Wellbeing 

It’s been a wonderfully busy and productive couple of weeks as I’ve continued reconnecting with our students, staff, and the wider community at DPS. Beau Robertson and I recently spent two days immersed in Mental Health and Wellbeing training. It was an incredibly valuable experience. We gained meaningful insights, practical strategies, and a deeper understanding of how we can best support our community.

We’re excited to begin sharing this learning with our staff and to gradually introduce a range of wellbeing initiatives at Donvale. Our goal is to ensure the wellbeing of our entire community remains strong, supported, and thriving.

Mental Health in Children

If you are interested in finding out more about supporting mental health in children, a good starting point is browsing through the Emerging Minds website. They have some fantastic resources for families. There's an interesting video that covers what is child's mental health that is well worth watching.

Lunchtime Clubs:

We are in the final stages of setting up some lunchtime clubs. These will include Art Club, Marimba, Junior and Senior Choir. Chess Club will run on a Monday lunchtime. We are also going to start a Running Club @ 8.30am on Fridays. Stay tuned for more details!

Students are enjoying spending time in the library reading, drawing, playing games and doing Lego.  The library has been very popular especially on those warmer days.

The wellbeing hub will continue to open during afternoon recess on Tuesday-Thursday for those that need a break. 

Education Sessions

Here is some information about some sessions that some of you may be interested in attending:

ThinkUKnow is an interactive session led by the Australian Federal Police, aimed to help adults keep children safe online.

The session is free and designed for parents, carers, educators, and people working with young children.  There are more details on the flyer below or you can register through this link : Link to register here.

HealthAbility seminars in Eltham & Box Hill

Parenting seminars at Eltham:

Tuesday 24 February Tools for calmer homes: Ways to reduce conflict

https://events.humanitix.com/tools-for-calmer-homes-ways-to-reduce-conflict

Tuesday 3rd March Play, praise and connection: Making family life more enjoyable  

https://events.humanitix.com/play-praise-and-connection-making-family-life-more-enjoyable

Wednesday 11th March: Parenting Pre-teens: Making sense of adolescent behaviour

https://events.humanitix.com/parenting-pre-teens-making-sense-of-adolescent-behaviour

Parenting with Confidence group at Box Hill:

The session is free and designed for parents, carers, educators, and people working with young children.

https://events.humanitix.com/parenting-with-confidence-behaviour-made-easier

Schoolwide Positive Behaviour Supports

Reward System

SWPBS focuses on multi-tiered interventions to promote positive behaviours. As part of the approach to enabling a strong school culture which embodies our school values, we have put in place a whole school sticker rewards system.

Aim of the Reward System

At DPS we have implemented a reward system to reward positive behaviours that are necessary for promoting a positive and supportive school environment. These positive behaviours are based on our four values of Compassion, Resilience, Respect and Responsibility. Part of our reward system includes the handing out of stickers which are distributed by staff when the students are "caught" displaying one or more of the values.