Student
Wellbeing

School Wide Positive Behaviour Support

Each fortnight, we have a school wide focus around our school values of Be Safe, Be Friendly and Be a Learner. We call this a Mini Blitz!

Our current focus is on respecting and taking care of our equipment and belongings, both in the classroom and out on the yard. We have shared this message during assembly, within each classroom and a video starring some of our school leaders!

Mini Blitz:

We need to look after our belongings and equipment too,
inside and outside of the classroom is the right thing to do.
This means taking care of our shred equipment,
making sure it's returned safely is our commitment.

Each week, we count up our pebbles across the whole school. Pebbles are earned by students who are following the school expectations! These pebbles are tallied up. We are excited to share a new way of tracking and celebrating our pebble tally soon!

Sun Safety

Term 1 and 4 we encourage the message and importance of being SunSmart. This includes wearing hats each time we go outside. This year we have introduced sunscreen stations around the yard. These stations allow students to apply sunscreen when out on the yard. Each classroom also has access to sunscreen and students are encouraged to apply before going outside.

Attendance

You can view your child's attendance on the SimonEverywhere App. Attendance percentage appears just below the students profile when you click on the home icon.

Each edition of the newsletter we share the attendance percentage from the previous two weeks. Below is a break down of our first fortnight back at school. The aim is 95% attendance. While it's wonderful to be aiming for 95-100% we know that this is not always possible with illness, fatigue and family days all factors across the duration of a term.

Each newsletter will include a visual graph (below) as well as the breakdown of numbers. We will track our attendance through these graphs each edition of the newsletter.

Breakdown of last fortnight:

Year Level	School Attendance Percentage
Foundation	88.38%
Year 1	88.77%
Year 2	91.03%
Year 3	92.29%
Year 4	91.94%
Year 5	93.70%
Year 6	91.11%
School Average	91.83%

GEM Award Winners

Congratulations to our GEM award winners who have each demonstrated Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness during the past fortnight.

(L-R) Jenson, Adeline, Olivia & Annabel

TAC - The Safe Migration Project

Welcome to our new Prep families! We warmly welcome all our new Prep students and their parents, carers and families as you begin your exciting school journey! Starting primary school is the perfect time to build safe travel habits to and from school.

Whether your family walks, cycles, scoots, or drives, there are simple steps we can all take to make every school journey safer. We're excited to share the TAC’s Safe Migration Project resources with you, designed to give schools and families the support needed to help children travel safely to and from school.

The TAC’s Safe Migration Project includes a fun and engaging video that shows the many ways children get to and from school, and reminds us how important it is to make every journey a safe one. You can also find a helpful fact sheet with practical safe travel tips and resources.

Watch the TAC’s Safe Migration video below.

Read the fact sheet below (available in multiple languages) for practical, easy-to-follow safe travel tips for parents and carers, available here. Let’s work together to make every school journey a safe one.

Starting-primary-school-fact-sheet.pdf

Cyber Safety Resources & Social Media Age Restrictions

As mentioned in previous newsletters at the end of last year, we have partnered with a well renowned cyber safety organisation Safe on Social (Ctrl+Shft). Recently this organisation released a parent and carer guide on the impending 16+ age restriction on social media accounts. Please click the link below for this highly helpful guide:

Ctrl+Shft+Connect_The Australian 16+ Age Delay.pdf

Another helpful resource (including a QR code for further support) from the eSafety Commissioner:

Social-media-age-restrictions-general-flyer-A4-Upd.pdf

As part of our partnership with Safe on Social (Ctrl+Shift), we have a library of resources, cheat sheets and supports regarding any aspect of Cyber Safety/Online Gaming/Social Media. If you are finding any of these a challenge with your child, please feel free to reach out and we can provide some specific information and support in this space.

For more information email: dboulton@smkangarooflat.catholic.edu.au

Hats

We continue to encourage the importance of being Sun Smart with a focus on all students wearing an appropriate hat.

Fresh Fruit Friday

Thanks to The Mckern Foundation for donating fresh fruit to our school weekly.

This is a great initiative but please make sure children are still bringing a piece of fruit in their lunchbox for fruit break as fruit is not available all week.

Season’s for Growth

A grief and loss program

Change and loss are issues that affect all of us at some stage in our lives. At St Monica’s we recognise that when changes occur in families through death, separation, divorce or related circumstances, children and young people may benefit from learning how to manage these changes effectively. We are therefore offering a very successful education program called Seasons for Growth. This program is facilitated in small groups and is based on research that highlights the importance of social support and the need to practise new skills to cope effectively with change and loss. The program focuses on issues such as self-esteem, managing feelings, problem-solving, decision-making, effective communication and support networks. Seasons for Growth runs for eight weeks and each weekly session is 40-50 minutes during school hours. The program concludes with a 'Celebration' session. Later in the year each group will have the opportunity to meet for a re-connector session to build on their earlier learning and to follow up how each child is going.

Seasons for Growth is facilitated by Bronwyn Fieldew ( Family Liaison Officer) who has received special training in the use of this program.

For more information please contact Bronwyn at the school and/or express your interest in this program by filling out the email form below which will be sent to Bronwyn Fieldew. St Monica’s is pleased to be able to offer this important program and we are confident that it will be a valuable learning experience for those who request to be involved.

Please send an email below letting us know if your child would like your child/children to participate in this program. Please include the following information:

Student name, class and whether they have experienced separation or loss.