STUDENT EYECARE PROGRAM - FREE TESTS

The school is pleased to announce that the Student Eyecare Program will begin this year. An optometrist will be onsite during school hours to provide students with a free comprehensive eye examination that is covered through Medicare Australia. 1 in 6 students have eye conditions that go undetected. This is due to the high level of visual demand on their eyes from books, laptops, tablets and smartphones. Every attendee will receive a full report about their eye health and a prescription will be provided if glasses are required. The prescription can be taken to any optical store to get the glasses made. Don’t let your child miss out on this worthwhile health program!

See poster below:

Please see the attached form if you do or do not wish for your child to take part

SLEEP, DIET & EXERCISE

Sleep is important for physical and mental health. All body systems involved in either physical or mental health do not function well without sleep. Sleep is important for the body to rest and repair its systems. Learn more about Sleep and how it helps with a young persons mental health.

A healthy diet is essential for learning. Good food is important in maintaining mental health as well as physical health. In general eating a nourishing diet can improve your overall sense of wellbeing.

Eating well means having a wide variety of healthy foods including plenty of vegetables, fruit and cereals (like bread, rice and pasta), some lean meat, chicken or fish, dairy products (milk, yoghurt, cheese) and lots of water. It’s a good idea to avoid fatty foods and foods with lots of sugar in them. Excessive dieting and over-exercising may put young people at risk of developing an eating disorder.

Sedentary behaviour is associated with poorer mental health and evidence suggests that increased levels of exercise can positively impact on mood and general wellbeing.

Being active is important for everyone. Keeping physically active and limiting sedentary behaviour is not always a priority for young people, but it is important.

SAFEMINDS

Emotional distress affects children and young people and school communities every year. This may include mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, and self harm behaviours. These issues have a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of children and young people, including their educational, developmental and wellbeing outcomes.

To support school communities to effectively identify and intervene early with the mental health needs of children and young people, the Victorian government has partnered with headspace, the National Youth Mental Health Foundation to deliver SAFEMinds: Schools and Families Enhancing Minds.

What is SAFEMinds?

SAFEMinds is a learning and resource package for schools and families that aims to:

enhance early intervention mental health support for children and young people in schools; specifically regarding mild mood disorders (anxiety and depression) and self harm
increase engagement of parents and carers with schools to more effectively support their child’s mental health; and
develop clear and effective referral pathways between schools and community youth and mental health services.

It provides a suite of online materials for the whole school community, including teachers, school support staff and parents and carers, as well as a range of targeted face-to-face professional learning opportunities.

Collingwood College will offer professional training for all staff in the SafeMinds - 'NIP it in the bud! Toolkit' with the aim of developing a common language that all staff, students and parents will use throughout our community. The program is a preventative and proactive approach to mental health issues within a school. The three areas of NIP are:

NOTICE
INQUIRE
PLAN

The Toolkit also provides resources for parents and carers, which can be accessed through the resource library below.

For more information, see the SAFEMinds: At Home information flyer.

A well-being page will be added to the student and staff launchpad that will include information on where to find resources and help. We will also be adding a referral link so that students and staff can 'Notice', 'Inquire' and refer to our Well-being Team.

Well-being Team

The school team has two student well-being coordinators who are available five days a week. Students are welcome to organise a time with the team through their class teacher.

Gareth Rego :

rego.gareth.f@edumail.vic.gov.au

Nisa Venerosa:

nisav@collingwood.vic.edu.au

Our secondary school nurse is called Jessica Kelly kelly.jessica.l@edumail.vic.gov.au and she provides the school community with additional programs and supports for young people.

The team also includes Sam Luck, Craig Bradley, Liria Stratus, Christa Malone, Kate Schmeiszl and Keith Bailey.

How can SAFEMinds help me?

SAFEMinds: Online uses an immersive, video-based experience, to tell a series of personal stories of children and young people, their families and teachers. The “Parents and Carers” section of this resource provides videos and a toolkit of supporting resources specifically for parents and carers, to develop their knowledge and understanding about the many different forms of emotional distress children and young people may experience, and how these might be presented.

To access the full suite of SAFEMinds resources, please go to the SAFEMinds website When prompted for a password, enter “SAFEMinds-Guest”.

Once you are in the SAFEMinds site, click the ‘SAFEMinds Online’ tab to access the parent and carer videos and toolkit resources.

SAFEMinds@School: Collingwood College will be offering a parent information forums in the future to support connections between parents and carers, our schools and local mental health services. Parents and carers will be invited to attend the forum in which headspace will provide useful information about supporting children and young people experiencing emotional distress, along with a panel of local mental health agencies who will provide information and answer questions from families about the services they provide. Further information about this forum, including dates, will be made available soon.

Additional supports:

Collingwood College

Issue 41 · 15 Dec 2016

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