Wellbeing

Safe, valued and respected survey

Thank you to over 100 parents/carers for completing our termly Safe, Valued and Respected Survey this term. This survey is conducted with staff, students and parents/carers each term as a ‘pulse check’ on how we’re doing, as we seek ways to improve the experience for all members of our community.

We’re very proud of our results, which saw an increase in positive responses across all stakeholders and most questions.

Highlights include:

• Over 100 responses from parents/carers, with all year levels widely represented, consistent with previous years and giving us an accurate comparison of results
• Over 90% positive response rate in all areas of the parent/carer responses
• 97% of parents/carers feeling like EPS provides an environment where their child feels safe and welcome
• 100% positive response rate from our teachers and ES staff
• 95-98% positive response rate to students feeling safe in their classroom - a testament to the respectful and collaborative classroom environments that have been established
• An increase in positive response rates from all year levels regarding safety in the yard. 

Actions for Term 2 include:

• A team of school staff is investigating ways in which parents/carers can receive further feedback on their child’s learning, beyond the semester reports. This involves looking at our current parent/carer/teacher meeting format and the possibilities of another Learner Showcase in Term 3. 
• Continuing to provide opportunities to improve feelings of safety for students in the yard, by:
  • Providing each year level with their own ‘Playtime Menu’ which outlines the different play possibilities for each day of the week - this includes scheduled days for the library, Green Zone, art room, STEAM room and structured games facilitated by the wellbeing leaders
  • Opening up more play spaces for the Prep students to access during recess and lunch times
  • Scheduling specific ‘buddy date’ days for Year 4 and Prep buddies on Fridays
  • Training a new set of Year 5 Peer Mediators 
  • Continuing to keep the junior oval for Prep-Year 2 students, as they have reported they feel much safer having their own ball play area 
  • Starting a new ball games lunchtime club with Mr Ray in the gymnasium for year 3/4 students
  • Having our Year 6 House Captains facilitate play in the gaga pit 

Backflips against Bullying workshops

This week, students in Year 1, 2, 3 and 4 participated in bullying prevention workshops with the team from ‘Backflips Against Bullying’. This leads into the Year 5 workshop students participated in this term with the ‘Courage to Care’ team on being an upstander. Both workshops provide students with a consistent understanding of what bullying is and isn’t, and common language to address behaviours which align with our Inclusive Language and Practices Guide and Supporting Positive Behaviour Manual (available on our school website). 

Wellbeing curriculum plan for Term 2

In term 2, students will be focusing on the Positive Coping and Help Seeking topics of the Respectful Relationships curriculum. Helping students to learn a wide range of positive coping skills and being able to identify when a problem is too big and they need the support of a trusted adult enables them to cope with future changes and challenges. 

This learning will segue into our Sexuality and Consent education later in the term. Students will learn about their bodies, how they function, grow and develop, how to keep them safe and how to have healthy, safe and respectful relationships. This learning is all age appropriate and consistent with the curriculum. 

Online safety app for parents/carers

Beacon is a free, Australian made app created to help take the hard work out of keeping up to date with all things online and digital for children and young people. Developed in conjunction with the eSafety Commissioner and Common Sense Media, parents/carers can access quality, expert reviewed material as opposed to relying on your social media feed or news reports. Find further details in this infographic from our inform and empower program. 

Harmony day

Thank you to Zoe, Maya, Sienna and Luca who worked incredibly hard to bring our Harmony Day celebrations together last Thursday. They demonstrated incredible leadership skills by planning lunchtime activities and classroom learning experiences for every grade in the school. Well done also to Prep C who won the Harmony Day display challenge!