Year 7 Camp

Year 7 Camp is nearly upon us!!!

In Week 9 (16-18th September), Year 7 students will be off to The Tops for the annual Year 7 Camp. This camp is always thoroughly enjoyed by our Year 7 students and it is sure to be an action packed and super fun 3 days.

So far 116 of 143 students have permission to attend, although only 60 students have camp fully paid for. For parents, please check School Bytes if you wish to give permission for your child to attend and please make payments through school bytes or the school website in the next few weeks.

If you need assistance, or wish to continue paying in part please reach out to the front office or Mr Joel Berrell (HT Wellbeing) on 4655 9191.

Year 7 and 10 Vaccinations

Year 7 students are offered the Diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (dTpa) and Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and Year 10 students the Meningococcal ACWY vaccine as part of the NSW School Vaccination Program each year. About half of Year 7 and 10 students were given parental consent and have received their vaccine at one of our two school clinics this year.

If your Year 7 or 10 child has not received their vaccination yet and you wish for them to receive it at our final clinic in Week 1 of Term 4 (October 16, 2024), vaccination will only be provided at school if consent has been received. If this is something you are not interested in pursuing, please disregard.

How to Provide consent for Vaccinations:

To complete online consent for your child’s school vaccinations, visit:

https://engage.health.nsw.gov.au/engage

Follow the steps to log in to your existing ServiceNSW account. This is the same account you may already use to renew your driver’s licence. If you don’t have a ServiceNSW account, refer to ServiceNSW (https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/services/myservicensw-account/how-to-create-an-account) to create one.

Update or confirm your personal details in ServiceNSW as required.

Complete the School Vaccination Consent Form for your child/ren.

You will need to:

a) Enter your child’s personal details.

b) Provide the Medicare card details for you and your child.

c) Read the linked Parent Information Sheet and privacy statement. Translations available in 27 languages

d) Provide consent.

The benefits of providing consent online:

easily update your child’s details
receive SMS and/or email notifications when vaccinations are given
faster upload of vaccination records to the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR)

For more information on routine school vaccinations, please visit

www.health.nsw.gov.au/schoolvaccination

If you require information in your language, please visit

www.health.nsw.gov.au/immunisation/Pages/school_vaccination_language.aspx

Wellbeing Programs: HEADS UP

This term has seen the beginning of a new wellbeing program called Heads Up. Heads Up is a six-week program that will be running from week 3 until week 8. Heads Up is designed to promote emotional wellbeing and mental health awareness among students. Heads Up aims to build resilience in students, assist students in identifying and coping with their emotions/feelings, and encourage students to reach out for support.

Students completing the program will explore a different topic each week that will provide students with the necessary skills to improve their wellbeing. These students have already explored the different ways we can achieve emotional and mental wellbeing, how we can support our friends, different support people we can reach out to if we need help, and how physical activity can improve our overall wellbeing. Upon completing Heads Up students should have the skills necessary to achieve a state of wellbeing in which they can realise their own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, and are able to be an active member of their community.

Teens & Screens

The Black Dog Institute recently put together a report highlighting the link between screen time and mental health. Below are some of the key findings from that report. Overall, increased screen time may put young people at a higher risk of declining mental health as they may be disconnecting from other activities that give them joy or help them to form positive relationships. These findings were seen both in social media use (Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, Youtube) and gaming (online and local).

Below are also some of the recommendations for parents on how to build positive habits around screen time and to help parents feel empowered in helping their child if they see a decline in mental health.

For further information and to look further into the study, visit https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/research-projects/teens-screens-adolescent-mental-health-screen-use/ or reach out to Mr Joel Berrell (Head Teacher Wellbeing).

School Refusal

In NSW, all children between the ages of six and seventeen years are legally required to enrol at and attend school (NSW Education Act 1990). Parents and caregivers are responsible for making sure that their children comply with these legal requirements. Schools work to support parents and caregivers by monitoring student attendance and by helping to address attendance issues when they emerge (School Refusal: Every Day Counts, DoE).

At times, young people may not want to attend school for many reasons. It is imperative that schools and families work together to support students in attending school every day. The Department of Education (and other organisations) have produced a number of resources to assist schools and families when dealing with young people refusing and struggling to connect with school. Below are some useful resources and websites around attendance and school refusal for parents/caregivers to visit.

If you feel as though your child’s attendance is impacting on their academic progress; social, emotional or physical wellbeing, please use these resources, and reach out to your child’s Year Advisor, Deputy Principal or Mr Joel Berrell, Head Teacher Wellbeing, so that we can work together in supporting your child.

Talking Attendance...