Enter the Wellbeing Zone

Welcome to the Wellbeing Zone. When you enter the zone, you will find a wealth of information about all the things happening in the Wellbeing space at Sunshine Heights PS as well as strategies, articles, book recommendations and events that will help build our dream and culture of Wellbeing throughout our school community, inside and outside of school, so that we can sail together through a universe of possibilities with all the emotional and social skills we need to thrive.

Words to meditate on.

There's only so many times we can say: "We've got this" Right? I know how fatigued you all must be. This lockdown is hard. So, so hard. Instead of saying too much, I thought I would share with you some words from one of my greatest muses. They seem like the perfect words we could all do with to meditate on right now.

But remember, you don't have to tough it out alone. We are all here for you. Don't be afraid to reach out.

With love,

Francine

<3

Lockdown Wellbeing Resources

We know how tough these times we are living in can be and the impact they can have on the mental health and wellbeing of our children and families. Don't forget that there is lots of support out there.

Here's some support links that may help ride yet another wave of immenseness, particularly while we remain in lockdown. Some of these resources like Kids Helpline and Beyond Blue include phone numbers for anyone needs counselling support and advice during this time.

Kids Helpline - Guide to Everything Novel CoronavirusBeyond Blue - Coping with Isolation and Being at HomeBlack Dog Institute - Coronavirus: Reassuring your child about the unknown Covid-19 Parental Resource Kit

Virtual Zine Club with Sticky Institute

A massive thank you to all of our awesome young zine makers who came along to this week's virtual zine clubs and gave so much creative energy. We were super excited (and lucky!) to have Sammy and Helen, legendary zine makers from Sticky Institute, join us for our virtual zine clubs these past two weeks, and it was amazing to see them help our students bring their zine ideas to life.

The zines that emerged from the depths of the sessions very much warmed this heart and I can't wait to see them in the flesh when we come back to school. When we return to school, Kylie and I will be running one more face-to-face zine session where we will get our young zine makers together to photocopy their zines and create a display.

I'm not sure about you all, but I was so inspired that I think I'll spend all of my locked down weekend this weekend making zines!

For anyone interested in exploring some zine making tools, Sammy and Helen have put together some fantastic resources for you to stretch & explore! <3

8-page mini zine tutorials

This is what was taught by Helen and Sammy in Zine Club this week...

How To Make a One Page ZINE!

18/16 page zine video tutorials

For anyone needing more pages or just wanting to challenge their zine making skills!

Zine TemplatesElectric Zine Maker

Escalation & De-Escalation PD with Sue Wilkinson

Last Tuesday, our awesome 3/4 and Specialist teams gathered online for the second session of our PD with behaviour expert, Sue Wilkinson, where we dug deep into exploring the functions of behaviour to help us build our understanding of what behaviours are communicating to us. Important work in helping our students grow! The next session, in two weeks, will be exploring strategies around escalation and de-escalation, connected to the Zones of Regulation.

We can't wait to take this work into the classrooms and spread it around the school!

School Leaders

Despite Covid spoiling our plans to connect face-to-face, the school leaders showed resilience and a determination not to be defeated! In fact, they showed great initiative in calling a webex meeting so that they could have some time together developing the next steps of their passion projects that will impact the school community. It was great to reconnect and to ideate and we can't wait to share all of their amazing ideas with you! This week, Daisy, one of our student leaders, launched the first of their passion projects through a Seesaw Activity that went out to all students in the activity section of each of the Specialist Exhibition Classes. Daisy is collecting student voice on ways to improve the school and has set up an amazing survey for students to respond to. If your child hasn't had a chance to complete it, please take a few moments to get them to share their voice! Jessica will also be launching her passion project on inclusion and diversity next week, so keep your eyes peeled to the activities section of the Specialist Exhibition Seesaw classes!

Wellbeing Resources

This lockdown has hit hard, and the extension of it even harder. That's why we need a toolbox of strategies (or maybe an entire tool shed!) to help us stay focused, calm and connected. I discovered this amazing resource, published by the Queensland Department of Education, that is JAM packed with mindfulness, gratitude and wellbeing activities that should lift the spirits!

Maddy & Bea Provocations

Maddy and Bea are up to their usual business of making magic, even in lockdown! This week they have taken to Seesaw with another beautiful provocation - FABRIC and SLOW-MOOOO, which invited students to show how they were feeling in this moment in lockdown using movement and fabric.

There were so many beautiful responses, but it was the caption on this one below that stole my heart: "This is me letting go of things I can't control and I feel good, like a stroll in a beautiful park."

Be still, our hearts.

Don't forget, Maddy and Bea will be joining us one more next week for their exciting timetable of extra special webex's, running some live movement provocations!

Need to reach me?

To discuss anything Wellbeing related, feel free to contact me via email or the school phone number!

EMAIL - Francine.Sculli@education.vic.gov.au PHONE - 8311 7100

Sunny Pod