Wellbeing Update

Respectful Relationships Update

Domestic and Family Violence Awareness Month – On Thursday 19th May we had a special day to raise awareness for Domestic and Family Violence Awareness Month. Students enjoyed a free BBQ, an out of uniform day, selfie frame fun and live music.

We also had the pleasure of having agencies across Gippsland come in to engage with students. The agencies that participated were YSAS, Quantum Support Services, The Orange Door, Youth Space, Gippsort and The Centre for Multicultural Youth. These agencies provided information for students and opportunities to participate in activities at lunchtime.

The highlight of the day was a special guest appearance from Maggie, the Therapy Dog at YSAS. Maggie loved having all the attention of students on her and was exhausted by the end of the day as the photo shows 😊

This special day supported the important work Lowanna College are doing as a lead school for the Respectful Relationships Initiative – Raising awareness in the prevention of Violence Against Women.

 Respectful Relationships Planning and Implementation 

Respectful Relationships is now being included in the classrooms across the school. We have specialised curriculum activities for all year levels that are delivered by your child’s teachers. Topics covered in this work include: Emotional Literacy, Personal Strengths, Positive Coping, Problem Solving, Stress Management, Help-Seeking, Gender & Identity and Positive Gender Relations. Your child will also participate in education about consent during PE and Health classes.

On Monday 12th September at 7pm Lowanna College will be hosting a special 1 hour webinar about Consent for parents and carers. This webinar will be hosted by Elephant EdElephant Ed is a leading sexuality education provider to hundreds of schools around Australia. Elephant Ed's workshops are evidence-based, age-appropriate and mapped to State and National curriculum guidelines. Elephant Ed is endorsed by the eSafety Commissioner as a Trusted eSafety Provider.This webinar will include the following key discussion points:- Statistics and prevalence of sexual assault

- Legalities surrounding consent

- Avenues to seek help

- Strategies to start the conversation at home

You are required to register in advance for this webinar. Please use the link below to register.

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OwDR1LIVTZeGveKwM-9EwQ

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Mindfulness, a Whole School Approach – We are continuing to take a whole school approach with mindfulness at Lowanna. This means students will start to see more opportunities for practicing this at school. We now have two teaching staff who have taken on roles as champions for incorporating mindfulness into the school.

Some of our year 12s recently participated in a mindfulness activity to help with stress reduction and another of our teachers is using a 6-minute Study meditation from the smiling minds app with his class.

 Staff have continued practicing mindfulness activities in staff meetings and student education will commence across the whole school early next term with the plan for mindfulness to be implemented into home groups soon after.

I have attached a tip sheet about Mindfulness and another about how to practice Mindfulness. I encourage you to talk to your children at home about what they are doing at school and give Mindfulness a go in your own households.

Health Promotion Update

Healthy Latrobe Achievement Program – Earlier this term I met our two new supports from Latrobe Community Health Services. Elise Tulloch and Emily Koppen are the Health Promotion Officers who will support Lowanna in reaching expected benchmarks for the Achievement Program. While we wait for finalisation of our Mental Health benchmark, we are continuing to discuss our next benchmark which is Sexual Health. To achieve this we look at what Lowanna have been doing in the education of sexual health through various platforms – PE/Health, external supports and wellbeing programs. We then identify what could be missing and where we need to improve in areas. This helps us as a school to evaluate where we are at and make the necessary changes or inclusions to offer positive education in all of these areas.

Vaping and Smoking – As most people will know, Vaping is a big issue community wide.

According to the 2017 Australian Secondary School’s Student Survey, 1 in 8 students (13%) have used an e-cigarette at least once in their lifetime. 

There can be immediate effects of vaping, such as –

• Mouth/Airway irritation, Persistent coughing, Chest pain, Poisoning if swallowed, Nausea and Vomiting.

Some longer term effects of vaping can be –

• Dependence, Harm to the developing brain, Respiratory problems and Lung damage.

 Below are some links to YouTube clips, some facts and supports that you might find helpful. I encourage you to speak to your children about vaping and look at these resources together.

Mini schools will also present some of these resources as a part of the College’s approach to education about alcohol and other drugs.

How do cigarettes affect the body? - Krishna Sudhir - YouTube This one is great for how cigarettes effect the organs in our body and our senses that then cause chronic health conditions.

Vaping: The Hit Your Brain Takes - YouTube – Video on the health effects of vaping including the impact on our brain and mental health.

Quitting smoking fact sheets – A range of one page fact sheets use about smoking, Quit brochures, smoking rates and deaths/diseases from smoking.

Teen Substance Use & Abuse (Alcohol, Tobacco, Vaping, Marijuana, and More) - YouTube – General info on substance use and young people including physical and mental health consequences.

Support Options | YoDAA – This link has a range of support options for young people using substances.

Inclusiveness At Lowanna College

National Reconciliation Week

National Reconciliation Week was held from  the 25th May to 3rd June. This was an opportunity for us to learn about cultures, achievements and consider what reconciliation means to us.

Students in the school participated in drawing and reflection activities where they developed images to express what this meant to them. Examples of their work are below.

Out of Home Care Morning Tea for Carers

This term we once again acknowledged the hard work our carers of students in Out of Home Care do. We held another morning tea for carers to come together and take some time out.

Carers had the opportunity to share their experiences and support one another in a relaxed, friendly and supportive space. Our carers are made up of foster carers or kinship carers (residing with a family member) and we wanted to use this morning tea as an opportunity for us to acknowledge the job they do. We will continue to hold these morning teas each term.

General Wellbeing Information 

Breakfast Club 

A reminder that Breakfast Club is available to students each Tuesday and Thursday morning from 7.45am to 8.20am. We encourage students who have not had a bite to eat to come along and get some toast and a hot milo. Children and adolescents who eat a healthy breakfast each day tend to perform better academically and feel a greater level of connectedness with teachers and peers which leads to further positive health and academic outcomes.

The breakfast club team are also looking for anyone who would like to volunteer their time to help our the wellbeing team, one or both of the days we provide breakfast club. Please let the Wellbeing team know if you can help out. We also love donations to go towards breakfast club – Margarine, Cheese Slices and Milo are the things we would greatly appreciate.

Paul Fry 

Wellbeing Leader