Student Wellbeing

Michele Hedley

THIS WEEK IS NATIONAL eSmart WEEK

National eSmart Week is promoting connectedness, cyber safety and wellbeing.

In class, teachers will take this opportunity to remind students of cyber safety strategies.  This is also a good opportunity for families to evaluate children's screen time and ensure children are accessing appropriate games and information.  Like anything in life moderation and boundaries are the keys to developing good habits.

A great resource to access ihttps://esafety.gov.au/education-resources/iparent

This site has some valuable information and guidelines to help parents keep their children safe on line.

This October our school is taking part in Walktober.  Many famiilies come on board last year and made the effort to walk, ride or scoot all or part way to and/or from school.  If your child walks to school during the month of October please remind them to tick their name off on their class list so that we can have an accurate record of numbers.  There will be a trophy for the class with the highest number of students walking each week to keep in their class for the following week.

Here are some reasons why families should get involved:

What's so good about walking?

**The Australian Department of Health and Ageing recommends children accumulate at least 60 minutes (and up to several hours) of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day. Not surprisingly, children who walk, cycle or scoot to and from school have higher levels of physical activity and improved cardiovascular fitness compared to children who don't.

**Walking time is also talking time for parents and children: when the stress of driving and keeping your eye on the traffic is taken away, it's easier to talk to your children about what's happening at school and in their lives.

**Walking's also great for the community and the environment. Choosing to walk instead of drive helps reduce traffic congestion, parking difficulties and associated environmental impacts.

PARENT FORUM ON ANXIETY

Last Tuesday we held our second Parent Forum with Erik, our school counsellor. The topic was Anxiety. It was great to see a small but interested group of parents attend.  Erik shared some helpful resources and tips.  He reminded us that a certain amount of anxiety is necessary and in fact anxiety is a warning signal in our bodies that helps keep us safe and ensures the survival of the human species!  Of course it is important not to let anxiety overwhelm us.  In classrooms, as part of our response to the Child Safety Standards, we have been teaching the children that from time to time everyone worries about something but having confidence helps us cope and keep worries in perspective.  The main message to the children is that confident people seek help when they are worried.  We encourage children to talk about things that they might be worried about.  The way we respond to children when they are worried is very important.  Firstly start with reassurance that you can work together to sort out any concern; help children keep things in perspective by reminding them of all the good/happy/positive things that are also part of their day; suggest some strategies; and finally praise them for having the confidence to share their concern with you.  

As parents we don't like the thought of our children having concerns or worries however it is part of life and it can be helpful to remember that with any small worry comes the opportunity for our children to develop healthy ways to problem solve and develop strategies to deal with concerns that can be of benefit throughout their lives.  By modelling this approach to our children we are also modelling positive thinking, confidence and resilience.