Back to School Night Letter

School Counseling Parent Letter and Parent Needs Assessment

REMINDER: PGCPS to Host Students’ Mental Health Matters Session for Families

Wellness Wednesday: Students’ Mental Health Matters

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2022 | 6:30 - 7:45 PM

LOGIN INFO | https://pgcps-org.zoom.us/j/82348658676#success

SESSION FEATURES

• Learn mental health stressors that students encounter

• Warning signs of suicide  

• Strategies for supporting student’s mental health

• Spanish interpretation will be available.

BACKGROUND

The Department of Student Services is hosting quarterly Wellness Wednesdays virtual sessions during the 2022-2023 school year. Wellness Wednesdays will provide informative and interactive content on mental health, wellbeing and family resources

Wellness Wednesday: Bullying Prevention (parents please watch the video linked below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEz1c9LZyOY 

Unity Day:  Oct 19,2022

We encourage all members of the PGCPS community to wear orange in support of Unity Day.

October is National Bullying Prevention Month

Every October, schools and organizations across the country join STOMP Out Bullying™ in observing National Bullying Prevention Month. The goal: encourage schools, communities and organizations to work together to stop bullying and cyberbullying and put an end to hatred and racism by increasing awareness of the prevalence and impact of all forms of bullying on all children of all ages.

A MONTH OF ANTI-BULLYING ACTIVITIES!

A MONTH OF ACTION!

This is your chance to make bullying prevention heard around the world!

You can begin to change the culture by putting an end to Bullying and Cyberbullying!

Make friends with someone you don’t know at school

If you've ever been isolated from others at school or you were new at school and it took time to make friends, you know what it feels like to be left out. Or even if you were never isolated, imagine how it would feel.

Make friends with someone at school who you don't know. You probably wish someone had done that for you.

Be a leader. Take action and don't let anyone at school be in isolation.

Challenge Others To Be Kind

Make kindness go viral with an act of kindness and challenge friends and classmates to pay it forward with their acts of kindness. Make a video of everyone doing acts of kindness and submit it. We'll add it to our website.

October

STAND UP for Others Week

When you see someone being bullied, be brave and STAND UP for them. Bullies have been known to back off when others stand up for victims.

If you don't feel safe get the help of an adult immediately. Be part of the solution -- not the problem!

It's a time to see everyone's differences and celebrate their similarities: Whether students are LGBT, African American, Asian, Muslim, AAPI,of Tribal descent or disabled ...make friends.

Students can participate by

• Creating positive messages on post-its and handing them out to students at school

• Hold a "kindness" dance at school

• Creating anti-bullying videos and sharing them on the STOMP Out Bullying site

• Sharing inspirational stories on the STOMP Out Bullying site

• Create a kindness dance flash mob at school or in your community. Make a video of it and send it to us. We'll share it on our web site.

Week of Inclusion

• Don't let anyone at school eat alone in the cafeteria or on a school field trip. Make it the week of #NOONEEATSALONE

• Include other students in school activities

• Include other students in after school activities

• Invite someone you don't now that well to sit next to you on the bus. Learn about each other.

• At one point or another each of us has felt insecure, or stressed out, or alone. It is important to remind our friends and classmates that we are all in it together and we are there to listen and support each other. Use the hashtag #HereForYou on social media to let your classmates know that they have your support and a person to reach out to if they ever need to talk.

Start the Week With Conversations Amongst Your Peers

• Meet with fellow students and discuss how you can Change The Culture at your school.

• Use our Student Participation Toolkit to begin conversations on how your school can be judgement and bully free.

• Hold a discussion in your classroom where you allow students to openly speak and discuss their experiences with bullying and cyberbullying, and how these experiences have effected them and how they dealt with these