Faith & Wellbeing

WELLBEING

This year at St James during semester one we are trialling changes to our “recess” and “lunch times”. Although our parents at home may not have noticed any difference, our staff and students have had a couple of slight changes to their daily routine. The day still begins and ends at exactly the same time however, we have increased our literacy time in the mornings as well as shifted eating times for our students, playtime at 2nd lunch is now 40minutes.

Previously students had a fruit snack at 10am and then recess at 10.50am. However, this decreased the amount of time dedicated to literacy and students were rushing out the door to play even if they had not eaten enough food. After recess students would typically come in still hungry and may need more time to eat. Therefore in order to not only increase the literacy time but to also assist with ensuring our students are fuelled with the energy they need through eating, we have moved the eating times.

Students will now have “1st lunch” at 11.30-11.40am. At this time it is expected that students will eat their main lunch having already eaten their fruit snack at 10am. “2nd Lunch” will now be from 1.40-1.50pm before the students go out to play in the afternoon. This will typically be when they eat snack foods. We would also like to encourage our families to bring to school “nude food”. Nude Food reduces single use plastic, foil containers or wrapping. Using reusable containers is a great sustainable practice but also encourages healthier eating options.

At St James we use the STARR tracker to track incidents on the playground. The data gathered from this tracker over the past few years has enabled us to see trends in the incidents on the yard, typically when they occur and what has happened. Through the analysis of this data we have noted that in the last 10 minutes of 2nd lunch there was a notable number of incidents occurring, including social conflicts, injuries and inappropriate play. In order to ensure our students have maintained positive play and have positive social interactions, the second lunch will be 40 minutes.

We will continue to trial this format until the end of semester one, when we will review the new routine with staff and student voice.

RAT Program

Thank-you once again to all families for taking part in this program. Testing our students even when asymptomatic is helping to keep our community safe. It has proved invaluable so far.

Ripple

Last year we joined with the team at Ripple to facilitate our student wellbeing check ins. Each Tuesday and Thursday morning students were asked to complete a 2 minute survey. The data is then turned into a heat map which enables classroom teachers to see at a glance which students may need extra support on that day or to check in with what may be happening in their lives. The wellbeing team and classroom teachers also use the information to check in with families.

The following physical/emotional ranges using ‘emoji’ style animations make up the survey.

1. Tired / Awake

2. Hungry / Full

3. Lonely / Close

4. Unsafe / Safe

5. Worried / Relaxed

6. Angry / Calm

7. Sad / Happy

8. Sick / Well

Students who were enrolled at St James in 2021 automatically have consent. New student families should have received an Operoo asking for consent this week. Should you require further information now or at any time, you can contact Georgia McNamara Student Wellbeing Leader or Gregory Nicolau Lead Consultant Psychologist of Ripple directly on (03) 9415 6466 or gregory.nicolau@ripple.com.au

Mrs Georgia McNamara

Student Wellbeing Leader

gmcnamara@stjamesbrighton.catholic.edu.au