School Wide Positive Behaviour Support

Each fortnight, we have a school wide focus around our school values of Be Safe, Be Friendly and Be a Learner. We call this a Mini Blitz!

Our current focus is on one of our whole school routines in how we line up and enter the classroom.

Mini Blitz:

When you hear the music begin,
it's equipment away, drink, toilet and line up
before we calmly head back in.

Routines help create a calm, predictable and orderly environment. We have introduced a number of routines over the past year that we use daily across the whole school. We are beginning to revisit each of these routines as a way to check in and remind ourselves of the expectations.

From the Raising Children Website: Routines

For further information including some wonderful strategies and advice on how to implement routines at home, click on the links below from the Raising Children website:

Pebble Tally

Each week, we count up our pebbles across the whole school. Pebbles are earned by students who are following the school expectations! These pebbles are tallied up and added to our thermometer below. Here's our updated tally from the end of last term! We just ticked over 2000 pebbles!

Weekly Winning Class

Our winning class for last week is 1M who amassed an amazing 112 pebbles. They win the holding rights to our trophy which is full of a few little treats to share!

Sun Safety - Hats and Sunscreen Update

As we start Term 2, we continue to be blessed with clear skies and sunshine. Although not compulsory during Term's 2&4, we are continuing to highlight the importance of remaining Sun Smart while the UV index is moderate. We will continue to encourage students to wear an appropriate hat and we have kept our sunscreen stations out on the yard.

Attendance

You can view your child's attendance on the SimonEverywhere App. Attendance percentage appears just below the students profile when you click on the home icon.

Each edition of the newsletter we share the attendance percentage from the previous two weeks. Below is a break down of our first fortnight back at school. The aim is 95% attendance. While it's wonderful to be aiming for 95-100% we know that this is not always possible with illness, fatigue and family days all factors across the duration of a term.

Each newsletter will include a visual graph (below) as well as the breakdown of numbers. We will track our attendance through these graphs each edition of the newsletter. Congratulations to Year 5 who have made an impressive start to the term!

Breakdown of last fortnight:

Year Level	School Attendance Percentage
Foundation	94.74%
Year 1	91.88%
Year 2	91.24%
Year 3	94.85%
Year 4	94.44%
Year 5	97.22%
Year 6	92.09%
School Average	93.79%

Term 1 Attendance Summary

Cyber Safety Resources & Social Media Age Restrictions

As mentioned in previous newsletters at the end of last year, we have partnered with a well renowned cyber safety organisation Safe on Social (Ctrl+Shft). Recently this organisation released a parent and carer guide on the 16+ age restriction on social media accounts. Please click the link below for this highly helpful guide:

Another helpful resource (including a QR code for further support) from the eSafety Commissioner:

As part of our partnership with Safe on Social (Ctrl+Shift), we have a library of resources, cheat sheets and supports regarding any aspect of Cyber Safety/Online Gaming/Social Media. If you are finding any of these a challenge with your child, please feel free to reach out and we can provide some specific information and support in this space.

For more information email: dboulton@smkangarooflat.catholic.edu.au

Fresh Fruit Friday

Thanks to The Mckern Foundation for donating fresh fruit to our school weekly.

This is a great initiative but please make sure children are still bringing a piece of fruit in their lunchbox for fruit break as fruit is not available all week.

Season’s for Growth

A grief and loss program

Change and loss are issues that affect all of us at some stage in our lives. At St Monica’s we recognise that when changes occur in families through death, separation, divorce or related circumstances, children and young people may benefit from learning how to manage these changes effectively. We are therefore offering a very successful education program called Seasons for Growth. This program is facilitated in small groups and is based on research that highlights the importance of social support and the need to practise new skills to cope effectively with change and loss. The program focuses on issues such as self-esteem, managing feelings, problem-solving, decision-making, effective communication and support networks. Seasons for Growth runs for eight weeks and each weekly session is 40-50 minutes during school hours. The program concludes with a 'Celebration' session. Later in the year each group will have the opportunity to meet for a re-connector session to build on their earlier learning and to follow up how each child is going.

Seasons for Growth is facilitated by Bronwyn Fieldew ( Family Liaison Officer) who has received special training in the use of this program.

For more information please contact Bronwyn at the school and/or express your interest in this program by filling out the email form below which will be sent to Bronwyn Fieldew. St Monica’s is pleased to be able to offer this important program and we are confident that it will be a valuable learning experience for those who request to be involved.

Please send an email below letting us know if your child would like your child/children to participate in this program. Please include the following information:

Student name, class and whether they have experienced separation or loss.

Helpful Parent resources:

rch.org.au
earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au
parentingideas.com.au
australia.gov.au
kidsafe.com.au
betterhealth.vic.gov.au
kidsmatter.edu.au
youtube.com - Centre on the Developing Child at Harvard University

Sport

State Swimming Results