WELLBEING & LEARNING DIVERSITY

Positive Behaviour for Learning: I am safe

This term we've been focusing on our PBL expectation "I follow all routines and procedures." We've had a focus on the line-up routine for the past few weeks and have recently moved onto practicing the stair routine. 

When students follow our school routines they are demonstrating the St Joseph's expectation "I am safe." Students are earning house point tokens at a record pace for following the new routines! 

As well as working hard to be the winning house at the end of the term, the students are also working to achieve a combined whole-school total of 4,500 points which will unlock a mystery whole school reward.... You can keep up to date with our points tally in the undercroft area. 

UR Strong Focus of the Week

Classes across the school from Prep to Year 6 have been enthusiastically diving into trialing our new social-emotional learning program, U R Strong. We've been learning how build our "inner ninja" which is all about self-confidence and 0being a kind friend to ourselves, the basics of good friendships and talking about what a 'normal' friendship might look like.

We strongly encourage you to take advantage of the many free resources available to parents, now that we are a URSTRONG school. Please see below for details on how to access:

Dear Parents,

 

URSTRONG’s whole-school friendship strategy has improved the social climate in schools around the world, connecting over a million kids, parents, and teachers with a common language of friendship. We are proud to be a URSTRONG School and are committed to empowering your children with friendship skills.

 

You are invited to take advantage of a FREE Parent Membership to access hundreds of resources – including an 8 session video series. This will allow you to learn the same language & strategies being taught in the classroom through the Friendology 101 curriculum. We hope that, as a URSTRONG Family, you will reinforce the important messages of empowerment, self-compassion, & kindness at home.

 

As a next step, we would recommend:

• Click here to view an overview of URSTRONG.
• Activate your FREE Parent Membership and explore all the resources available to your family.
• Explore the hundreds of resources available to you!

 

We believe that empowering our students with these skills will create a culture of kindness at our school and we hope that, together, we can support your children to have healthy, feel-good friendships.

Transition to Year 7 with Headspace 

Our Year 6 students have begun our transition to Year 7 program with a seminar by Headspace. Last week, the Year 6 students and teachers participated in an online workshop - Transitions: Primary to Secondary workshop. 

The aims of the session were supporting young people to:

• Understand how transition and change can impact mental health
• Manage stress that can result from change in their lives
• Build resilience and healthy coping skills
• Strengthen sense of connection and belonging
• Learn about help seeking and support pathways. 

Our school cares about the safety and wellbeing of our students and their families. 

Sometimes things at home or in a relationship are not OK or families can be worried about the wellbeing of their children or young people. 

The Orange Door can help you to get the support you need, quickly and easily. 

It’s free and you don’t need a referral. 

The Orange Door

The Orange Door can help families. They provide support for concerns with parenting, relationships, and family violence. The Orange Door is a free intake and assessment service for: 

• families requiring support for their child or young person’s wellbeing or development 

• families needing parenting support 

• young, isolated, or unsupported families 

• individuals and families experiencing family violence 

• adults using family violence 

• young people using violence in the home. 

If you contact The Orange Door, they can help by: 

• working with you to identify the help and support you need 

• supporting you with the wellbeing and development of your child or young person 

• helping you make a safety plan if someone is making you feel unsafe 

• connecting you to services that can help like counselling, accommodation, mental health and drug and alcohol services, parenting support groups, services for children, financial help, or legal assistance 

• supporting you to access funding for basic living expenses and some other costs 

• supporting you to change abusive or controlling behaviour. 

Each Orange Door location across Victoria has their own phone number and email. Students and their families can also visit their local Orange Door in person for support, Monday to Friday, 9am - 5pm for support. No appointment is needed. 

To find your local service, see: The Orange Door – Support near you. 

How schools connect with The Orange Door 

Our school might talk to a student and/or their family about The Orange Door. We might encourage them to contact their local Orange Door to get advice and help if needed. Ideally, a student and/or their family will get in touch with The Orange Door to seek advice and support. 

Sometimes, schools might make a referral to The Orange Door without the student or their family’s knowledge or consent. Schools will do this if: 

• informing a student and/or family increases the risk to their safety or wellbeing 

• not linking a student to support increases the risk of their safety and wellbeing. 

You can learn more about: 

• The Orange Door and how they can help you and your family here. 

• how our school keeps our students safe by reading our Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy and our Child Safety Code of Conduct.