Important School Notifications

EMPOWERING CHILDREN WITH COPING STRATEGIES AND THE BELIEF THAT THEY CAN DEAL WITH WHATEVER CHALLENGES THEY ARE FACED WITH ENABLES THEM TO GROW INTO CONFIDENT, RESILIENT ADULTS.

Dear parents,

We are delighted to welcome our new school counsellor, Sharon Cameron, to St. Columba’s. Sharon will be available to work with children on Monday’s at the school.

About Sharon:

Sharon has extensive experience working with both neurotypical and neurodiverse children in a variety of settings. She works closely with her co-therapist, Arte, a Certified Therapy Dog. Sharon’s warmth, compassion and calm, soothing energy draw children to her, enabling a deep affinity and rapport and creating a trusting, open and positive experience for the children in her care. Arte plays an important role, too, in helping reduce anxiety, tension, and stress hormones, and of course, helping children to feel less isolated and alone.

Sharon is passionate about supporting children to develop lifelong skills and strategies for dealing with anxiety and other emotional or behavioural difficulties. She is dedicated to developing the social and emotional wellbeing of young people through one-on-one counselling and facilitated group sessions.

Sharon’s contact details:

Calm Kids Counselling and Coaching98 Nelson Road, South Melbourne

0417 339 699

calmkidscounselling@icloud.com

If you would like to know more please call Bern for a chat.

Uniform

A reminder that all children are to wear the correct school uniform including school hat and black school shoes on all days except when they have PE or classroom sport. Classroom teachers will inform you of the days when sport and PE occur.

Assemblies

Assembly is held at 9:00am on Friday mornings and will be held in the hall. Parents are welcome to attend.

At assembly each year level will share their learning. Class awards and birthdays will be celebrated at each assembly. And our school leaders will provide updates on initiatives they have organised for the school community.

New Lunch Order Menu in Term 2!

Dear all,

Our SRC has been busy investigating what the children thought about our current lunch order. Based on their outcome, we made the decision to change supplier. Starting in term 2, Fun Fresh Foods will be our new Tuckshop provider. They have been running primary school canteens in the Bayside area for over 10 years.

Below is some information from Fun Fresh Foods to help you:

Days Operation:

Food will be dropped to school at 1.15pm Friday

Online Ordering:

orders are to be placed online by 8.30am.
Sushi Orders need to be placed by 10pm Thursday.
Online ordering is thru www.spriggyschools.com.au
Contact Spriggy via Webchat - open from 7.00am – 3pm

Order Cancellations:

Go online and cancel your orders before 8.30am Friday.

If after 8.30am – please contact Liz via text, phone or email. Your order will be able to be held over till next week.

Liz: mobile 0418 577 120 email liz@funfreshfods.com.au

Kitchen Notes

We are a Nut Free Kitchen
Gluten Free items are available to order.
Our Menu is subject to change with seasons and availability of produce.
Tomato sauce and Soy Sauce are free of charge. Each Classroom will have a bottle of each to use.
Children to BYO cutlery.
We are trialling a container recycling system. Pasta, Salads, fruit cups, muesli and yoghurt tubs will all be served in special containers that St Columba’s has purchased. These containers will be picked up by FFF staff and washed and sanitised ready to be used again for the following week.
We DO NOT do IOUs

Website: www.funfreshfoods.com.au

Please feel free to contact us anytime.

Many thanks,

Liz Martin and the Fun Fresh Foods Team

Dear parents,

We are very excited to launch The Resilience Project (TRP) to our wider school community!

The Resilience Project delivers emotionally engaging programs to schools, providing practical, evidence-based mental health strategies to build resilience and happiness.

Through presentations, school curriculum, events, the TRP App, and Wellbeing Journals, children learn about the benefits of Gratitude, Empathy & Mindfulness, and easy ways to practise these in everyday life. The program also incorporates Emotional Literacy, Connection and Physical Health education and activities as they are foundational contributors to positive mental health.

Across the school P-6, our children have already begun their TRP journey. You may have already heard them talking about 'being grateful', which is the first part of the program.

To make the most of The Resilience Project, and to support your child you are invited to participate in the journey by accessing the dedicated Inspire Parent and Carer Hub which can be accessed at any time via a secure link, no login required. This hub hosts all the parent Inspire videos, that will introduce you to the program and GEM principles. As well as links to research and additional resources and wellbeing activities for families to try.

Please read the attached letter which explains the program and the resources. Over the course of term 2, we will share via Seesaw 5 activities/videos and resources.

The videos are 5-10 minutes long and will walk through the key pillars of resilience: Gratitude, Empathy & Mindfulness. You’ll hear stories and be introduced to activities to show how these strategies can support our children’s' learning and development and support you as parents and carers.

Dates To Remember

May

June