Wellbeing Report 

Social Skills Groups and Wellbeing Programs

This Wednesday our grade 1/2 social skills groups are starting with Caitlin Carlos who is a Provisional Psychologist from Strong Minds Psychology.   We are hoping to run these groups during recess and lunch until the end of the term.  In term 4, we will pick back up with the grade 3/4 groups that we ran earlier in the year.  If your child has missed out please speak to your classroom teacher as we will be running more groups next term.  The Resilience Project and Respectful Relationships lessons are also happening each week in the classrooms.

Lily Dix who is a member of our welfare team, is working with selected students one to one and she will run some friendship groups with students from grade 3-6.   If you are interested in enquiring for wellbeing support please speak to your child’s teacher or speak to Veronica, Lily or myself. 

For selected grade 6 boys, the Peaceful Warriors program is being facilitated by Anglicare Victoria.  The program has recently started and the program runs at the school in the evenings from 6:30pm to 8pm.   In the past, we have had many positive comments from parents and students and we are looking forward to the boys enjoying the program.  Some of the topics covered include friendships, feelings, mental health, becoming a man, healthy relationships, consent and future goals. 

Across the week we have a number of opportunities for students to feel supported with their friendships whether it’s during break times out in the yard/electives or speaking to our welfare team.   If you have any questions or are looking for tips please speak to staff.  We really hope your children come home from school happy to talk and share their day with you. 

Post Lockdown Tips

To help ease any nerves for children coming in to school, stick a family photo in your child's pencil case or lunch box.  Seeing a friendly face can help ease worries!

Attendance & Absences

It’s great that parents are using COMPASS and I am pleased that parents are calling to explain absences.  This really helps us as we are able to communicate effectively with all relevant staff early in the school day. 

Regular attendance at school is essential for students to achieve quality life outcomes. Schools, in partnership with parents, are responsible for promoting the regular attendance of students. We encourage parents and carers to refer to COMPASS for information happening at school. We encourage all parents to communicate when your child is going to be away and to notify the school through COMPASS.  Thank you!

Free Happy Families Membership

Many families have signed up and if you haven’t got around to joining, it’s not too late.  The admin team at Happy Families have streamlined some changes to make it less confusing for you. The Happy Families membership gives you access to a number of resources which will help families, staff and students to thrive.   Every member will receive a weekly "Lighten the Load" email, which includes a quick, easy to apply tip from Dr. Justin, as well as some updates about other features in the membership.  There is a library of parenting resources which offers calm assurance, direction and solutions you can try out on your families. 

Click on the link to join

- https://members.happyfamilies.com.au/woori-yallock-primary-school

A Parent's Guide to Raising a Child with ADHD   TUESDAY 17 August, 8pm AEST

For interested parents, there is a live webinar coming up on the 17th of August for parents who are raising children with an ADHD diagnosis. Coping with the “war at home”, families often feel divided.  Parents struggle to be on the same page, torn between loving their child and flipping out because things are out of control.  And the fear of judgment from others makes finding support additionally challenging.

In “A Parent’s Guide to Raising an ADHD child”, Dr. Justin Coulson will explore up-to-the-minute science on what ADHD is, why it occurs, and most importantly, what parents can do to create something at home that feels sane and balanced in an often chaotic climate. 

This 60-minute webinar will:

• Provide science-supported strategies that build parental knowledge
• Improve child compliance
• Offer family-strengthening tips to support parents, strengthen relationships, and build bonds

Urgent-Clothing needed

Thank you to those parents for the donations of spare clothing.  We regularly assist children with toileting accidents and we are desperate for leggings/track suit pants in all sizes.   We try hard to avoid asking parents to come down to change their child so any donations will help out enormously.   Also, provide your child with a change of underwear in their bag. 

Activities at break times-

Our activity timetable is running during recess or lunchtime.   Many students will enjoy a range of supervised activities over the course of the week so please remind your child to come along, it’s a great way to get to know other children as well as have some fun. 

 Some of the options are:  

• Guided drawing (Art for Kids Hub on YouTube)
• Lego Club
• Mindful Colouring
• Yoga
• Skipping
• House Captains Sport
• Running Club
• Device Friday’s

Head lice Update

Head lice will be a problem from time to time at Woori Yallock Primary School and it is important to work together as a school community to minimise the frustration caused by the problem.  Please call the office or tell your child’s teacher when you treat your child. Lice Alert notifications are uploaded to COMPASS. 

Head lice are spread so easily because when children play together they usually have very close contact.  When children play closely or cuddle each other it's easy enough for a louse to, literally, walk from one child's hair to another.   Generally speaking, the longer the hair the greater the chance a child has of getting head lice.  I encourage all families to continually monitor and treat your children. The only way to stop lice from reinvesting is to stop their cycles, so repeat treatment and removal of the eggs is your only option.

Please remember if any parents have any questions or need advice about head lice and treatment options please see me. 

Reminder-any child found with live lice will be excluded from school until they are treated. 

Annual National Disability Data Collection-August 6th

The Australian Government collects statistics about students with disability. mThis information helps the government to have a better understanding of students with disability.  Data will be collected by schools from all around Australia.  The main reason is the legislation to the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. Under this law, students with disability have the right to take part in their education, just like all other students and schools may need to make changes to support students with disability. These types of changes are called adjustments.  Schools must make adjustments that are reasonable – so this means they are balanced and fair.  Some examples of reasonable adjustments for some students and schools include:

• Providing school work in more than one way – such as large print, Braille or audio information
• Extra time to complete work
• Small group or one to one learning support
• Help with getting around the school facilities.

Please speak to me further if you have any questions. 

Have a fantastic week!

Andre Campbell 

Primary Wellbeing Officer