THE SIGNAL

From the

Assistant

Principal

FEEDBACK FROM WEEK 2 AND 3

Thank you everyone for completing our weekly check ins, it has been fantastic to hear your feedback and it has really allowed us to ensure we are tailoring our teaching and learning approach to meet your needs. Please find the below links to my write ups on the feedback that we have received and the actions we have taken as a school as a result of what we have heard.

We have noticed that some families are experiencing challenges with completing specialist’s tasks and getting outdoors to engage in some fitness activities. Please rest assured that we are listening and that we do act, and we are exploring some further ideas about how to support our families over the coming weeks

EMOTIONAL REGRESSION

You may be noticing that your children are falling back on habits they had when they were younger. Behaviors like these aren’t reason for alarm. Many kids are showing signs of regression right now, and it’s simply a coping mechanism to deal with uncertainty and stress. Routine, structure and stability all make us feel safe, both emotionally and physically. When these things change drastically it can have the result of creating both a sense of anxiety and displacement. In children this is often expressed as a dip in maturity, and behaviours that we otherwise thought they had grown out of. In adults this can often be expressed as anger or frustration. The point is that this is a normal response to a very not normal set of circumstances, and the important thing is that we acknowledge this and remember to be kind to ourselves and each other. Regression is natural, normal and hard. The most important thing you can do is acknowledge this and understand that it will pass in time.

If this is an area you are interested in you can read some of the following websites for some further discussion on the topic:

I highly recommend reading this article by John Hattie, an internationally renowned educational researcher, where he outlines the research behind why we do not need to “not panic if students miss out on 10 weeks or so of face-to-face learning during the COVID-19 pandemic”, and that our kids are not going to fall behind.

YOUR WELLBEING

Remember to look after yourself!

This is a hard time for all of us, and many families are having a hard time with work, parenting, and their own relationships. The analogy of being on an aeroplane is a perfect fit here: they always tell you to put your oxygen mask on first before you turn to your child, you cannot help anyone else if you are not ok yourself. Remember to be kind to yourself, and reach out to the school if you need to talk.

The following external resources are also available to support your mental health and wellbeing:

Parentline (13 22 89)

Parentline is a phone service for parents and carers of children from birth to 18 years old. Parentline offers confidential and anonymous counselling and support on parenting issues. They are open from 8am to midnight, seven days a week including public holidays. They can discuss a range of issues about parenting, including:

·         child behaviour and development

·         parent / carer child relationships

·         education

·         bullying

·         living with teenagers

·         family violence

·         family breakdown

·         parental stress

Further Parenting Support Resources

Legal and medical

Parentline counsellors, the same as school staff, cannot provide Legal or Medical information.

For legal and advice services, see: Legal Aid Victoria. For medical advice, call either the Maternal and Child Health Line (for parents of children ages 0-6 years old) or Nurse on call. 

As always, if there is an emergency, call 000 first.

CATCH UPS FOR KIDS

We know how important social interaction is for our students and it is an area that we have been quite concerned about. It has been fantastic to see everyone getting on our morning chats to talk to one another each morning.  However, we also know that a lot of families are organising little virtual catchups with their own friends, and this is fantastic. We have passed on contact details of everyone who was happy to share their details to the class representatives, so they are a great way to organise a catchup. However, if you have someone you would like to reach out to and you do not know how to get in contact please let us know or talk to the class representatives and we will try to help out.

GOOGLE ACCOUNTS

This is just a friendly reminder to log in to the one on ones and group Google Meet sessions using the student accounts you have been provided with. Any accounts outside of the Department of Education ones will not be permitted entry onto the meeting.

A reminder as well that the one on one booking cycles open up Wednesday night each week and close at 1:00pm on Sunday.