Ballan Primary School

Wellbeing 

                               Mrs Mauriks

Hello families,

 

Welcome back to our returning families and welcome to those new to Ballan Primary School. I know I’m not the only one excited to be at school. We have had a great start to the year, with a lovely vibe in and around the classrooms.

 

In my role as Learning Specialist - Inclusion, I work with the teachers, educational support staff, parents, guardians and allied health professionals to ensure that our students are provided with an inclusive environment, that supports both their social, emotional and academic learning. 

 

Within the school we have 10 educational support staff working in the classrooms and running intervention programs, including small groups for the MiniLit and MultiLit programs as well as social skills groupings from P-6. In addition, our Spelling Mastery groups has a range of support staff across the groupings, which is designed to support students to work to the best of their ability. By the end of March, we will also be introducing intervention spelling, for some of our junior students, using the Sounds-Write program that is taught in the P-2 years.

 

In addition to these classroom and intervention supports, we also work with the following organisations to support student mental health:

 

Psychs in Schools

Following on from last year’s great success, we will be having the Psychs in Schools service at our school again this year. Provisional psychologist, Blaze, will work with students and staff Tuesdays and Wednesdays for Semester 1.

 

Catholic Care

The Catholic Care team provides early intervention and person-centered support to improve student wellbeing. Counsellors visit the school to work with their clients and can support students to:

  • develop healthy strategies for dealing with issues
  • identify, understand and manage emotions, including stress and anxiety

  • cope with life’s issues that may be getting in the way of their education, or that are impacting on their friendships and other relationships

     

    Support can be provided for issues including:

  • grief and loss
  • family separation
  • social issues within the school e.g. bullying, conflict, friendships
  • coping with anxiety
  • low self-esteem
  • developing social competence

WRISC

Wrisc provides individual creative services, such as art, music and play, for students who have experienced family violence. The aim of creative therapies is to help clients find a form of expression beyond words or traditional therapy.

 

If you would like to know more about any of these programs and how they can support your child, you can call me at the school or email me at roisin.mauriks@education.vic.gov.au

 

Have a great week and take care everyone. 

 

Róisín Mauriks

Learning Specialist - Inclusion