Weekly Wellbeing
Wow, what a week! How exciting it has been to see colleagues and students ‘in the flesh’ instead of on a screen. How exciting it has been to see children reconnecting with their teachers and each other; remembering ‘old’ routines and embracing new ones. How exciting it has been to hear reflections from children about their home learning experiences, see them adapt to the new drop off and pick up arrangements and walk in with a smile. How inspirational it has been to see children who have been a little nervous demonstrate great courage and bravery. We humans definitely are fascinating, not only in our ability to think, feel and act, but our ability to bounce back, be kind and band together.
As part of last week’s Friday craft Jasmine made Abu from Aladdin. Behind her is a ‘happiness wall’ featuring a collection of what her and her sister created to bring happiness to their household while undertaking home learning. It is great to have Jasmine and other students back onsite. Even though she is back, I say to Jasmine and her family, “keep the wall!”
Bounce Back!
A colleague of mine recently shared an excellent resource with me titled ‘Bounce Back’. In essence it is about resilience, something that we have seen demonstrated time and time again, not only this week, but throughout the past 7 weeks. I hope that you are encouraged and challenged by the below statements. We can all bounce back!
Bad feelings go away again
Other people can help if you talk to them
Unhelpful thinking makes you feel more upset
Nobody is perfect. Mistakes help you learn
Concentrate on the good things and have a laugh
Everybody feels sad and worried sometimes. Not just you
Blame fairly. What was your fault, what was other’s and what was bad luck?
Accept the things that you can’t change, but try to change the things that you can Catastrophising exaggerates your worries. Don’t believe the worst
Keep things in perspective. Don’t let it spoil everything.
Be Kind
Over this unique time, there has been a big focus on kindness. Something that I have recently pondered while crawling into bed at the end of a long day, is how do we be kind to ourselves to ensure that we have ‘fuel in the tank’ to give to others?
Below is a list of some things that I do to be kind to myself:
- Go to bed early
- Go for a walk (without headphones) so that I can be ‘in the moment’
- Watch my favourite show on Netflix
- Eat a peppermint Magnum
- Talk with a friend
I find all of these things enjoyable and to be honest would like to do them more, but in this new transition phase I think the best thing that any of us can do is to love our families and develop realistic expectations of what we can achieve in a day.
Being kind to ourselves is not selfish, it is necessary. You would be amazed at what having this mindset can do and how it can free us from focusing on what we didn’t get done, to being happy with what we did do. After all, we are all human, humankind!
Band together
Over the last 7 weeks, staff have had the privilege of banding together to support all students and their families. This week, some students needed a little more support to settle in.
If you have a child in Years 3-6 who you feel may need some extra support to begin attending onsite on June 9th, please contact their classroom teacher so that this can be arranged.
Community Connections: Events in our local community
National Reconciliation Week 27th May til the 3rd June 2020
It is National Reconciliation Week and there are a lot of ‘virtual events’ that you and your family can participate in. Visit https://nrw.reconciliation.org.au/ for more information.
Parents and Carers Autism Online Workshops
https://www.each.com.au/5299-2/
Be Kind Maroondah
Maroondah City Council have launched a ‘Be Kind’ initiative involving being kind to ourselves, others and local businesses. For more go to: https://www.maroondah.vic.gov.au/Community-support-services/COVID-19-Coronavirus/Be-Kind-Maroondah
Raising Resilient Teenagers
A free online parenting program for parents of children aged 12-17. See attached flyer.
Julie Reid - Student Wellbeing Officer