From the Wellbeing Team

Starting Again

It is exciting to see students back in classrooms learning again – the sounds of students working and learning is a great sound to hear after a couple of months. Over the remote learning period our College Wellbeing Team has been working very hard to connect with students in new and interesting ways, it has been great to speak with so many families and students on a regular basis.  We hope that you have felt supported by the college throughout this period.

With students returning to what I would call a ‘new normal’, adjusting to this new state will be a learning experience for all of us.  If I could compare this time with anything we know, this will be similar to returning to school for term 1 after the summer holidays – the first weeks are not easy, and there are lots of adjustment that will occur, whether we are ready or not. We will be transitioning into this new environment which I believe will help. Years F-2 and 11-12 will have had four weeks of the new routine before complete rest over the July holidays, and the Year 3 to 10 cohort who have had nine weeks of remote learning will get used to the new routines before they have their break.

With your student returning to school, try and remember these three things to make the transition back as smooth as possible:

1. Expect things to be hard before they get easy –We don’t expect anything we do to be perfect straight away – driving a car, playing a sport, learning a musical instrument are great examples of this.  When learning to play an instrument, the start of this process is tough, and usually sounds horrible.  Expect that with your child returning to school that there will be complaining, challenges to get out of bed and maybe some arguments too.  This is ok, take a breath and remember that it will get easier as we get back into a routine again.
2. Check in with your child – The first weeks of returning back to school will be a challenge for many of us, and some people might need more time to get used to this change.  It is important to check in with your child to see how they are going with this; ask them questions to show that you care and understand that this will be a hard transition.
3. Be kind to yourself – Most important of all is that you are kind on yourself.  Congratulate yourself for getting through this really tough time.

On June 26 School holidays start and this is a very important time for our children and young people. During the last holidays we were all in lockdown and spending time in most unusual ways, isolated.  Over Term 2 there were different stages of lockdown but throughout these weeks there would have been the tensions of online learning, connectivity, frustrations, successes but of course a lack of social connection. During these mid semester holidays please make the most of family and friend connections. Socialise as much as possible within the guidelines and above all embrace relaxing and regaining some of our positivity, that there is hope.

Back on campus the team had the privilege to meet with many of the Goldsworthy cohorts to provide feedback, support and advice for any issues that may have presented over the last few months.

Nathan Brock

Well-being Leader