Wellbeing

Positive Behaviours for Learning

At SFS, our PBL (Positive behaviours for learning) school wide expectations are:

Respect,

Responsibility and

Kindness

This week the teachers and students focused on the value of RESPECT “Use good manners” in the learning space. The children practiced using words like please, thank you, excuse me and discussed why it is important to use good manners with others.

Here are 2 of our lucky raffle winners from last week who has been demonstrating our schoolwide expected behaviours.

October: Mental Health awareness month

October is Mental Health Month. This year’s theme, ‘Let’s Talk About It’, encourages open conversations. Mental Health Month is an incredibly important initiative. We know our mental health can impact our lives daily, however Mental Health Month prompts people to think about their mental health and wellbeing and encourages people to be productive in seeking support if needed. The month normalises the notion that we need to ‘exercise’ our mental health, in the same way that we do our physical health.

School Attendance

Regular attendance at school is crucial. The following information is taken from Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) who are our school’s governing body.

“Going to school every day is the most important part of your child’s ediucation. There are no safe number of days for missing scool-each day a student misses puts them behind and can affect their educational outcomes and their social connectedness. The best thing you can do is support your child to get to school every day.

A positive attitude towards school, healthy habits and routines, and parental involvement can support your child’s regular school attendance and prevent chronic absence patterns. educational outcomes and their social connectedness.

What else can you do to help?

Establish positive habits to promote attendance
Set good bedtime and morning routines to make the process of getting to school smoother for everyone. Try to prepare as much as possible the night before, e.g. school uniform, school bag packed.
Ensure your child gets enough sleep and exercise to support their physical and mental health.
Talk positively about the importance of school attendance with your child. Explain that it is an important part of growing up, a legal obligation and that you expect them to attend every day.
Show an interest in your child’s school and become involved where possible. Keep notes, newsletters, etc. in a place where they are visible reminders of school news for the whole family. Talk about school activities in a positive manner
. Discuss any changes to usual routines in advance with your child, such as alternative drop-off and pick-up arrangements, to ensure clarity and minimise anxiety.

When your child misses just... 5 mins per day = 3 days per year they miss

When your child misses just 30 mins per day they miss 18 days per year

When your child misses 4 weeks per year that is 1 year missed over their school life

When your child misses 1 day per fortnight they miss 4 weeks per year.

When your child misses 1 day per week, they miss 8 weeks per year that is 2.5 years missed over their school life.

Parents are legally required to ensure their child attends school every day and to provide an approved explanation for their child's absence from school, unless an exemption from attendance has been granted or an exception to their attendance applies. Absences that, in general, are approved include (but are not limited to):

medical and dental appointments, where out of hours appointments are not possible or not appropriate
bereavement or attendance at the funeral of a relative or friend of the student, including a student required to attend Sorry Business
cultural observance, where the school is notified by parents/guardians/carers in advance.

We know that daily school attendance is important for young people to succeed in education and to ensure they do not fall behind both socially and developmentally. Young people who regularly attend school have better health outcomes, better employment outcomes, and higher incomes across their lives.

If you are having any difficulty getting your child to school or would like support in any way, please do not hesitate to contact Rachel Lenko at school or rlenko@sfslynbrook.catholic.edu.au If you require a translator to assist you, please let me know and this can be arranged.

Twilight Market

The countdown is on until our annual Twilight Market and biannual Art show which will be held this year on Thursday 7th November from 5 to 8 pm. Less than 2 weeks to go!!!! Be sure to tell your family and friends. We will have a variety of stalls including clothing, homewares, jewellery, health and beauty, toys, hand made crafts and much more.

We will have the following food trucks and stalls available: Ciros cakes: Cannoli, Rainbow fairy floss, Twisted spudz and dogz: Twisted potatoes and hot dogs, P & F sausage sizzle and cans of drinks, Alley Katz Pasta cheese wheel, nuggets and chips, cheesy pasta, meatballs, Amazing Calamari (fish and chips, calamari), Mr Churos: spanish churros, Tilly’s cup: Mobile coffee van, The Whippy truck: soft serve ice cream, Maui’s Snack Bar: Polynesian food (rice and curry), Novels Dutch pancake and gozleme, Oscarino’s wood fired pizzas, Yumcup freshly squeezed sugarcane juice and strawberries served with chocolate sauce and Yumpling truck, Chinese and Japanese food, dumplings, fried rice, stir fried noodles. YUM, MY MOUTH IS ALREADY WATERING!

We will have 2 performance areas set up, 1 in the yarning cirlce (new garden) near the hall where the choir will be performing from 6pm until 6.30pm.

The 2nd area will be set up in the quiet area where we will have some music and singing and a rock and roll dancing demonstration. Be sure to come and join in the fun. Make sure you visit the hall to see our SFS students amazing artwork they have been working on all year!

We also have quite a few student lead stall this year with our Senior Action teams, Mini Vinnies, Junior space stalls/activities and some individual students who have created their own stalls. Make sure you check them out and support these students.

Mystery bottles/jars

The Specialist teachers will be having a mystery bottle/jar stall at the market. Come and purchase a 1, 2 or 3 dollar mystery bottle, pick a number and win the bottle/jar/bag that matches your number. Try your luck and get a great prize! We will be set up on the grass near the community room.

Student Representative Council Term 4

The SRC meets every Monday afternoon during Action teams time. We begin each session with our school prayer and acknowledgement of country. The children share ideas from other children about ways to improve the school and we discuss whether they are realistic and achievable. We have been learning this term about the Victorian Child Safe standards and discussing ways we can practice these at school. This week we looked at Child safe standard 3 and 4. Child safe standard 3 is Children know about their rights, are taken seriously, and take part in decisions that affect them. The children then took posters back to their space to promote child safety and help other children know what to do if they were feeling unsafe at school. They also told me that they would like to have more conversations with their teachers at school about child safety. The students are working on a menu of activities that children can choose for PBL if they win the weekly raffle.

Here is a report from one of our SRC reps this week Grace.

“On Monday the 21st of October we talked about ways we can improve the school or to raise money to make our school better for all the students.

When we went through our SRC ideas some of the ideas weren't so realistic.

One idea was having an ice cream machine for summer.

The reason it's not so realistic is that it’s like a waste of money because what will we do with it during winter?

We also discussed our PBL reward menu that we will proceed to make in week 4 to make sure ideas for the PBL rewards are going in the boxes by Monday.

Parents remind your children to write on a sticky note for ideas and put it in the SRC box in your learning space.”

If you have any concerns about the mental health or wellbeing of your child, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am available to speak to at school, via the phone or email on rlenko@sfslynbrook.catholic.edu.au

Rachel Lenko

Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader