Wellbeing 

Our term 4 GEM focus is Mindfulness.

Click on the link to hear from Hugh from The Resilience Project - What is Mindfulness?

Keep an eye out in this term’s newsletters for strategies to build yours and your family’s strategy toolkit to be calm and present. A timely whole school focus as we transition back to school and re-adjust to the change in learning environment.

Teachers will be supporting students to engage in mindfulness with a focus on breathing (Smiling Minds, Yoga), calming activities (connecting to images, sketching,  jigsaws, lego building) and tuning into the world around us (sensory support).

RETURN TO SCHOOL STRATEGIES - particularly useful for our Prep -2 families who are returning in week 3. If your child is feeling anxious about the return to school, consider using the following next week to help support them with a smooth transition:

*Re-familiarise: Walk past our school with your child during your daily exercise, talk about where they get to play, what they enjoy playing, where their classroom is, what their favourite thing about the classroom is, remind them what happens at drop off (e.g. “We walk to your classroom together, we give each other a big hug, then you walk through the door all by yourself. You are so good at that!”)

*Model positive talk about school – be mindful of your own anxieties and remember to shield these from your child. Avoid telling your child you will miss them, instead try …  , talk about what you won’t miss about Learning from Home.

*Send them with their comforter or something from home (e.g. if they have been sitting on a special cushion at their desk at home, get them to bring it in).

*Reinforce positive relationships - Talk about people in their class, look at the class photo, set up FaceTimes / Park picnics to re-establish friendships prior to returning, plan to meet at the school gate for arrival so friends can walk in together. 

*Re-establish morning routine – practice getting up on time ahead of day one of return, get them to pack their bags / set out their uniform the night before, leave plenty of time (make it a calm start), create a visual schedule together for those children who might need a step-by-step reminder.

*Minimise after school park catch ups on @school days – they will be exhausted. Seeing friends in the flesh, learning in a group of 20+, cooperating and responding face to face is very different to their past three months of learning. Save the catch ups with friends for the weekend.