Wellbeing Report
Andre Campbell
Hi everyone, we have a fantastic Wellbeing Team with me and Sally. If you are looking for any help with any parenting worries or support your family with home or family concerns, please know that Sally is in every Monday and Wednesday, and I am here every day. I am usually on before and after school duty and Mary and I can help with any questions or queries you may have.
If parents are looking to purchase school uniform, we sell second hand school uniforms. Please keep in mind, parents can email the Wellbeing Team for requests for second hand uniform. We do make up bags for children to take home and then parents can decide which items to keep. In the meantime, Sally and I are planning to have a second-hand uniform sale soon.
When a child has a toileting accident or gets wet, having a supply of spare clothes at school really helps. 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.
Since we started back from the holidays, the grounds are extremely wet, and we are needing to change children every day. Our change of clothes supplies is now at an all-time low. We accept donations from families, and we are in desperate need spare socks and boys’ and girls’ underwear to change children. Also, we need boy’s tracksuit pants sizes 5-10. If parents have any spare clothes they no longer need, we happily accept!
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
Wellbeing Service Support
Uniting Child & Family Wellbeing Program-Wednesdays
On Wednesdays, we have Alissa Bayliff from the Family Wellbeing program at Uniting in the school. Alissa is happy to talk to parents about any potential concerns or behaviours with their children. Alissa can also 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.
Parents can email Alissa directly at alissa.bayliff@vt.uniting.org or contact the Wellbeing Team and we will take you through the steps.
Head Lice
This fortnight, we have had only 1 report of live head lice in the school. We ask parents to work with us to keep our reports low and to continue to treat and monitor your children’s hair. Please notify the office or tell your child’s teacher when you treat your child so lice alert notes can be issued on COMPASS. Reminder-any child found with live lice will be excluded from school until they are treated.
Activity Clubs
Monday Through to Thursday
Recess- Finger Knitting Club, Woolcraft & Jigsaws.
Lunch time Monday & Thursday
Lego Club & Finger Knitting Club in the library.
Lunch time Tuesday & Wednesday is Craft Club including Diamond Art in the open learning space outside the specialist rooms.
During winter, our activities at recess and lunchtime are still going strong. For children who can’t go outside for any health reason, we do offer supervision at our activity clubs. Students enjoy doing puzzles together with their friends and helping other students make some wonderful creations. In wool craft, students can make snowflakes, turtles, pom poms, cats’ eyes and they can learn early crotchet skills. In craft club, students have been making diamond art stickers and bookmarks. Lego Club is always popular, and the children work well together on their designs.
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. When your child is going to be away parents and carers need 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!
This past fortnight we have celebrated 15 out of 15 students who came to school on their special day. 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
Budgeting
This week on the budgeting journey I will share with you some tips about keeping the costs down when cooking:
Cut back - When my husband and I decided we would save money on food we cut out expensive meat first and began to cook a variety of meals with chicken, mince and sausages. We also cut the meat back in each meal to 400-500g for a family of four and added a low meat (bacon/tuna/soup) or meat free day or two each week.
Use everything - The cost benefits of cooking meals from scratch at home are very rewarding. One rewarding story I have is about a whole chicken. I cooked up a roast chicken and served that, pulled off the extra meat and made fried rice then I used the rest to make stock to use in pumpkin soup. We had visitors over that weekend and combined with feeding ourselves we spread that chicken into 10 meals, it was fun to work out the journey and how the higher cost of buying a whole chicken broke down into minimal amounts the more we spread the meat around. Being diligent with a shopping list, only buying the amount of ingredients needed and using the whole food item that has been purchased reduces waste and food costs.
Forage - A fun way to build relationships in your community as well as saving money is to ask people around the neighbourhood if you can pick some of their fruit. I have made friends with a couple whose house we walk past on the way to school, simply because they have a mandarin tree in their front yard. My daughter could eat a whole bag of mandarins if I let her and this couple don’t eat any of the mandarins they grow! It’s a perfect match and win for all, no waste of their fruit, daughter eating bucket loads of mandarins and it’s free!
Stock up - We bought a small freezer at the start of our budgeting journey. This is filled with meat we have bought on sale and bread we make at home. I also make a large freezer friendly meal a week that will leave me with leftovers ready to pop in the freezer. We have a selection stocked up ready for those busy nights, I can pull out a healthy ready made meal and have dinner on the table quicker than ordering take out.
Planning - Here are some websites I find useful with extra ideas to save money when providing food for the family:
1. Budget Bytes have plenty of recipe ideas:
2. Jamie Oliver has been promoting budget meals and less food waste for a long time:
https://www.jamieoliver.com/budget-friendly-recipes/
3. Brian Lagerstrom teaches people to cook well at home on YouTube, he isn’t focused so much on budgets but does have some videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4PZHHCUJZc
4. Thriving Home love their freezer meals, I found them a long time ago and they taught me I could freeze almost anything. They have lot’s of freezer recipes aimed at busy families:
https://thrivinghomeblog.com/20-easy-meals-ideas-for-a-group-of-people/
Eat together - Once you have made your budget meals remember to invite the whole family to share the meal at the table. Mealtimes are an important part of parenting and eating them together will encourage conversations that build healthy relationships that could have long term benefits on wellbeing and the connection of your family.
Breakfast Club Monday & Wednesday 8:15am-8:45am
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 with the preparation of food at breakfast club.
Milo Monday’s
On Monday for the remainder of term 3 the Grade 6 leaders and I will be running Milo Mondays from the canteen. Serving warm Milo including Lactose Free milk at 50 cents a cup.
Kids of Gold Camp
Kids of Gold have sent through some information about their camp that is coming up in October. For interested parents and carers, please check out the following link. If you would like further information, please contact me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNtEUNFf4VI
Food Pantry
The food pantry is now on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons between 2:30 and 3:30pm. Please note the pantry will close early on Monday’s. We have a range of foods, including gluten and lactose free items and on Wednesday’s we have fresh carrots and fruit, apples/oranges/pears.
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 call 5964 7258.