Student
Wellbeing

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 how we are speaking to each other, in and out of the classroom.

Mini Blitz:

Let's stop and think about how we are speaking to each other.
Remember to use...
Encouraging words
Speak in a tone that's kind
Use positive body language

Unfortunately, we have recently noticed that we aren't always speaking kindly to each other. This includes within our friendship groups. On a daily basis, we are promoting the message of using encouraging words, appropriate tone and body language when communicating with each other.

Raising Children Network

The Raising Children website is full of wonderful resources to help you support your child's growth and development. This link is around friendships and what you can do at home to support your child socially.

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. We have ticked over 2000 pebbles and earnt extra play! Our next goal is 3000 pebbles and a Crazy Sock Day!

Weekly Winning Class

Our winning class for last week is 5/6FB who amassed 78 pebbles. They win the holding rights to our trophy which is full of a few little treats to share!

Walk to School

On Friday 22nd May, St Monica's will join with schools all around Australia in celebrating the importance of being active and healthy by walking to school.

Keep an eye out for further information next week!

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 2 who have improved their attendance this fortnight!

Breakdown of last fortnight:

Year Level	School Attendance Percentage
Foundation	91.61%
Year 1	89.34%
Year 2	93.47%
Year 3	93.48%
Year 4	91.82%
Year 5	93.30%
Year 6	91.12%
School Average	92.02%

Term 1 Attendance Summary

GEM Award Winners

Congratulations to our GEM award winners who have each demonstrated Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness during the past fortnight.

(L-R) Emma, Rhianne, Harper, Lily & Georgie.

Cyber Safety Resources & Social Media Age Restrictions

As mentioned in previous newsletters, we have partnered with a well renowned cyber safety organisation Safe on Social (Ctrl+Shft). 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:

Ctrl+Shft+Connect_The Australian 16+ Age Delay.pdf

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

Social-media-age-restrictions-general-flyer-A4-Upd.pdf

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.