Engagement & Wellbeing

Resilience, Rights & Respectful Relationships: 

This term, the Year 1/2 students have been exploring the topic Positive Coping as part of our Respectful Relationships program.

Over the past few weeks, we have been working on identifying and discussing the emotions students might feel when they lose or are excluded from a game or play. They discussed emotions such as fear, anxiety and anger. Throughout the lessons, students develop understanding of how their body might respond and that these emotions are very normal and felt by everyone including adults and teachers. We discussed that it is important to have positive coping strategies when experiencing these emotions so that we can express ourselves in safe and respectful ways. The 1/2 students discussed strategies like deep breathing and counting to help calm the feelings of anxiety and anger. They also talked about strategies around fairness and working out who goes first in a game as well as identifying strengths they can use to play well with others including patience and kindness. 

The next steps for our 1/2 students are to discuss and explore what it means to be an ‘upstander’. As a school we talk about an ‘upstander’ as being someone who makes the choice to solve problems respectfully. As opposed to a ‘bystander’ – someone who sees a problem but does nothing to help.

We are so proud of the way our students continue to earn these rewards by making positive choices every day!

In Grade 3-4, students have continued reviewing our class and school expectations this term, focusing on demonstrating our three School Values in all settings. As teachers, we love seeing our students actively working to uphold these values, and are proud to present them with ‘Gugu Stickers’ to acknowledge and reinforce these positive behaviours. 

For our students, Gugu Stickers = rewards, and it is no surprise that this is an exciting, and motivating factor for them! Here are some of their responses about why they enjoy our ‘Gugu reward’ system. 

• “I like it because it’s like a reward for all of our effort” - Audrey 
• “We get to do fun things as a reward” - Ava
• “The rewards make us excited to come to school” - Grace 
• “It gives us something to look forward to” - Eve
• “The rewards give us something to aim and work towards” - Jakobe

This year, our classes have enjoyed a Chipnic, a class special snack, class party, games on the basketball court, casual clothes/dress up days, bringing a toy… and more! We can’t wait to see what other, creative ideas they come up with in the future, as a fun way of celebrating their commitment to our School Values!

SRC Update

🎉 Dress Up Day

Thank you to everyone who supported our Dress Up Day last week! It was so much fun seeing lots of mini professionals dressed as their future careers — and there were quite a few Spring Gully teacher clones walking around too!

With your support, we raised an amazing $408.70. Thank you!

🍩 Next Up: Donut Day!

Orders are now open in Compass! Students have the option to purchase a donut to enjoy for afternoon tea on Friday 28 August (Book Week Day!). These will be delivered to classrooms in time for recess.

Available options include:

• 🍩 Cinnamon
• 🍩 Glazed
• 🍩 Gluten Free

If your child has additional dietary considerations, please select the GF option and specify their requirements with your child's teacher. We will do our best to find an alternative treat to suit their needs.

Donut Vouchers

Families also have the option of purchasing Walker's Donuts vouchers. Each voucher entitles you to 6 donuts, which can be redeemed at a time that suits you, with your choice of variety.

Walker's Donuts have generously offered $6 from every voucher purchased to go towards our SRC fundraising!

So please ask your friends, family and co-workers — or simply purchase some additional vouchers yourself. They make a pretty awesome gift, too! 🍩

Orders close Monday 24 August and are PRE-ORDER ONLY!

So do-nut delay! Get round to ordering quickly, or you might miss out and be left with a hole lot of regret! 🍩

🎨 Mural News!

A school mural was the second-place choice when students voted for their favourite SRC initiative for 2026. Our focus has therefore been on raising funds towards the students' top choice: an outdoor table tennis table.

But thanks to the incredible generosity of our community, the mural is back on the to-do list! 🎨

Students have been invited to submit their own designs for consideration. Selected designs will then be collated to create a range of unique mural options, and all students will get the opportunity to vote for their favourite!

We would like to extend a huge thank you to Kate Smith for generously offering her time and expertise to this project. We know this is going to be something very special that will brighten our school and be enjoyed by our students for years to come.

To see examples of Kate's incredible work and support her, please visit her Instagram page.

Student designs are due by Monday 31 August.

Lunchtime Sports Club

The SRC's Lunchtime Sports Club has been a huge success! 

The club will continue to run fortnightly, with junior and senior students alternating each session. This week's sporting focus is back to dodgeball, by popular request! It is junior week this week. After seeing their dodgeball form last term, it is sure to be chaotic fun! 

Victorian Premiers' Reading Challenge

One month left! So far we have 29 students who have completed the challenge. As a school students' have read a combined 1901 books since the beginning of the challenge- incredible effort! 

Let's see how many more we can read in the next 30 days!

Hats are back...Soon!

As a proud SunSmart school, students will be asked to wear broad-brimmed hats or bucket hats outside from 1st September. This is in line with the Cancer Council’s SunSmart recommendation that hats be worn from this date through to the end of April. Although it may not feel like hat weather, UV levels can still be damaging on cool, cloudy days.

Staff will spend the first few days reminding students of this change. Following this, students without an appropriate hat will be required to remain in the shaded area around the Hub during lunch and recess.

Too much of the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation can cause sunburn, skin and eye damage and skin cancer. UV damage accumulated during childhood and adolescence is associated with an increased risk of skin cancer later in life. Skin cancer is the most common cancer in Australia. It is also one of the most preventable cancers. You can’t see or feel the sun’s UV. Whatever the weather, if the UV levels are three or more, it’s important to Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek and Slide!

Families are encouraged to access the daily local sun protection times via the SunSmart widget on the school’s website, free SunSmart app, sunsmart.com.au or bom.gov.au.

Hats may be purchased from our uniform supplier, Noone.

Noone's hours are Monday to Friday 9 am-5 pm and Saturday 9 am-12 pm.

Noone

21 Queen Street

Bendigo Victoria 3550

Phone: 03 7018 4199 Email: Bendigo@noone.com.au