time.

Why is it important for teachers to be aware of student voices?

Why is it important for teachers to listen to and understand student voices?

Why is it important for teachers to engage with and respond to student voices?

Why is it important for teachers to act and change in response to the student voices they are listening to?

 

The responses that the children provided were quite insightful and demonstrated a very mature awareness. Below are some responses that we were provided with.

  • So we can make decisions.
  • It is important to share with our teachers.
  • So everyone can have a voice.
  • So everyone can get along.
  • If you don't have a voice your opinion can't be heard.
  • To express yourself.
  • To belong to the school.
  • So we can feel safe.
  • So that we can feel important.
  • To support one another.
  • To make sure it does not end up being a problem.
  • We can tell the teacher if something is too easy or too hard.

The second task that the SRC commenced working on in term 1 was the organisation of activities for our school’s Harmony day celebrations. The ideas that the students developed were fantastic such as: playing games from all over the world, making flags, bringing a plate of food from their country, traditional music, sport or art and craft, wearing traditional clothing.  But unfortunately it had to be put on hold at the end of last term. I know all SRC members will look forward to dressing up and celebrating the amazing cultural diversity of our families at Syndal South later in the year.

 

Thirdly, the SRC brought up the issue of bullying and thought it would be a great topic to discuss with students during class meetings. The SRC brought up the following statements and questions, which we will further investigate this year.

  • Kids need to know what bullying is.
  • What are the types of bullying?
  • How do we educate children about bullying?
  • Students could make a game to educate other students about bullying.
  • Students could make posters and display around the school.

SRC will continue in term 2 and will be part of the remote learning program. SRC members will have access to my Google Classroom account where activities will be uploaded each fortnight for students to complete and then discussions can be held within their own classrooms.

 

I look forward to working with students online and seeing how SRC continues to evolve in this forum.

 

Rebecca Stonehouse-Melke