Wellbeing

Ms Deb Haddow

BREAKFAST CLUB: MONDAY, WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY

This term we continue our popular Breakfast Club program in the space at the side of the music room. This is a grab and go service offering fruit, milk, packets of cereal and now....toast!

The program operates from 8.35am—8.50am Monday, Wednesday and Friday—yes, just 15 minutes, but enough time to grab and eat on the way to class. Ms Naomi McMaster organises the program. We would love to have the help of some more volunteers, especially now that we will be cooking toast. If you think you could help to cook toast for 15 minutes on any of the mornings, please email me (debraanne.haddow@education.vic.gov.au ). You would just need to have your Working With Children Check and complete the Child Safe Training—as every volunteer does.

SPOTLIGHT ON: MANAGING EMOTIONS

Understanding and managing emotions is important for development and wellbeing. According to research, children who have the ability to regulate their emotions effectively in their early years tend to be more motivated to learn, have a positive attitude towards school, participate well in the classroom, and feel happier in their school environment.

Our THRIVE Curriculum has work for students based around this. Recognizing and naming emotions helps children understand emotions. This lays the groundwork for managing emotions.

Some of the helpful skills we teach to help students manage their emotions are:

Practice deep breathing. Teach your child how to breathe in slowly and quietly through their nose and then out through their mouth.
Count to calm down. Teach your child to distract themselves from upsetting thoughts by counting.
Take a break.
Create a calm-down kit.
Problem-solve with your child
Build a positive mindset.

We also try to help student build perspective of their problems by using a Catastrophe Scale. A catastrophe scale is a measurement system that helps children with anxiety put things into perspective. It can be used to help students with anxiety put things into perspective. The scale organizes issues from 1 to 5 or 1 to 10, from most serious to least serious. The scale is a great reference for when children need to decide the severity of their issue. Children needing extra support work with the Wellbeing team or in Social Skill groups to help them develop the skills.