Wellbeing and Inclusion 

Dear Karoo Community,

Restorative Practices and Affective Statements

As part of our ongoing learning and implementation of restorative practices, we continue to explore the different elements of the Restorative Continuum, as seen on Karoo PS's Student Engagement Plan.

Affective Statements and Interactions are the first two elements on the continuum.  They are designed to be short statements and interactions that reinforce emotional language and positive interactions.  Everyday our teachers strategically plan for how to use emotion/feeling words to support students emotional development.  

This is also a strategy that you are able to use at home with your children.  The article below outlines what Affective Statements are, their purpose and how they can be developed and used at home.

If you have any further questions about the use of Affective Statements, please don't hesitate to ask your child's teacher.

Attitudes to School Survey

At Karoo PS, we value student voice as a means to improve student engagement, wellbeing and effective teaching and learning. The Attitudes to School Survey (AtoSS) is an annual student survey offered to students from Year 4 to Year 6 by the Department of Education and Training.  It's purpose is to assist schools in gaining an understanding of students' perceptions and experience of school. 

Our school has recently received our AtoSS survey results, which have shown clear improvements in a range of areas:

• 95% of our students believe that our teachers have high expectations for their learning 
• 87% of our students feel a sense of inclusion at our school
• 84% of our students believe attending school is important
• 84% of our students report that they are not experiencing bullying at school, this is up from 74% in 2022.  
• 69% of our students reported that they know how to seek help.  This has increased from 62% in 2022 and 55% in 2021.  This result is also above similar schools (65%) and the state (67%) results and is an area that we are focusing on closely to improve further through our work with restorative practices, wellbeing sessions and the Resilient, Rights, and Respectful Relationship curriculum. 

Child Safe Standards

All children have the right to feel safe and be safe at school.  A child safe organisation, such as Karoo PS, takes intentional steps to support students to feel safe at school. Victoria's mandatory Child Safe Standards have been in effect since 2016.  A child safe organisation continually reflects on their efforts to implement the Child Safe Standards and continually builds their capacity to do this effectively.  Please see an outline of the Child Safe Standards below.

Supporting Students during Transition

As we approach the end of 2023, it is important to support our students during their transition to the next year of school.  Transitioning to a new year level or class can be a significant time of change for students, and along with feelings of excitement, they can also feel nervousness and worry, due to the uncertainty of what may happen next.  We all know that experiencing change and learning how to work through these feelings is important for our development.  Therefore,  by providing students with transition support we can encourage their social and emotional development. 

At Karoo PS we support students during transition times, through a range of ways, which can include the following;

• Social Stories
• Step Up Days
• Meet the Teacher Days
• Meet the Class Days
• Transition Plans
• Staff Communication
• Student Voice
• Parent Communication
• Wellbeing sessions focused on emotions and change

Overall, providing support through transitions can help ensure students wellbeing, and academic needs are catered for and it also fosters a sense of belonging and connectedness with school.  

If you would like to support your child further at home during this time, you can do so in the following ways:

• Provide emotional support and reassurance when needed
• Listen to your child's excitement and/or concerns and validate their feelings
• Discuss with them the change that is coming up and the different feelings that they may have when things change
• Talk about the different emotions and that it is okay to feel these
• Continue with normal routines at home to help your child feel a sense of stability during times of change
• Encourage your child would to talk to their teacher about how they are feeling
• Communicate with your child's teacher to ensure that all understand how your child is feeling 

We look forward to working with our students and families during this next exciting time.

I look forward to seeing you all soon.

Kind Regards, 

Courtney Hoffmann

Wellbeing and Inclusion Assistant Principal (A)