Pastoral Wellbeing

Mental Health and Wellbeing in Primary Schools (MHiPS)

Welcome back to Term 3, everyone! I hope you all had a restful holiday break and are feeling fresh and ready for lots of fun and learning in this new term. It's already looking to be a very busy term with the school calendar filling up quickly with engaging activities and lots of learning, and while it's great to be busy it's also important to take time out to check in with our mental health too. One good way to check in with our children's mental health is to use this Mental Health Continuum which has been developed by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. 

The Raising Healthy Minds app by raisingchildren.net.au has published an animation video to help showcase what the Continuum is and how it can be used to support children's social and emotional wellbeing. 

The Resilience Project (TRP)

It's been terrific to see the students return to school and eagerly engage with our TRP program after the holiday break. In both Junior and Senior classes, we've been focusing on the GEM trait of Mindfulness, with students completing mindful yoga, belly breathing and mindful shapes. Some great discussion was held with the Senior students around the use of Mindful Shapes as a calming strategy and this may be something families might like to incorporate into your routines at home too:

The Junior students really enjoyed participating in some Mindful Yoga activities so please find attached instructions for accessing these videos at home:

Our GEM chat focus for this fortnight is:

Loddon Children's Health and Wellbeing Local- Small Towns Project

We are so pleased to be working in partnership with the Loddon Children's Health and Wellbeing Local- Small Towns Project this year. The Small Towns Project has developed some useful resources for families around children's mental health and wellbeing. I'll continue to share these helpful tips and posters in our newsletter with our St Mary's community as these resources are terrific to use when supporting your child's mental health and wellbeing.

Bullying No Way: National Week of Action

Bullying No Way: National Week of Action (11-15 August) is an Australia-wide bullying prevention initiative for schools. Below I have included some links and information from eSafety.gov.au regarding upcoming webinars for parents and carers which you may like to explore.