BYCS Newsletter

Health & wellbeing news

Brekkie Club

We are in the process of gaining interest from students regarding a breakfast club to run on Tuesday mornings at Richmond. I’ve popped up posters (attached to email) around the school for students to sign up to and have been checking in with some students as I see them today to gauge interest. Could be nice to pop a call out into the newsletter to see if students may be interested

IDAHOBIT

Each year IDAHOBIT is held on 17 May.

 

IDAHOBIT is International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia. IDAHOBIT is held on 17 May, as it marks the day that the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from the Classification of Diseases. This occurred as recently as 1990.

 

IDAHOBIT is an important day of action, and our school restates its commitment to ensuring that all members of our school community deserve to feel safe and supported. Some immediate actions our school will take to support LGBTIQA+ inclusion are

  • Encourage all staff to include IDAHOBIT banners in their email signatures, and these are attached to this email. You can use these during IDAHOBIT week, the month of May or any timeframe you like.
  • Provide staff training run by Safe Schools – this is being coordinated by the wellbeing team and will occur early in Term 3.
  • Convene a working group to review and make recommendations on how gender identity is considered in documents and systems such as enrolment forms, WB referral forms, Compass etc. If you would like to be involved in this working group, please let Sascha know.

Thank you to the Richmond Queer club (supported by Mill and Kiki) for suggestions for staff and student activities on the day. These are:

  • All staff and students are encouraged to dress in a ‘block colour’ from the rainbow, and donate a gold coin to Minus 18. 
  • Rainbow cupcakes
  • Badge making at lunch time
  • Queer artists playlist to exhibit students' favourite songs

A workshop on Sexuality and Gender for Coburg students will be coordinated by Mill in the week of 17 May.

 

In the mean time, check out these events hosted by Minus 18- Events | Minus18!!!

Mindfulness in May

Mindfulness in May is the world’s largest online mindfulness campaign, encouraging everyone to spend the four weeks of May training our minds. 

Mindfulness can help you in many ways – it can help you become calmer and more confident when faced with stress, it can help you control your emotions and responses, reduce ‘mind chatter’, and become more resilient with better coping mechanisms.

This year is the 10th anniversary of Mindfulness in May. See more information and register here- Mindful In May

External Parent/Family information event

Tuning in to Teens (online)

Family Services is offering Tuning in to Teens (parenting program) in Term 2.

When: Tuesdays 11:00 AM-1:00 PM for 6 consecutive weeks (16th May - 20th June).

Where: Online via Zoom

Price: FREE

Contact: Candice (0417 047 426) or Chantelle (0498 313 569)

For those of you that may be unfamiliar with the program, here are some key points and benefits:

  • An interactive evidence-based parenting program developed by child psychologists from the University of Melbourne.
  • Sessions are built around group discussion, activities and some roleplays where parents reflect on their parenting and practice the strategy of Emotion Coaching sharing their experiences with the group.
  • Supports caregivers to better attune to their teen’s emotions and support them with these through Emotion Coaching.
  • Supports caregivers to teach their teens how to better manage their emotions.
  • Can reduce isolation for caregivers through peer support.
  • Helps to prevent or reduce behaviour problems in teens through a more connected relationship with the caregiver.
  • Helps promote resilience in teens.

Tuning in to Teens (in person - Richmond)