From the Wellbeing Team

Class placements

Helping children adapt to a new Teacher and peer group in 2024. As the school year draws to a close, a sense of uncertainty is in the air and families are turning their attention to leaving the knowns of 2023 behind as they head towards the unknowns of 2024.

Change often feels unnerving - especially when change and uncertainty relate to your child. If you’re worried about your child’s class placement in 2024, you’re not alone. Some people on the autism spectrum find change and transitions more challenging than others. Transitions may appear more difficult on some days or in some places due to other pressures and expectations. Each young person will cope with transitions and change in a different way.

Here are some ways you can help make the transition smoother for your child:

1. Listen calmly. Hear out your child’s feelings. Let them get it all out and listen quietly. Avoid trying to ‘fix’ their feelings by adding your own feelings, judgements and solutions. Feelings need to be expressed, processed and moved through constructively.

Children don’t have to be immediately excited about their teacher. The same goes for classmates. They don’t have to have existing bonds or common interests to build them in the future. In fact, the more children they get to know with a broad range of personalities, the better for their growing social intelligence.

The feelings you see in that initial moment aren’t necessarily reflective of how they will feel long term - especially if you don’t react with them.

Humans need time to process change. When news is fresh, we can go through many feelings of resistance and uncertainty. That doesn’t mean that what’s coming is necessarily bad. You can warmly and gently say something like, ‘you really hoped for XYZ and you’re disappointed. I understand.’ Listening calmly and quietly is golden.

2. Support your child to build a connection with their new teacher. A mutually respectful connection with their teacher matters. Notice positive qualities in their teachers and see what your child might have in common with them.

3. Avoid looking uncertain about the placement in front of your child. If they are unsure, they will naturally look to you to help them feel confident and calm. Children tend to use parents as an emotional compass when they experience uncomfortable feelings. If you’re struggling, express your feelings with another adult to get things off your chest. Work out what you’re worried about. Try and notice as many things that are good about what’s ahead.

4. Before you greet them on the day they receive their placement, remind yourself to try and trust the process. There are multiple layers to how class placements are allocated that couldn’t possibly be explained completely. School leaders and staff put in huge amounts of thought into student personalities, learning styles, teaching styles, class size, who asked to have who in their class and much more that is happening behind the scenes we’re not aware of. Supporting your child’s teachers and school is a crucial part of your child’s psychological and academic success there.

5. Children learn, grow and strengthen in resilience by being with a broad range of personalities and communication styles. When things are unrealistically perfect and easy, they can get stuck in their comfort zone. To build confidence for later on in life, we encourage students to experience a broad range of peers and situations and discover that through talking about feelings, asking for help, establishing boundaries and building their social-emotional skills, they can handle a lot of what life has in store.

Do your best as your child’s most important adult and leader, to show your confidence that your child will be safe and cared for, always.

Always seek expert advice if you feel your child’s physical or psychological health is at risk in any way.

Red Shield Christmas hampers

Christmas, our traditional time of joy and celebration, can be a time of struggle and heartbreak for many.

We are asking our wonderful school community to support the Red Shield in their Christmas appeal to donate an item of food that can be used for their Christmas hampers.

2023 has been another challenging year for so many and with this in mind we are only asking for a small donation. The Red Shield are hoping to be able to put together 80 hampers.

Some suggestions for goods to include in the hamper are:

Rice, Tuna, Pasta, Pasta Sauces/Pasta Bake Sauces, Canned Veg, soups, etc
Long-life items and drinks, long-life milk, custard, juices, cordials etc
Spreads e.g. – vegemite, peanut butter, jam, Nutella etc
Pantry items e.g. – teabags, coffee, sauce, milo, breakfast cereal etc
Snacks e.g. – biscuits, muesli bars, 2-minute noodles, rice crackers/cakes, Tiny Teddys etc
Christmas treats e.g. – mince pies, Christmas choccies, puddings, chocolate serviettes, bonbons etc

In the front office, there is a bin with 'Red Shield' on it for you to pop your donated item into. The last day to place items into the bin is Wednesday the 6th of December.

Thank you for your support, it is always greatly appreciated.

Alison Warner

Assistant Principal