Community Wellness
A NEW INITIATIVE (Yrs 5-6)
We are excited to introduce a new Social and Emotional Group for girls in Term 4, with the hope of developing this into a semesterly opportunity. Up to ten girls will have the opportunity to participate in community connection experiences while building skills in confidence, communication, resilience, relationships, emotional regulation, self-worth and self-awareness.
The group has been created by the SME Wellbeing team and will be facilitated by Tegan Reid and Liz Chapman, and has been designed specifically around the needs of our learners. We have chosen to look internally, using behaviour data, tracking and classroom teacher observations to help shape the program and ensure it is meaningful and relevant.
As places are limited, learners will need to meet selection criteria and apply to participate. Applications will open next week for seven days. Each learner will complete a one-page application where they can advocate for themselves and explain why they would like to be involved (templates provided Tuesday next week from the Wellbeing team).
Please note that participating children will be out of their regular classes for five full school days throughout Term 4. These days will be spread across different days to minimise students missing the same classes.
A special thank you to Sally from The Caledonian Hotel for generously donating buses to provide transportation for our children and support this initiative.
We are looking forward to seeing our girls take this opportunity to connect, grow and develop skills that will support them both at school and in the wider community. More information to come of the launch of this exciting initiative.
PATSEW
As part of our school’s ongoing commitment to creating a safe and supportive environment for your child, the ACER SEW (Social Emotional Wellbeing) survey will be conducted for Years 2-6 on Friday September 4th.
The ACER SEW survey was developed by Professor Michael Bernard, in collaboration with the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and explores 9 key aspects of students’ social and emotional wellbeing, divided across 3 key domains:
A) Feelings and Behaviours (i.e. levels of happiness, self-identity, behaviour and relationships)
B) Internal Strengths (i.e. self-awareness and self-management of social, emotional, learning and values)
C) External Strengths (i.e. the impact of positive influences at school, home and in the community.)
The survey will be facilitated by classroom teachers and will take approximately 20 mins and comprises of 42 questions. The survey is anonymous. The purpose of collecting data from the ACER SEW survey is to:
· Identify a baseline data set to guide strategic direction for wellbeing initiatives in 2027 and beyond
· Use evidence to support the wellbeing needs of students within our school
· Measure the data for further supports and interventions
We are excited to get our results back and share the data with our community.
TERM 4 DISCO!
We are busy planning a special event for our SME children, a disco early next term to celebrate our return, have some fun and reconnect with friends and our school community! We are still working through the details, so more information will be shared soon but please save the date for Friday evening October 9th (F-6).
We are looking for a couple of parents who may be willing to help with organising or chaperoning on the night. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact Liz Chapman at lchapman@smechuca.catholic.edu.au
We cannot wait to celebrate together!
Liz Chapman
Deputy Principal: Community Wellness