Student Wellbeing
This year in the wellbeing space, our school continues to focus on:
- Building teacher capability to activate student voice and agency within the classroom
- Reducing the % of students with 20+ days absence from 39% in 2019 to 25% in 2024.
- Embedding a whole-school approach to the development of the social and emotional wellbeing of students
- Developing and implementing strategies that involve parents and carers as partners in their child’s learning
Exciting News Ahead........
Anna has commenced with us again as our ETRS Occupational Therapist one day a week. Anna has worked with us before and we are delighted to have her back as part of the Wellbeing team.
What does an Occupational Therapist do?
Occupational Therapy promotes normal development and stimulates learning in children with specific learning difficulties, physical disabilities, delayed development or those recovering from illness or injury. Working with children, their families and teachers, occupational therapists aim to improve the child’s quality of life by helping them to participate in play, preschool, school and home activities. An occupational therapist may work with children in any of the following areas:
- Prerequisite activities – the child’s physical abilities, such as motor control, hand-to-eye coordination, body awareness and sensation
- Functional skills – the child’s day-to-day living skills, such as eating, writing, going to the toilet, interacting with other children and playground skills
- The environment – such as classroom furniture, classroom and schoolyard access, and equipment for woodwork, art and physical education
If your child is identified as needing some extra support, your child's classroom teacher will contact you and discuss the reasons for the referral. If this is supported, a referral form will be sent home for completion before the service can begin. Please note that priority will be given to those students at ETRS that do not have access to support services outside of school.
We'd also like to welcome Rebecca Neville who will be working with the Wellbeing Team for the next 14 weeks as part of her placement. We are very privileged to have Rebecca as part of our team. Be sure to introduce yourself to her if you see her out in the yard or in the office. Rebecca will be supporting our SEL groups this term.
Unfortunately at this time, we are unable to secure a school based Speech Therapist. When we are in a position to appoint one, you'll be the first to know.
Social Emotion Learning (SEL) Groups
The wellbeing team along with the support of our wonderful ES staff will be offering Highway Heroes teaching the skills of Grit and Determination, Emotional Regulation, Connecting for Friendships, Strategies for Managing Me, Sticking Up for Me and Getting things Done. These groups are targeted Tier 2 intervention groups and not all students will be involved. Parents will have received a Dojo message if your child qualifies for the program. This will commence next week until the end of the term.
Playgroup
Playgroup continues to be a highlight of our fortnight with many families continuing to attend. It was great to see so many new faces last week. Despite the icy conditions, we had 14 families attend the session. Our next playgroup session will be next Wednesday the 2nd of August from 9:00am until 10:30am and every fortnight after that until the September holidays. Be sure to come along and spread the word.
Community Connections
Our student leaders have been out and about in our community working with local pre-schools and early learning centres. This week our leaders visited Moama Pre-School and Moama Insight Early Learning to promote our school and build positive relationships with prospective students who may choose to attend our school in the future. The Community Connections Team planted sunflowers in little take home pots with the children, ready for the warm rays of spring to bring them to life.
We want to know........
Our school is beginning to plan for 2024 and we'd like to hear from you. We continue to have a great response rate to our parenting seminars that are regularly offered to our families through Anglicare and other community groups. We hope to organise an Echuca Cluster parenting seminar with some keynote speakers next year and we want to know what you would like to know more about. Click on the link below and this will take you to a one questioned survey. We appreciate your feedback.
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend.
ETRS Wellbeing Team
Anglicare Early Help Services at ETRS
Anglicare Parenting Programs
