Wellbeing Report 

Woori Wallabies Playgroup –starting Tuesday 2nd of March 1:30-3:00pm in the 

Multi-purpose room 

Breakfast program Tuesday & Thursday-cooking room 8:15am onwards

Grade 5/6 Melbourne/Urban Camp 

Last week we had a fabulous time exploring Melbourne’s CBD. Our students surpassed our expectations and I always enjoy seeing the world through their eyes. We visited the Shrine of Remembrance, MSAC/Holy Moly, Old Melbourne Goal, Melbourne Museum and the Zoo. The students learnt to manage the hustle and bustle of navigating the escalators, trams and trains. Overall, the staff were really impressed with the student’s behaviour, enthusiasm and curiosity.

LEGO & “I Spy” Books Wanted

Next term I will be running LEGO club.  LEGO club is very popular especially when the weather cools down and we are desperate to increase our LEGO resources.  We are currently running different activities everyday and these clubs are a great way for children to make more friends as well as have fun at recess or lunch breaks.  

We are in short supply of I Spy: A Book of Picture Riddles by Jean Marzollo. Due to COVID-19 Veronica and I are finding the books difficult to find at retail outlets. These books are in high demand and we would appreciate any of these as second hand books.  We are interested if any families have any LEGO sets or blocks that they no longer use. Please bring your donations to the office or speak to me if you have any questions. 

Respectful Relationships – Primary Schools 

What is Respectful Relationships?  Respectful Relationships is about tackling family violence through education. 

Rosie Batty, CEO of the Luke Batty Foundation “the school community is an essential part of social reform by modelling a culture of respect through the whole school, not just by teaching respect in the classroom”. 

Just like other major social and health issues such as smoking and road toll, evidence shows that family violence can be prevented by working across the whole population (in this case, all schools) to address the attitudes, beliefs and knowledge that support violence. 

The Victorian Government is investing heavily in resources to deliver the Respectful Relationships and as part of this initiative Victorian schools will be supported to review their practices and policies, and model respectful relationships and gender equality across the whole school community. 

A good education is about more than simply getting good marks. It is about becoming a member of society and succeeding in life – knowing how to build respectful relationships is key to achieving this.  When young people build positive relationships with their teachers and peers they feel safer and happier at school, are more resilient and have positive social attitudes. Positive relationships increase a young person’s sense of social connectedness and belonging to school and family, and result in better health and academic outcomes. 

Further information about Respectful Relationships is available on the Department of Education and Training website:

 www.education.vic.gov.au/respectfulrelationships.

As was the case in over the last few years at Woori, teachers will also be supported to deliver the initiative with age appropriate teaching and learning materials to be delivered through the school year.  These evidence based materials are designed to enable teachers to develop student’s social and emotional capabilities, build positive, healthy and respectful relationships, make responsible decisions and create positive gender relations.

The teaching of Respectful Relationships perfectly complements our work with the Resilience Project, with our ultimate goal being to encourage kids to grow up as resilient and respectful members of society.

Free Happy Families Membership

If you are a new family at the school you may not be aware that the school has a free membership to the Happy Families website. The school will have free access until August and I would like to encourage everyone to join.  The Happy Families membership gives you access to a number of resources which will help families, staff and students to thrive.  Every member will receive a weekly "Lighten the Load" email, which includes a quick, easy to apply tip from Dr. Justin, as well as some updates about other features in the membership. There is a library of parenting resources which offers calm assurance, direction and solutions you can try out on your families. 

Click on the link to join

https://members.happyfamilies.com.au/woori-yallock-primary-school

Dr. Justin Coulson Pod Casts

I find listening to Dr. Justin Coulson pod casts an easy way to start my day.  There are many topics that usually play for 20 minutes and I heard one about resilience that I’m sure you will find helpful. Highlights

We think it’s our job to prepare our children for a dog eat dog world by toughening them up. Many people think kids need to harden up and to figure it out.  This belief is damaging to kids as they need people who believe in them and that their feelings matter. 

Evidence shows that tough parenting is not effective.  Children need responsive adults who will listen and help them reach their own solution to the problem. 

It’s not our job to raise children to face a cruel and helpless world.  It’s our job to raise children to make the world a little less cruel and heartless.  As parents if we can do that then we’ve done something right.

Your mind does not work clearly when you are feeling big emotions.  Emotions don’t vanish when they are banished.

The research shows when our children are having a challenge they are going to behave challenging because form follows feeling.   The behaviour follows the behaviour they are feeling.  If you feel lousy then you tend to act lousy.

Watch, wait and listen.  Parenting and discipline decisions are actually about your child and it is about what kind of human you want them to be. 

Don’t forget about second Hand Uniform!

Thank you to the many families who have dropped off bags of uniform at our kiss and drop in the mornings and also at the office. Veronica and I accept and appreciate all second hand uniform donations.   At present we are need of summer uniform, dresses, shorts, polo shirts and jumpers. All funds raised support our school breakfast program. Your generosity allows all our children to have a healthy start to the day.   Keep them coming!

Woori Wallabies Playgroup –Tuesday’s 1:30-3:00pm in the Multi-purpose room 

This week Veronica and I really enjoyed meeting our families at our first playgroup.  We had 14 children attend and they all enjoyed playing with the toys and joining in on our story time.  Woori Wallabies Playgroup is open to anyone in the community, for all children from birth to kinder.  We welcome all parents and carers to be a part of our group and we appreciate parents helping us run the program.  We look forward to getting to know you and your children over the year so please don’t hesitate in speaking further with our Playgroup Team.  For further information, please call the office or speak to Veronica and myself. 

Primary Wellbeing Officer

Andre Campbell