Wellbeing

Term 2, 2025 is almost over! Looking back, it’s been a big term for Wellbeing at BSPS.

Term 2 reflection:

In Social Emotional Learning across the whole school we have been focusing on Rights, Resilience and Respectful Relationships topics: Positive Coping and Problem Solving.

Positive Coping topic assists students to:

build resilience
reflect on their emotional responses
describe ways to express emotions that show awareness of the feelings and needs of others
practise techniques to deal with feelings of fear, frustration and anger

Problem Solving topic aims to

recognise that there are many ways to solve conflict
describe similarities and differences in points of view between themselves and people in their communities
identify cooperative behaviours in a range of group activities
practise individual and group decision making
practise solving interpersonal problems

Our Year 5/6 students have been immersed in Leadership training for our Peer Support program, Amici Insieme, launching next term! On Monday, our wonderful teacher Meerah, organsied a whole day excursion to Bargoonga Nganjin, North Fitzroy Library. Our leaders completed their training and prepared to lead our Amici Insieme program. They are an incredible group of role models! Fun fact we learned while we were there, Bargoonga Nganjin is a Woiwurrang phrase that means ‘Gather Everybody’. Tutti Insieme!

We have also had whole school celebrations to bring awareness to IDAHOBIT day and Reconciliation Week. Our staff have been learning lots this term also! We have had multiple professional development on wellbeing and Disability Inclusion plus two visiting specialists to provide learning around Neurodiversity and Resilience.

Hmmmm, no wonder it feels like a big term!

What’s coming up:

Bullying No Way Day! Is in Week 5 next term. Stay tuned for more information next term!

Our Amici Insieme program starts up in Week 2, Term 3. The theme for Term 3 is…Stronger Together!

What is Amici Insieme? The whole school gathers together once a week in our Amici groups (8-10 students across all year levels) and our 5/6 leaders run a 30 minute session of social, emotional learning. We have been running this program since 2023 and it has been an incredible asset to our sense of belonging and connection as a school community. Belonging beats bullying!

What is the Stronger Together unit about? The Stronger Together module builds on research from health promotion, prevention and positive psychology approaches. The students identify their own strengths and then discuss what is respectful and what are unhealthy behaviours and how strategies, including talking to staff and parents can help. The module reinforces some of our school's key values and our policy and procedures.

Session 1 Feeling safe - Being me!
Session 2 Strong me!
Session 3 Including others
Session 4 Make the change
Session 5 Know your rights
Session 6 Make a choice
Session 7 Standing together
Session 8 Take the lead!

Parent and Carer Support

Bullying is defined in our sessions as unhelpful behaviour that is repeated and intends to cause harm and involves an unkind use of social or personal influence.

Parents and carers might find sessions are an opportunity for discussion with their child or children about how they feel about the relationships at school. Friendships and socialising with other students is a big area of learning for most children. They are an important key to enjoying school/learning.

General Points That May Be Useful to support your child:

Acknowledge feeling safe and happy is important
Good relationships are a two way thing
Establish that bullying can be different to disagreeing with another person
Check out school behaviour policies and procedures on enrolment/school website
Indicate that bullying is taken seriously by you
Reassure them of your support if they have experienced difficulty
Acknowledge your child’s feelings if they feel they have been bullied
If they have been involved in behaviour that has upset another child- talk about helpful behaviour, kindness and accepting differences
Stay calm, positive and focus on solutions with your child
Discuss options including talking to the school
Check any feeling that this might make the situation worse by having strategies in place
Contact the school about any questions you may have as soon as you can

Thanks for all your ongoing support and care as we reach the halfway mark of 2025. We are grateful for our warm and vibrant community! I hope you all have a relaxing and restful holiday.

Caro

Wellbeing Lead Teacher