Wellbeing - Assistant Principal 

FRIENDOLOGY LAUNCH AT HEPS

Last week we launched Friendology across the school.  It was fantastic to see every class and every student finally able to use the language of positive friendship.  One of the really powerful aspects of Friendology is that it promotes a really high level of consistency about how students and teachers talk about relationships.

In Foundation all students received a Friendology Fuzzy Friend through which the students were introduced to the initial language of Friendology.  As we continue our journey with Friendology over the next weeks and months we will continue to share our learning with the parent community.  

In Level 2 classes talked about the difference between healthy and unhealthy friendships using a really great tool called the Friend-o-Meter.  This helps students figure out for themselves the types of friends that are good for them.   

Our students were taught that all friendships change and that's ok. It's vital that young people know that every friendship has a cycle and that when things change it doesn't mean its bad or someone's fault.     

We launched Friendology with a Connect Group in which all students created  headbands to represent the fact that they were learning the skills to become friendship ninjas.  There was a great feel throughout the school.  There is a strong sense in our school community that this is important work for our students, teachers and parents.   

Attendance

I want to thank the HEPS community for helping to bring our attendance numbers up this term.  It is really important, however, that we continue to focus on students being at school as regularly as possible.  At HEPS we use Compass for all attendance.  Parents are asked to enter all attendance notes in Compass, including known absences in advance.    The 'Add Attendance Note' function is available from your child's home page on Compass.

From the Department Of Education

Parent responsibility

Parents/carers are required to ensure their child attends school every day and have an obligation to contact the school to notify the school of their child’s absence.  Parents/carers should inform the school in advance of known upcoming absences, or on the day of absence as soon as practicable. In addition, in order to implement this requirement, it is essential that parent/carers provide schools with their most up-to-date contact details.