Hi everyone, we have a fantastic Wellbeing Team with me, Sally and Libby. We can help with any parenting worries or support your family with home or family concerns. The Wellbeing Team are on before and after school duty and we can help with any questions or queries you may have.

If parents are looking to purchase school uniform, we sell second hand school uniforms. We accept donations from families, and we often need spare socks and boys’ and girls’ underwear to change children. When a child has a toileting accident or gets wet, having a supply of spare clothes. This means there’s no disruption to a parent’s day where you would get a phone call to come down to the school with a change of clothes.

Also, when families are feeling financial strain and hardship we can apply to State School Relief for school uniform, underwear, socks and school shoes and runners. Keep in mind that State School Relief can also help families replace eyeglasses. Students can get one free voucher per year which is particularly handy when a child breaks or loses their glasses.

For any enquiries, please email the Wellbeing Team at-

Andre.Campbell@education.vic.gov.au

Sally.Marshall@education.vic.gov.au

elizabeth.martin3@education.vic.gov.au

Activities Breaktimes

Lego Masters at recess-Monday, Tuesday & Thursday

Free play Lego Club at lunchtime-Monday & Thursday

Craft Club at lunchtime-Tuesday & Wednesday

If your child is looking to make new friends, please remind them we these clubs organised and it’s a great way to have some fun and be creative.

In Craft club we are making friendship bracelets, and we are making key chains and bookmarks. For parents wishing to support our Craft Club, we are always needing beads. All donations are valued and if we can’t use it we do pass items onto the Art room.

Fortunately, many families have donated Lego which has increased our supply, and we are excited to be able to run Lego club. We are still collecting the Woolworths Farm and Supermarket Bricks. During Lego Masters at recess, the students are building their farm and supermarket and it’s great to listen in to their conversation about the design and features they want to create.

Friendships

The Wellbeing Team have been supporting students on friendship making skills. Ask your child how they are handling getting to know their peers by-

Asking to join in
Using a kind voice
Standing up for a friend
Agreeing on rules in a game
People are not property

This week’s shout out comes from Lola and Penny our school ambassadors, “If you are feeling down or if you have a problem, come and speak us”.

DET School Nurse Program- Preps School Entry Health Checks

Thank you to all everyone who has completed their online Preps School Entry Health Check Questionnaire. For those Prep families who have not done it, you should have received a envelope containing a postcard with the QR Code. If this is a problem, then we do have hardcopies of the health questionnaire so please ask the office or your prep classroom teacher. This is a valued and important program which offers free health and wellbeing screening for all Victorian students in their first year of school. This program seeks to improve the health and education outcomes for children and their families.

A health assessment under the Primary School Nursing Program is not intended to replace your normal source of health care. If you or your child’s teacher has concerns about your child’s health or development, your child can be referred to the school nurse at any time. Direct health assessment services provided under the Primary School Nursing Program may include:

Vision screening
Hearing screening
Speech and language screening
General developmental assessments

Attendance & Absences

We encourage parents and carers to refer to COMPASS for information happening at school. Schools are required to work towards IMPROVING THE ATTENDANCE and PUNCTUALITY RATES of our students. We encourage all parents to call the office when your child is going to be away and to notify the school through COMPASS. This really helps us as we are able to communicate effectively with all relevant staff early in the school day.

Attendance Data-It’s Cool to be at School!

When your child comes to school and it’s their birthday, we are bringing the buzz to make their day even more special. When they arrive at school in the mornings, we are presenting them with a special birthday sticker badge. I must say the kids are really loving this!

Over the time a child attends school, having 1 or 2 days absence does not seem like much but it does add up and can impact on missed learning opportunities.

Chaplain Chat

Over the next few newsletters, I will focus on Emotional Intelligence drawing on the work of Dr Chinwe Williams and Daniel Goldman from the Parent Cue website. Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to understand your own emotions or the emotions of others. It is about creating and maintaining healthy relationships now and throughout life, who doesn’t want that for their kids?

The four main pillars of EI are Self- Awareness, Self Management, Empathy and Understanding and Relationship Management.

This week we will focus on Self – Awareness.

The first step to building a healthy EI is to recognise the emotion being experienced. Helping your child to take some time out when they are not feeling overly emotional and having a chat about their strengths and weaknesses and how this affects their behaviour will give them a healthy understanding of themselves. When a person understands themselves, they are able to then see when they are making a mistake and they have the courage to make a positive change. People experience large and small emotions throughout life, if your child learns from a young age that it is normal to have big emotions, they will not only be able to manage them, they will build an ability to notice the emotions of other people and they can be a support to others.

Coming up next term….

To help you and your child develop a higher emotional intelligence Callum McNeil from Uniting will be presenting Treehouse Junior a family wellbeing program at Woori Yallock Primary School. This program will run over 8 weeks and is therapeutic arts and crafts based. Click the link to sign up and to see more information: https://forms.office.com/r/LWx3hh1tdp

Melbourne Dream and Lead Conference:

Next week our grade 6 leaders will be attending the Melbourne Dream and Lead Conference on Tuesday the 12th of March. We hope this event will develop strong leadership skills in our school leaders and have a positive impact not only on their lives but on that of the whole school as they put their new skills into action. We are looking forward the this event and will let you know how it went. The cost of the event and bus travel has been completely covered by funding from these wonderful Woori Yallock businesses: District Hire and Sales, S&T Steps and Woori Butchers, please thank them if you happen to visit them. We also received a very generous donation from the Lion’s Club of Healesville.

Breakfast Club Monday & Wednesday 8:15am-8:45am

Breakfast has been very popular at the start of the year. We are averaging around 60 students each day of operation. If your student is in need of breakfast, please encourage them to stop by to pick up some food so there are no hungry tummies in the classrooms. Breakfast club runs on Monday and Wednesday mornings 'pop up' style from 8:15 – 8:45am down at the entry to the grade 1 - 2 classrooms. Students can enjoy a range of foods, including toast with vegemite, butter or jam, small UHT milk packs, fruit cups and fresh fruit. We are very thankful to our parents who help out with the preparation of food at breakfast club.

Food Pantry

The food pantry will now be open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons between 2:30 and 3:30pm. Please note the pantry will close early on Monday’s. We have had a lot of donations coming in from parents, so our pantry has become very full with a wide range of items, including fresh produce. Thanks to all those who have donated. If you are in need of a pantry top up please stop by and pick something up. We also have food hampers available that parents and carers are free to access from the entry near the pantry. These boxes have a range of food staples and weigh 11.6kg, so please prepare for that if you intend on taking one home.

Chaplaincy

Sally Marshall – Chaplain: is happy to catch up with your child if you feel they need that extra emotional support during school hours. Sally is available on Monday and Wednesday’s and can be contacted via email

sally.marshall@education.vic.gov.au

or by phone call 5964 7258.

Wellbeing Service Support

Uniting Child & Family Wellbeing Program

Wednesdays

Don’t forget that on Wednesdays, we have Callum McNeil from the Family Wellbeing program at Uniting in the school. Callum is happy to talk to parents about any potential concerns or behaviours with their children. Also, Callum can support families with parenting strategies and service referrals including family services and online resources for parents. The referral process is straight forward, and Uniting can engage within a reasonable time.

Please contact the Wellbeing Team for a referral form and we will take you through the steps.

Fruit Available

Fruit is available in the classrooms for students to eat. Every week, Food Bank supply the school with a variety of fresh fruit including apples, oranges, pears and carrots. Sally also makes up fruit/small snack tubs for the classrooms.

Lunches

We have some children complaining that they are starving at break times. If children are hungry this really impacts on their concentration, moods and their learning. My advice is to always send extra food and then parents can monitor hunger levels and have conversations about nutrition. Pack food which is easy for kids to open and eat and also speak to them about your expectations.

Health

I encourage parents to please investigate any potential sickness complaints. Please encourage your child to practise good personal hygiene by washing hands regularly. It isn’t fun to be sick at school and there are exclusion periods for some health conditions. Don’t forget to tell us of any phone or emergency contact changes so we can reduce your child’s concern if they need to be picked up. In case of a toileting accident please supply a change of underwear in your child’s bag.

This term, we also expect to have some hot days so freezing cold drinks and adding them to your child’s school bag will help keep lunchboxes fresh longer. A reminder that school hats are compulsory, and I would like parents to be active with encouraging children to wear sunscreen.

Head Lice update

Head lice will be a problem from time to time at Woori Yallock Primary School and it is important to work together as a school community to minimise the frustration caused by the problem. This past fortnight, we had a case in the 1/2 area. I ask all parents/carers to regularly screen your child and please tell us in order to minimise the concern in the school.

Infectious Diseases

To help prevent and control the transmission of infectious diseases in schools, a child must be excluded from school if he or she has any of the following:

Gastro/Diarrhoea - until there has not been a loose bowel motion or any symptoms for 48 hours
Chicken Pox - until fully recovered and blisters have dried
Measles - at least 7 days
German Measles - until fully recovered and at least 4 days from the onset of rash
Whooping Cough - four weeks
Hand, foot and mouth - until all blisters have dried
Hepatitis - medical certificate needed
Impetigo “School Sores” - until treatment has commenced and sores are healed
Ringworm - until treatment has commenced. Medical certificate may be required.
Mumps - until fully recovered
Scabies - medical certificate needed

Importantly, children who have been vomiting should not attend school until 48 hours after the vomiting ceases.

While these are some common diseases, please refer to the Better Health School Excursion Table* for a comprehensive list and updated information. Please contact the office if your child contracts any of these. Please refer to the Dept of Health for further information-https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/public-health/infectious-diseases/school-exclusion/school-exclusion-table

Wellbeing Supports

We promote many opportunities for families and students to be an active part of our local community and encourage parents to be a part of our extra-curricular activities. Our welfare team are available to support families in times of need as we have established partnerships with a number of services. We would love to meet you so see myself, Sally or Libby.

State School Relief-school uniforms including underwear and school shoes/runners. For families experiencing financial difficulties we can apply to State School Relief for new uniform. Families will get a voucher for $85.00 to use at Lowes, at Lilydale Marketplace Shopping Centre.
Free Glasses for replacement-State School Relief approve one prescription per year for replacement eyeglasses. Please see me for more information.
Second hand uniform. We accept good quality second hand uniform donations which we sell. The monies raised help support our wellbeing programs including the Breakfast Club and our lunchtime activities including Lego Club and Craft Club.
Students can be referred to DET psychologist or speech therapist.
Term 1 Preps-DET school nurse for general health checks including vision and hearing.
Student counselling-students can access counselling via a mental health care plan referral from a GP. Shine Bright Psychology-counselling service for students & clinical psychologist Simone Turner. Simone works at the school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
For approved students with NDIS or Allied Health Services-Speech Pathology and OT services can provide therapy at school.
Service-Uniting Family Wellbeing. Uniting offer families individual help for NDIS, linkage to other services, group based and individual support. Callum McNeil at school every Wednesday. Please contact the Wellbeing Team for a referral form and we will take you through the steps.
Eastern Health-Nutrition and Health support
School Chaplain-Sally Marshall (Mondays & Wednesdays)
The Smile Squad Dental Program (once the building ground works are completed)
Glass’s for Kids program every 2 years. The program will be back in 2025.
Pre-COVID 19-Shire of Yarra Ranges Head Lice Program-whole school screening once per term screened by the Shire nurse.

Programs-

Free Breakfast club (Monday & Wednesday 8:15am-8:45am)
Free community pantry open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 2:30pm-3:30pm.
Food hampers-are available at any time. Parents can pick up a box at the community pantry.
Parent Forums-Healthy Lunchboxes & strengthening families.
Health & Gender programs including:
3/4 Body Education
5/6 Sexuality Program
Social skills programs to small groups
Activities at lunchtimes-LEGO Club, Craft Club
Holiday & weekend camps for students. Please speak to Sally Marshall for more information.
Gift a bike program-Lions Club

Service Supports & Agencies

There are many organisations across Yarra Ranges offering support and assistance. For community relief and support agencies, click on the link at-

https://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Community/Health-and-Wellbeing/Community-relief-and-support-agencies

For people looking for food relief, CIRE at the Yarra Junction hub, have food parcels and they have free bread on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. The Yarra Junction hub is open food relief, and they are a Centrelink Access Point. This service can be accessed by appointment where the school Welfare Team can refer families. If you are interested or know of any one you would like to recommend, please speak to the Wellbeing Team. You can find CIRE Yarra Junction Hub next to the Yarra Junction Post Office and they are open Mon-Fri: 9am-4pm.

School Holiday Program