Hi everyone, we have a fantastic Wellbeing Team with me, Sally and Libby. We can help with any parenting worries or support your family with home or family concerns. The Wellbeing Team are on before and after school duty and we can help with any questions or queries you may have.

Thank you for being so positive and flexible during drop off and pick up times. Mary and I always enjoy a quick chat in the mornings, and it’s been a fantastic way to get to know you. This term we have experienced many calm starts to our school day and the children quickly settle into their morning routines. We are so proud of your efforts for getting your child to school on time. Since the weather has become colder and the term has dragged on, some children have needed a little more support in the mornings and we are happy to help. Please speak to staff if you are having any troubles.

These past few weeks, the Wellbeing Team have been extra busy with school uniform requests and food hampers. Please know families can email us directly and we can help with a range of things. Our community pantry can be open at any time if families can’t get to the pantry afterschool.

For any enquiries, please email the Wellbeing Team at-

Andre.Campbell@education.vic.gov.au

Sally.Marshall@education.vic.gov.au

elizabeth.martin3@education.vic.gov.au

Harmony Week Update

his year Harmony Week ran from the 16th of to the 22nd March. In craft club we spent the week raising children’s awareness about everyone belonging. We aim run Harmony Week across the school in Term 2 where students will participate in activities in their classes. When we celebrate Harmony Week, we aim to educate and respect our diverse cultural backgrounds as well as share what we have in common.

Harmony Week is a lovely annual event, which celebrates multiculturalism and the differences that make us all so unique. It promotes the core values of respect, inclusivity and a sense of belonging for everyone.

Students will be encouraged to wear orange on the day which could include wearing something orange, a hat or even orange ribbons in their hair. Orange is the colour used to represent inclusion of all. Watch out for further information when we return to school.

Activities at Breaktimes

This term, our activities at lunchtime have been extremely popular. Children have been making friends having some fun and learning to be creative. We have been busy running different activities. In craft club, students have been making paper people, friendship bracelets and fidgets. They have also made bookmarks using diamond art materials. The students also have enjoyed learning chess. This week, the children will make Easter egg baskets, and they made their own Easter rabbit with either an egg or chick inside its tummy.

Lego club has been a hit, and I would like to thank families for your donations, especially the Woollies farm brick packs.

We are always looking for donations, especially wool, crochet hooks, craft/haberdashery items and Lego. If you are having a clean out, please feel free to bring your items to the office/wellbeing office.

Activity	Recess	Lunchtime
Monday	Chess/library	Lego club-library
Tuesday	No clubs	Easter craft & colouring-outside the specialist rooms
Wednesday	No clubs	Chess-library Easter craft & colouring-outside the specialist rooms
Thursday	No clubs	Lego club-library

Social and Emotional Program

Here at school, we run the Zones of Regulations program in all the classrooms. We know as adults dealing with day-to-day stresses that we have built lots of strategies to manage challenges and situations. We teach students different ways to learn about self-regulation and we do this through the Zones of Regulations. Self-regulation is our ability to manage our thoughts and feelings in an appropriate way. It also involves recognising feelings, learning our triggers and where we can choose self-control. When we try different strategies, these can help us to calm ourselves.

The coloured zones represent different emotions and group these emotions from low energy emotions through to big energy emotions. No emotion is ever wrong however we may need different strategies to help us reset. We teach the students that we always try to stay in the green zone and that we may move back and forth through the other colour zones over the day.

Body Safety And Consent Webinar

Resilience

The wellbeing being teamwork with students to help them manage friendships, understand stressful emotions and also conquering school challenges. We do this by offering resilience strategies and education to help students grow a positive mindset and improve their quality of self-talk. Your brain, body and your mindset are influenced by the words we tell ourselves. We tell students it’s normal to feel overwhelmed with some challenges, but we need to help them work through this type of thinking in order to grow.

Attendance & Absences

We encourage parents and carers to refer to COMPASS for information happening at school. Schools are required to work towards IMPROVING THE ATTENDANCE and PUNCTUALITY RATES of our students. We encourage all parents to call the office when your child is going to be away and to notify the school through COMPASS. This really helps us as we are able to communicate effectively with all relevant staff early in the school day.

Attendance Data-It’s Cool to be at School!

This past fortnight, we have celebrated 4 out of 4 students who came to school on their special day. For term 1, we have celebrated 37/43 birthdays at school which is a fantastic result. When your child comes to school and it’s their birthday, we are bringing the buzz to make their day even more special. When they arrive at school in the mornings, we are presenting them with a special birthday sticker badge. I must say the kids are really loving this!

Over the time a child attends school, having 1 or 2 days absence does not seem like much but it does add up and can impact on missed learning opportunities.

Halogen National Young Leaders Day

Last week the grade six leadership team attended the Halogen National Young Leaders Day. The students heard from four leaders who inspired them to become better leaders. The leaders were Adrian Back who is a local author of children’s books. He shared about his experience as a child who loved writing stories and how he didn’t really fit in while he was at school, he encouraged the students to follow their dreams even if it is different to what everyone else does. Catherine Langa’aia, shared about her experience as an actress for her first movie starring as Moana in Disney’s live action movie. Nick Hudson, who shared about his drive to develop his app ‘The Push – Up Challenge’ and the personal struggles he has overcome to develop him as the inspirational speaker he is today. Jacqui Bell who shared her story about the challenges involved in running an ultra marathon and successfully making herself the youngest person to complete ultra marathons on all 7 continents. There was space for the students to ask questions of the speakers and one of our students was chosen to ask their question. The Q&A time was a valuable part of the time spent at the conference. There was plenty of fun to be had with Dance Curriculum teaching the students a dance between session and games played by the host. Overall the students had a fun day out in the city and had a very memorable experience.

Second hand uniform

Available, contact the Wellbeing team to access free second hand uniform. Gold coin donations for uniform taken would be appreciated.

Breakfast Club

If you would like your child to make use of our yummy breakfast foods, send them to school that bit earlier so they will have time to eat and enjoy their food. We serve toast until the music is playing for the start of the school day. Please remind your child that if they want to have something to eat before school that they need to head straight down to the German Room. While the music for the bell is playing there are only fruit cups and milk drinks available. This week the children have been asked to write their names on the milk cartons because students have been dropping the empty cartons on the ground, with their names on them the students will hopefully be deterred from littering the school yard.

Food Pantry

The food pantry is open on Wednesday and Friday afternoons between 2:30 and 3:30pm. Food hampers are available for the holidays please contact Wellbeing to pick up a box or simply pick one up after school from the pantry.

Chaplaincy

Sally Marshall – Chaplain: is happy to catch up with your child if you feel they need that extra emotional support during school hours. Sally is available on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and can be contacted via email

sally.marshall@education.vic.gov.au

or by phone call 5964 7258.

School Holiday Care