Return to School – Wellbeing and Social Supports
It is normal for parents and students to have a variety of emotions about returning to school. While it is a time we have been looking forward to, feelings such as excitement and nervousness for example, can be very closely linked. Please remember as always, we are here to support and find attached below some handouts on supporting your child’s return to school including: resetting routines for school, before and after school suggestions as well as information about supporting feelings of anxiety.
Transition back to_school – tips for students
Transition back to face face learning at school – tips for parents
CAMH Covid19 infosheet back to school – parents’ wellbeing
CAMH Covid19 infosheet back to school – children’s anxiety
We have been working hard to develop whole school social supports to help students readjust to the play environments at school. These include routines before going out to play time that promote important social processes. Students will be supported by their class teacher before going outside to think about where they will play, what they will play, what the rules of the game might be and what they will do if something goes wrong in their game. Optional games for students to join in and play will also be set up in a variety of play spaces across the school.
The features of whole-body listening will also be a shared focus in all classrooms as students return to school. Whole-body listening involves: listen with your ears to hear the speaker, listen with your eyes to see how the speaker is speaking, listen with your brain to understand what you are hearing, listen with your head and shoulders towards the speaker, listen with your hands and arms keeping them still, listen with your mouth, keep it still while the speaker is talking, listen with your legs and feet keeping them still and listen with your heart notice how the speaker might be feeling. While this sounds like a lot to remember, role-plays, fun posters and lots of practise make this accessible for our students and valuable routine to reinforce.
Please know each year level will receive return to school information before their return to school date. Foundation, Year One and Year Two received their information yesterday via a Compass post. Year Three-Six will receive theirs next week.
Sun Smart Kids
Just a reminder that that we will be heading back to school in a very important SunSmart time of the year. We need to be especially careful during high UV times as it does not take long in the sun for burning and skin damage to take place. Much better to take protective measures such as covering up, wearing sunscreen and wearing hats so that our students can enjoy the outdoors. Another important reminder is for students to ensure they neatly store their hats in a secure area such as their bag or on their lockers during class time and make sure it is clearly labelled with their name so that it is returned to them if misplaced.
2022 Planning
We are well underway for the planning for 2022. This includes our staffing, programming and home group allocations. The composition of our year level structure is also being developed. Preparing home groups is an exhaustive process that our whole staff commit many hours to getting right. There are many considerations in developing classes including social, emotional, behavioural and academic needs of each class. Additionally we always consult with our students on whom they would like to be in their class next year. Students provide a list of requested peers, we ensure that at least one of these peers is included. When planning for next year it is imperative that we have received notifications of any new enrolments (Foundation siblings) and also notified if you are leaving the school. We try to manage the influx of new enrolments to sustain positive class sizes and forward planning is most helpful to this. Thank you for your support and timely communication on this matter.
October Council Meetings and Parent Club Cancelled
Please be aware our October meetings were cancelled due to DET review of required number of meetings due to the COVID restrictions. Our November meetings will be at the set times. Thank you for your understanding.
COVID-19 Vaccination Directions for all Education Workers
The Victorian Chief Health Officer has issued directions for required vaccinations for education workers. These directions are specific to education workers and supersede those for other authorised workers.
All staff who work in schools will be required to have a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by 18 October 2021 or be able to produce evidence of a vaccination booking within that week.
All staff are required to be fully vaccinated by 29 November 2021 unless a medical exception applies and will be required to show evidence of their vaccination status.
Getting vaccinated is the best way to protect yourself, your colleagues and students and the whole school community. Getting vaccinated will help slow the spread of COVID-19 and prevent future outbreaks in our schools.
The Victorian Government’s coronavirus website has information about COVID-19 vaccines in 63 community languages at:
Translated Information about COVID-19 Vaccines
The Department of Education and Training’s website has frequently asked questions about the vaccine requirement.
Have a great weekend,
Simone, Suzanne & David