Faith & Wellbeing
WELLBEING
Wow, what a time in history to be living. During this time of uncertainty, I thought this message from our friends at Berry Street was quite important.
When we slow down,
we are more aware of our surroundings and notice the small joys.
When we slow down,
it will be easier to keep our safe distance from others and see the vast spaces available to us.
When we slow down,
we will be helping our central nervous system and in turn improve our bodies’ capacity to cope.
When we slow down,
we will be better support to those who need us.
- Leonie Abbott, Assistant Director Education at Berry Street
Students will be continuing their personal social and emotional learning throughout our remote learning journey. Respectful Relationships activities will be placed into the timetables for all levels. During Term 2, the focus will be on Emotional Literacy. Students may also be asked to complete additional wellbeing activities like yoga and journaling. Classroom Teachers will also be checking in online with students each day.
Karlee Agnew (Learning Diversity Leader), Maureen Flanagan (Family Counsellor) and our Learning Support Officers, Kate and Sharon will continue to provide existing support structures for the children with whom they work and they will be in contact with these parents. I will also be continuing to assist students in my role as Student Wellbeing Leader.
We are currently in our “Getting Ready to Learn from Home” stage and we will be moving to Remote Learning at the beginning of Week 3 (24th April).
As we continue to support the wellbeing of our students, we also need to be mindful of the wellbeing of our staff and families in our school community. Moving to a whole new way of teaching is an exciting phase that provides us with further opportunities for teaching and learning.
As we continue our partnership in these different times, in order to keep communication lines open between parents and staff, and to ensure staff are not inundated with generic type questions from parents, the school is in the process of establishing an email link to unit areas. It may not always be your child’s teacher online to respond to your questions.
Please see the below table should you like further ideas on how to support your children through wellbeing.
This information will also be posted on the St James Remote Learning Website.
| Wellbeing Need | Links to resources |
| Mindfulness Activities for Students | Yes2yoga is offering online yoga sessions for $11. There are only 12 participants at a time so book in early. Jackie was our yoga teacher for the past 3 years and also will be running our Yoga sessions in Term 3. Cosmic Kids Cosmic Yoga has many classes on youtube that are fantastic and meditations/mindful breathing also Peaceful kids -meditations for parents Peaceful kids - meditations for children Daily mindfulness sessions from the Institute of Positive Education Colouring/drawing Lego Puzzles Resilience Project Journaling/keeping a diary on an app |
Mindfulness Apps | |
| Podcasts | Try, Try, Try Again -apple podcast |
| Music | Don’t forget that music is a crowd pleaser. Music can change the mood of a room instantly! Apple has some great radio stations. Spotify you can choose your music based on your mood. |
| Dance Party | Kidz Bop Dance Monkey There are soooo many more of these check them out! |
| PE from home | Mrs Macs PE from home has heaps of sports activities that you can challenge yourself with! |
| Other helpful Resources | Big Life Journal list of mindful books, movies, podcasts and apps |
| gmcnamara@stjamesbrighton.catholic.edu.au | kagnew@stjamesbrighton.catholic.edu.au |
| cwaugh@stjamesbrighton.catholic.edu.au | sportelli@stjamesbrighton.catholic.edu.au |
| mflanagan@stjamesbrighton.catholic.edu.au |
Stay Safe, Stay Well,
Georgia McNamara
Wellbeing Leader
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