Echuca Twin Rivers Primary School 

Student Wellbeing 

Upcoming Wellbeing events in Term 2: 

  • GRIP Leadership Conference- Year 5/6 Leaders (May 1st)
  • Reconciliation Week- (Week 6/7)
  • Attitudes to School Survey (AToSS) Week 7 & 8 (Year 4-6)
  • Glasses for Kids (Week 10- June 23rd & 24th)
  • LifeChanger- Year 6.

Wellbeing Structure-

Tegan is our Mental Health and Wellbeing Leading Teacher. She is full time in this role. 

 

Nicole is our Primary Wellbeing Officer. She works Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday each week. 

 

Kimmie is our Disability Inclusion and Wellbeing Education Support Staff member. She works Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday each week. 

 

Attitudes to School Survey (AToSS)

In Week 7 & 8 (between June 3rd-13th) at ETRPS our Year 4-6 students will take part in AToSS. Please see details below for more information. 

PARENT / CAREGIVER / GUARDIAN INFORMATION AND CONSENT LETTER

2025 Student Attitudes to School Survey

 

Dear Parent / Caregiver / Guardian,

This letter is to inform you about the 2025 Student Attitudes to School Survey (AtoSS), which all government school students in Years 4 to 12 will be invited to complete.

About the survey

The AtoSS is a voluntary student survey offered by the Department of Education every year to help schools and the department understand students' experiences of school. We will ask your child about their thoughts and feelings about their school, their learning, relationships with other students, resilience, bullying, health and wellbeing, physical activity, and life in general.

ORIMA Research Pty Ltd has been contracted by the department to manage the collection of the online survey and will provide support to schools through a telephone hotline and email.

This year, the survey will be conducted at your school from 12th May to 13th June.

What are the benefits?

Young people enjoy having a say! This survey has been running for nearly 20 years and helps schools plan programs and activities to improve your child's engagement with school, their wellbeing and their learning. The survey data also helps the Department of Education understand how to improve student learning.

What are the risks?

We don’t expect many risks of participation, but some students may find some questions personal or sensitive. If you agree for your child to take part, they can still skip questions or withdraw at any time whilst completing the survey if it makes them upset or uncomfortable. A teacher will be present during the survey to support students.

The questions come from validated survey instruments used in Australia and around the world. They focus on your child’s strengths and are designed for each year level group.

What will my child be asked to do?

Your child will be invited to complete the survey online during class time using a purpose built secure online survey tool. We are not “testing” your child. Please note:

  • Students can choose if they want to take part, skip questions if they don’t want to answer, and can stop doing the survey at any time.
  • There are different versions of the survey to let all students take part.
  • The survey will take around 20-40 minutes to complete.

How is my child’s privacy protected?

A teacher will give your child a unique login to complete the survey. This unique student login is an assigned identifier that will be used by the department to link data for analysis and research only. Some student demographic data such as year level, gender, age, and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status are provided to ORIMA research, and linked with the unique student login ID to administer the survey. This information helps to support analysis and research, to paint a clearer picture of how Victorian school students are faring.

ORIMA Research will only use student personal information for research purposes to facilitate the administration and data collection of the Attitudes to School Survey. To keep your child’s survey answers private, ORIMA Research won’t include any personally identifiable data in the survey answers file that is provided to the department.

 All data is stored on servers located in Australia, and only staff who are working on the project can access it.

All information collected about your child will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Data and Protection Act 2014 (Vic), the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) and the Public Records Act 1973 (Vic), as well as the Department’s Schools’ Privacy Policy. Please note that consistent with the above legislation and our policy, there are instances where we may be required by law to share information provided by your child. For example, where there is a threat to your child’s health and safety.

How will results be reported?

The department will only use aggregated state-wide survey data to report on initiatives and this data may also be used in public discussions of issues about student engagement and wellbeing. An example of how survey data has been previously used includes reporting levels of student engagement in the Performance Summary in the Annual Report to the School Community. The department will not share any identifiable student data with any other party.

Your child’s school will only get reports about groups of students. Information about individual students and the student answers data file will not be shared with schools. If there are low numbers of student answers to a question, the report will not show results for this question to protect the privacy of those students.

Your school may share the survey report back to you.

What if I don’t want my child to do the survey?

This survey is voluntary. If you do not want your child to do the survey, please opt out by emailing your school at echuca.twin.rivers.ps@education.vic.gov.au before the survey starts on June 2nd, 2025. 

Student personal information will be shared with ORIMA Research to facilitate survey preparations prior to this opt out process. If you opt your child out of participating, then your school will ensure that your child is not provided with access to the survey. Student details will be deleted by ORIMA Research at the conclusion of the survey.

If your school does not receive a “Refusal of Consent” email from you before the survey begins, we will assume that you agree for your child to take part in the 2025 Attitudes to School Survey. Please remember, as noted above, the survey is voluntary: even with your consent, your child can choose to skip questions or stop doing the survey at any time.

For more information about this survey, including the questions your child will be asked to answer, please visit the department’s survey information page.

If you would like more information or have any concerns about the survey, please speak to your child’s teacher, or contact the department at school.surveys@education.vic.gov.au.

 

Yours sincerely,

Department of Education, Victoria

 

Term 2 Wellbeing Support at ETRPS-

Meet our KESO Paul! 

 

Koorie Engagement Support Officers (KESOs) are part of an area-based team of professionals who understand Aboriginal culture and history of the community. 

 

KESOs support schools with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners to participate fully in education by providing advice and building capability within schools. 

 

Together with their student support colleagues, KESOs may:

  • guide schools about culturally-inclusive learning environments
  • identify services to support student engagement and improved outcomes
  • support schools to build relationships with Koorie students and families.

 

KESOs are not qualified mental health practitioners or allied health professionals, however, as part of a multi-disciplinary team, are able to guide schools towards the most appropriate resources to support Koorie students.

 

Paul is a valued member of our school community. He visits our school each week on Thursdays. Feel free to pop in and say hello, or contact him if you have any questions on 0437 557 360. 

 

Thanks for all you do for us Paul!

 

We welcome Lachlan Shelley who is completing his 2nd placement of Social Services studies through Torrens University.

Lachlan will be supervised and supported by the wellbeing team - Nicole, Tegan and Kimmie. He will be with us for approx. 7 weeks, 3 days a week (Wed – Fri). 

Lachlan will be working with students 1:1 and in small groups to support student wellbeing through Social Emotional Learning (SEL). 

Lachlan has prior experience from his 1st placement at another local school, working closely with students in the Hands On Learning team.

Welcome Lachlan! 

Glasses for Kids- Term 2 visit.

In Term 2 the 'Glasses for Kids' program will come to ETRPS. This is a free initiative supported by State Schools Relief and aims to support students from Prep to Year 3. All forms are due on May the 23rd- next Friday! Please ask at the office if you require a new one. 

 

Resilience, Rights & Respectful Relationships, (RRRR)-

 

During Term 2, our students will be learning about Respectful Relationships through their learning in RRRR Wellbeing Sessions.

 

Parents and carers as partners:

Parents and carers are a child’s first and most important teachers, particularly in relation to teaching core values and key social and emotional skills. The RRRR resource encourages students to talk with parents, carers, Elders and family members about what they are learning within RRRR. 

 

 Please read your child's Department Newsletter for a more in depth overview of the content to be covered in your child's year level in Term 2.

 

Online Doctor

 

BRAVE Program-

 

The BRAVE program is an online self-help program that contains both resources and information for children, teenagers and their parents. BRAVE Program is free of charge to all young people, parents/carers, and professionals who live within Australia. It is designed specifically to help young people with anxiety overcome their worries and improve the quality of their lives.

 

BRAVE is a cognitive behaviour therapy tool based on established clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of child and adolescent anxiety, as described by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.

 

No matter how old or young you are, everyone experiences anxiety at times. We here at the BRAVE program know that worrying about things all the time is tough. The BRAVE program was developed to help young people and their parents develop skills and coping strategies so that your worries and anxiety don’t stop young people from doing the things you want or need to do.

 

The BRAVE Team also know how hard it can be to make the time to fit everything in! The BRAVE program is an online program that you can work through at your own speed in the privacy of your own home.

 

Wombats Wish- Grief Support

 

ROAR- Intereach Family Mental Health Support Service-

ROAR is a service supported by Intereach in which families residing in NSW can access Early Intervention, short term assistance for free. Please see below for the flyer and further information. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Be You

Throughout 2025, ETRPS will continue working alongside Be You to support the Mental Health and Wellbeing of our community. 

 

Be You builds on the success and learnings from five existing programs aimed at promoting social and emotional health and wellbeing for children and young people in the education space: KidsMatter Early Childhood, KidsMatter Primary, MindMatters, Response Ability and headspace School Support. Be You is building on the evidence base and ten years of experience of these programs. These programs are now integrated into Be You – one single, national initiative delivered through early learning services, primary and secondary schools.

 

Through the partnership with Be You, staff will further develop knowledge about Mentally Healthy Communities and build our Mental Health Literacy understanding. 

 

Fly2Health

By way of introduction, at Fly2Health Victoria we fly experienced (no new grad) Speech Pathologists and OT's to Traralgon, Sale, Horsham, Swan Hill and Echuca every fortnight to serve participants of the NDIS and also private participants. If your school has NDIS participants that are unable to be seen in Echuca we have immediate availability for Speech and OT with our team. Our clinic in Echuca is based at the Echuca Neighbourhood House at 261 High St. We run the fortnightly clinic from 9am - 4pm every second Thursday (this Thursday the 18th of April). 

 

If you are an NDIS participants waiting for this service, please send this online referral through and we can commence services immediately. 

 

https://flyhealthgroup-2.snapforms.com.au/form/new-client-referral-form

 

Please see below for further details. 

 

Community Supports for our Parents 

Taking a moment to offload, let go and be heard   

 

Just having a chance to offload and let go of what is currently overwhelming us. Parentline is one of those supports. Connecting you with trained counsellors for a completely confidential conversation. Available 8am-Midnight 7 days a week. 

 

Definitely a number worth keeping on the fridge! 

 

Breakfast Club

Our Breakfast Club continues to run every morning at the Centre from 8.35am to 8.50am. We are so grateful to Foodbank Vic and Moama Bakery who generously provide food items for our students to enjoy. 

 

   Anglicare Early Help Services at ETRS

  Fly2Health is now operating weekly in Echuca!