This term in BUZ our year 1/2 students have been taking part in the ‘Feel Safe, Feel Right’ program or FSFR for short. The FSFR program is a protective behaviours program that supports what our fabulous teachers already do in class. FSFR helps our students to develop protective behaviours, especially enabling students to become more aware of when things are not safe or not right in order to create a safe environment as well as empower them with options if confronted with an unsafe situation.

There are some scary statistics out there about child abuse, and it's a serious and necessary topic to cover; we want to ensure that our students have the necessary skills to keep themselves safe. Despite having some tricky conversations as we go through the program we still manage to have some fun along the way! We encourage you to keep having conversations with your children about safe and unsafe situations, how they keep themselves safe, and who the people are on their safety network. If you need any tips for having these conversations with your child or have any questions regarding this topic feel free to talk to myself or your child’s teacher who will be able to point you in the right direction.

Mental Health Workshops In week 7 we were lucky enough to have Jo Drayton, our local Wheatbelt Suicide Prevention Coordinator visit our school to facilitate some Mental Health workshops.

There was something for everyone with separate workshops run for students, their parents and carers and also the staff here at the school. Our parents and carers had a very informative evening looking at some Youth Mental Health Literacy followed by some tips to help support young people maintain optimal mental health and wellbeing. Jo also shared with us some tips to help increase the resilience of our youth.

The following day our secondary students got involved in learning some resilience, self-esteem and life skills. Students were also given tips on how they can best support their peers when they may be struggling. Along with hearing lots of helpful information at the sessions, Jo also shared with us lots of youth support sites and services and useful apps and programs that can provide our young people, parents and carers with added support and information. We want to say thank you to all the parents and carers that came on the night and supported the event. A big thank you also goes to Jo Drayton for facilitating the event and to Mrs Clarke for organising Jo to visit.

If you were unable to attend our community evening or your child was away during the workshops and you would like some information, please contact me or the front office on 90483400 and we can forward some on to you.

You can also go to Within Reach on Facebook and Instagram and check out up-to-date health info and support for young people in the Wheatbelt. They will also keep you up to date with events for our area. For further queries I can be contacted Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays at the school, alternatively you can email me at Allison.Nixon@education.wa.edu.au

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