Wellbeing
Our Lady of the Southern Cross Primary School
Wellbeing Focus: Friendship Skills & Online Kindness
Friendships are an important part of children’s wellbeing and help them feel connected and confident at school. Learning how to make and keep friends involves practicing skills such as kindness, listening, sharing, and including others.
Learning to Join a Game
One important friendship skill is knowing how to join in. Children can try:
- Watching the game first to understand how it works
- Asking politely: “Can I play too?”
- Waiting for the right moment to join in
Encouraging respectful behaviour helps create a playground where everyone feels welcome.
Parent Tip: Encouraging Kindness
Parents and carers can support friendship skills by:
- Talking about the importance of kindness and inclusion
- Encouraging children to invite others to play
- Praising acts of empathy and helpfulness
Cyber Safety and Online Friendships
Many children also connect with friends online through games or messaging. It’s important to remind children that the same rules of kindness apply online.
Encourage children to:
- Be respectful in online chats and games
- Only communicate with people they know in real life
- Tell a trusted adult if something online makes them uncomfortable
- Never share personal information such as their address, school, or passwords
Try This at Home
Start a family conversation with the question:“What makes a good friend?”
Talk about qualities such as kindness, honesty, listening, and including others—both at school and online.
Wellbeing book of the Month
My Body has a Bubble is a children's picture book that uses the metaphor of an "invisible bubble" to teach kids about personal space, body boundaries, and respect for others.
Positive Behaviours for Learning
As part of our ongoing development as a PBL school we continue to explicitly teach & model expectations from our matrix. Our data has shown that we need to reteach the following expectations from our matrix.
- We use kind words and actions
- We take ownership for our actions
- We include others
- We work cooperatively
We never give up when things get hard
We encourage all families to talk to their children about these expectations...what they look like, sound like & feel like.
Feel free to email Sandy or Kiah or call the school office if you have any concerns or need help at any time.
Sandy: shenderson@olscwyn.catholic.edu.au Kiah: kmiles@olscwyn.catholic.edu.au
Cheers
Sandy & Kiah
