Wellbeing

Fidgets! Fidgets! Fidgets!

Currently amongst our students at Skye, fidgets are a hot topic. Which I thought in today's newsletter, it would be a good opportunity to discuss them a bit further.

Why fidgets?

Fidgets are a tool that support students to improve their focus, reduce anxiety and can aid cognitive development. They are particularly helpful for students diagnosed with ADHD or have anxiety disorders. However, students without a diagnosis can find them helpful too.

Fidgets can support and improve...

• Focus
• Anxiety relief
• Cognitive load management
• Sensory input

Fidgets, however, are supposed to be discreet. There is a definite difference between a fidget vs a toy! Some examples of fidgets are:

These are designed to be small, so nobody knows you have one, fitting into your hand. Fidgets are not supposed to be big or noisy. 

It is therefore important before sending in fidgets with your child, you seek advice from a specialist or meet with your child's teacher in a Student Support Group meeting to determine their appropriateness. 

From Term 3, students without specialist recommendations or whose families haven't met with their child's teacher will be asked to put their fidgets in their bag. This will ensure each student's individual needs are being met through a planned, thoughtful and collaborative approach to learning.

Proactive Prevention!

The Southeast Centre Against Sexual Assault (SECASA) are delivering free, informal and practical sessions for community members around how to talk to children about body safety. Proactive prevention is developing the skills, knowledge, language and most importantly confidence of parents, carers, and grandparents etc, to have regular, short, often incidental conversations with their children about their body/personal safety.

These sessions aim to reduce fear, demonstrate how simple it can be to have such conversations, particularly with the fabulous range of age-appropriate story books, nursery rhymes, and activities.  Each session will include a showcase of the extensive range of relevant books available to borrow from Frankston City Libraries, a selection of additional books, free resources, as well as the Child Body Safety Kits that will be freely available for families to use at each of the community centres hosting the events.

See details below: