Wellbeing & Engagement 

Respectful Relationships Network Forum

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to attend the Respectful Relationships Inner East Network Forum, along with Danielle Anderson (our RRRR leader) and two amazing students - our Wellbeing Captains, Arya and Anneliese. The Forum was attended by approximately 150 representatives of schools within the Inner East network.

Arya and Anneliese demonstrated incredible bravery by presenting to the entire group. They spoke about our wellbeing programs at Rangeview, including RRRR, The Resilience Project and Cyber Safety Project, and shared how students at the school have a voice and an opportunity to check in with their classroom teachers prior to RRRR lessons to determine the level of comfort or confidence when exploring new concepts. Their presentation was acknowledged with a huge round of applause from the audience and many educators from other schools made the effort to personally congratulate and thank our wellbeing captains. We are very proud of them.

Danielle and I also presented about how we approach Respectful Relationships as a school (and wellbeing as a whole) - and support staff and students in this space. As a RRRR Lead School, we were able to share some ideas, strategies and resources with many other schools in the network.

This was a hugely successful event where many schools (primary and secondary) across the network gathered to discuss current wellbeing practices and explore how we can continue to ensure this important work continues at schools and in the wider community into the future. The Government has also acknowledged the importance of schools' work in this space, with a commitment to ongoing funding for the Respectful Relationships as we move into the future.

Cyber Safety Project Incursions

Across both Wednesday and Thursday this week, our entire school participated in Cyber Safety Project incursions, which aimed to teach our students (and staff) more about digital wellbeing. 

This day and age, online safety and wellbeing is a huge area of focus for educators and parents alike, so it was wonderful to have the support of the Cyber Safety Project this week to help us proactively address this topic. As always, a simple message to children this age is to 'seek help'. If they come across anything online that makes them feel uncomfortable - whether it's a website, an image, a message from another person, and so on - the first step is to let a trusted adult know.

We strongly encourage you to create 'online contracts' with your children regarding device use at home. It can sometimes be counter-productive to put in place strict rules and expectations as a parent - but including your child in the conversation and giving them an opportunity to have a voice around their device use goes a long way to building trust. And we've found that children, when given an opportunity to be part of the conversation, actually design 'consequences' for misuse that are stronger than what adults might generally come up with!

A good 'online contract' could include the following:

• Regular, agreed-upon tech-free times
• Screen time limits and/or device curfews
• Content restrictions and privacy protections put in place
• A balance between 'homework' time and 'hobby' time
• No phones/iPads/other devices in bedrooms and bathrooms
• Information about online etiquette; using words online that you would only say to someone's face in person
• The understanding that passwords and login details are to be shared for all child-owned accounts
• Agreed steps to follow if/when a child feels unsafe or sees something that makes them feel uncomfortable - including names of trusted adults
• Regular opportunities for parents/carers to check device use (such as browser history)

Later this year, we will also have a special presentation from The Resilience Project for Rangeview community members to dig deeper into Online Safety and Digital Wellbeing.

The Resilience Project

At home, we hope you are hearing some updates from your children about their learning in The Resilience Project. Our whole school focus this term centres around gratitude, however students have continued to explore and develop the understanding of empathy, mindfulness and emotional literacy in different ways.

Thank you to the families who have contacted me with some feedback recently - it has been great to hear our school wellbeing programs are impacting on families at home in a positive way. A few emails highlighted that the conversations around the dinner table each night of 'What went well?' have helped students and families narrow in on the positives and sharing at home about school has become more open and detailed. This is wonderful!

Please continue to provide any feedback to me directly (liam.sommers@education.vic.gov.au).

Finally, here's a couple of GEM Chats you might like to try at home this week!

Rangeview Superhero Day!

Our annual Resilience and eSmart Superhero Day is quickly sneaking up on us! We will celebrate this on the last day of term - Friday 28th June. We encourage all students to dress up in a costume that represents a hero to them. 

Please pencil this date into the calendar - we are looking forward to a wonderful day! More information to come down the track...

Liam Sommers

Assistant Principal

Wellbeing and Engagement