Wellbeing

At SFS, our PBL (Positive Behaviours for Learning) school wide expectations are:

Respect,  Responsibility and Kindness

We have a whole school social skills lesson where we explicitly teach an expected behaviour from our Behaviour Expectation matrix. 

This week we have focused on RESPONSIBILITY: Be ready for learning. 

This is important for students to understand because they need to be aware of how they are feeling and ensure that they are ready to focus and listen. It is important for the students to know  what to do to refocus when they are heightened or tired and not ready for learning. Here are some of our lucky PBL raffle winners from last week who have been demonstrating expected behaviours at school. Congratulations to these students. Here are some of our lucky raffle winners from last week who have been demonstrating our school expected behaviours. 

You might like to use one of the breathing/calming strategies at home to help your children regulate when they are upset at home. 

SRC News

The SRC meets with me every Monday afternoon. The children share their ideas of ways to make our school better. 

One of their ideas they are putting into action is a casual dress day. On Friday 23rd October, Senior students are allowed to come dressed in casual clothes in exchange for a gold coin. (The Junior students have their excursion on this day so please ensure they wear their school uniform). The Junior students will be allowed to come dressed in casual clothes on Wednesday 21st October (Week 3). The money raised will go towards fixing the chicken enclosure and the community garden. Students must bring a gold coin donation if they would like to wear casual clothes on this day. The SRC students are also working on some ideas to celebrate World Kindness Day on Friday 13th November. Stay tuned to find out more about what the students would like to do to spread kindness around SFS. 

All students have a voice at SFS and we value their ideas. Students can either write down their ideas and put them in the SRC box in each learning space. The senior students can also use the SRC icon on the student portal on their chromebooks to send in their ideas for positive change. 

OCTOBER is MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH

When we come together, we thrive. That's the message at the heart of Mental Health Month this October. Whether at home, at work, at school or in the community, it’s a great reminder to start conversations, strengthen connections and prioritise wellbeing. Learn more, get involved and download resources from Mental Health Australia here: www.worldmentalhealthday.com.au

 #TogetherWeThrive #MentalHealthMonthAU #WMHD2026 

Mental Health Australia is the national peak advocacy body for the mental health sector. Mental Health Australia don't provide clinical or support services for people in distress or crisis. If you, or someone you know is in immediate danger, please call 000. If you are experiencing distress or are seeking mental health support, please contact one of the following services: 

Lifeline: 13 11 14 or lifeline.org.au 

Beyond Blue: 1300 22 46 36 or beyondblue.org.au 

13YARN: 13 92 76 or www.13yarn.org.au (for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people) 

Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800 or kidshelpline.com.au 

Headspace: 1800 650 850 or headspace.org.au 

ReachOut: reachout.com 

SANE Australia: 1800 18 SANE (1800 187 263) or sane.org 

Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467 

Medicare Mental Health: 1800 595 212 or medicarementalhealth.gov.au 

ATTENDANCE

Why going to school is important?

Going to school every day is an important part of your child’s education. Children and young people learn new things at school every day, connect with friends, have fun and develop good habits that help them to succeed. Attending and participating in school will help your child:

• develop important skills and knowledge to help them learn
• develop social and emotional skills such as good communication, resilience and team-work
• establish friendships with peers which help develop self-esteem and a sense of belonging.

There is no good number of days for missing school. Being away from school for 1 day a fortnight adds up to missing 4 whole weeks of school a year. Where possible, you should avoid your child missing school, for example, make appointments for your child outside of school hours and keep family holidays to outside term time.

Missing one day per fortnight adds up to missing four weeks of school a year.

What to do if your child can’t go to school

As a parent/carer, you are legally required to ensure your child attends school every day, and if your child is absent you must provide an explanation.

Schools acknowledge and understand that parents and carers may be juggling various challenges to get their children to school every day. If your child must miss school for any reason, notify the school as soon as possible so you can work together to ensure your child is supported. Each school will have a preferred way to do this. It may be by phone, email or via an app.

Openly communicating with your child's school about all absences is important. If you’re having attendance challenges with your child or if your child needs to take an extended period of time off, please let their classroom teacher know as soon as possible. There are things you and the school can do together to ensure your child is supported to attend or can stay up to date with their learning and engagement while away.

If your child misses a lot of school

If your child has frequent unexplained absences then their school will work with you to implement appropriate supports to assist your child and ensure they attend school every day and remain at school during school hours.

If the supports do not improve your child’s attendance, your school might make a referral to a school attendance officer at the Department of Education. The school attendance officer will monitor and investigate your child’s attendance, and may issue an attendance notice, an official warning or a fine.

If there are any parents who missed the opportunity to come and speak to me about their child and any wellbeing concerns, I am happy to make a time to speak with you to see how we can support your child at school. I can be contacted at the school or via email rlenko@sfslynbrook.catholic.edu.au 

Wishing everyone a fantastic term 4!

Rachel Lenko

Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader