Wellbeing News
Dear families,
What a wonderful start to the year we have had! It has been so wonderful to see the positive ways that students have settled back into the routine of school, their new classrooms and with their new class groups. It has been especially lovely to see our new Prep students who have settled into ‘school life’ comfortably and to observe them building friendships with each other and their connection to our school community.
Term 1 is a very busy time for the whole school and in our wellbeing space it is no different!
In classrooms, teachers have begun teaching their Social Emotional Learning (SEL) units. This term, the whole school is focusing on Personal Strengths, using the ‘Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships’ resources. Explicitly teaching students how to identify and use their individual strengths has been shown to promote student wellbeing, positive behaviour and academic achievement.
This term, we will also be running another Peaceful Kids group. Peaceful Kids is a small group Mindfulness and Positive Psychology based program with an emphasis on teaching children practical ways to lessen anxiety and stress and increase resilience. This program helps children to build their emotional resilience so they are better equipped to deal with the day to day stresses that life brings them. We are still finalising our group. If you would be interested in nominating your child or would like to chat about the program, please reach out.
Our 2024 Art, Vibrancy and Wellbeing Leaders, Mabel and Libby have been very busy re-imagining how our Gotcha cards will work this year. They have decided that each student will aim to be ‘caught’ five times a term, and they will award students who gain five Gotchas with a small toy. Students receive Gotchas in the yard or at specialist subjects when they are spotted doing something kind, helping someone else to be successful or showing our school values of respect for self, others and the environment.
On Friday 1st March our whole school will celebrate SWELL Day. SWELL Day is an important wellbeing day at OLHC, where students work with peers from across the school and rotate through engaging wellbeing activities with a range of teachers. At OLHC, we pride ourselves on ensuring that every child is known, and that staff and students build positive relationships with all students, not only those in their class.
Finally, a reminder that we are blessed at OLHC to have Kathy Toomey, our school chaplain, work with us on a Friday. Kathy is an experienced counsellor who works with our students who may need a little more support. Please feel free to reach out to myself or Kathy if you feel your child may benefit from additional support.
As always, please let us know if there is anything that we can do to support your children at school.
Norah Jacombs