Last week the grade 5s ran their first session of the PLAY leadership program. The program will run every Tuesday at lunchtime for the rest of the year. Last term, the grade 5s attended a leadership day run by the council where they learnt all of the skills needed to independently organise and carry out the sessions. They are in small groups that will rotate weekly. 

In the first session, Annie, Indigo, Akucjang, Chloe, Katelyn, Michael, Brandon, Olivia and Alannah invited the preps along and in the second session the grade 1s joined in with games led by Rory, Daniel, Adonis, Zani, Evie, Novak, Kinsley and Lance. 

The leaders and the children that signed up to be involved all had so much fun and it was a great opportunity for the grade 5s to practice some of the skills needed to rule the school in 2025!

Our new SEL Skill of the Month is 

finding gratitude  

Digging deeper into gratitude, and finding the many ways we can be thankful for all that we have. 

The graphic below outlines some of the many ways that we might be grateful for all of the things that make up our worlds. What are some of the important things in your life? What makes your world a place that you are grateful to exist in?

On the first day back for Term 4, the children in grades 3-6 were visited by some police officers from the Caroline Springs Community Policing Unit. The visit was organised by Greg and was a free session provided by the Police. 

Maria, John and Ryan visited the children to talk about Bullying, Cyberbullying and Cybersafety. Below is a list of the most interesting and impactful things they covered according to our grade 3-6 students: 

• The increase in bullying and cyberbullying in all communities and the consequences that can result (including possible criminal convictions).

• Appropriate ages to use social media (including online gaming and youtube) and a reminder that just because an app is targeted towards children, that doesn’t automatically make it safe. 13 is the recommended age for all online activity and for anyone below this age it is recommended that they are supervised. 

• Location tracking needs to be off when using any sites that have social links.

• Restricting the personal details that are visible in photos, videos and online profiles. People can use information visible in the backgrounds of your images to find out more about you, or use this information to bond with you. 

• Ensuring that passwords are only shared with your parents and no one else, even close friends because relationships can change over time. 

• Awareness of the digital footprint you leave behind and remembering that things online will always be there. 

• The importance of remembering that just because you CAN access things, it doesn’t mean that you SHOULD (or that they are safe or necessary in your life as a child).  

• Avoiding ‘friending’ or talking to strangers online and only becoming online friends with people that you know face to face.

• Red flags to look for online (things that people might say that make you question their identity or motives including exclusively shared interests or commonalities). 

• The impact of trolling and ganging up on strangers or friends online.

• A reminder that you are never alone and that home, school and the Police are there to help you when you need it, along with: 

  • https://kidshelpline.com.au/ 

  • https://www.esafety.gov.au/report 

  • https://www.lifeline.org.au/ 

The prep - 2 children did not attend the sessions, however this story ‘Swoosh and Glide and Rule number 5’ was provided to us by the e-safety commissioner and is designed to stimulate discussion around cybersafety for children and their families. 

On Friday, the 6th of September, we recognised our annual Bullying No Way Day. the children wore a touch of orange to represent their commitment to Anti-Bullying. 

Acknowledging this day each year is important to us as it helps to remember what Bullying is and what it can look like. It brings the ways that we treat each other to the forefront of our thinking and it also helps us to think about the ways that we can help others out when they are being treated badly. 

We started the day with a performance from Brainstorm Productions called Sticks and Stones. The show was designed to promotes resilience, cyber safety and positive connections. It has been developed by teachers and psychologists. The purpose of the show was to provide students with practical social and emotional skills, and encourages students to build positive connections at school, at home and online.

For the rest of the day, there were a variety of activities to reinforce all of the important things we need to know about identifying and dealing with bullying. 

On Tuesday the 4th of June, we had a visit from Bully Zero. Bully Zero is an organisation that aims to raise awareness about and prevent bullying by visiting schools and running sessions with parents and children.  

We began with a parent session in the morning and then each year level had a presentation that catered to their age group. 

🌻🌻🌻

The slides found below combine information from the Bully Zero parent and child sessions, our experiences here at St Theresa’s and official recommendations from the office of the eSafety commissioner. 

At St Theresa’s, we work on many of the skills mentioned throughout the slides through our SEL lessons. Our SEL lessons across each term incorporate a Respectful Relationships unit (runs for 4-5 weeks), a targeted anti bullying session, our SEL skills of the month and responsive sessions created by teachers for individual classes that respond to the issues that children are currently experiencing and interested in exploring further.

The slides have been split into smaller groups so that one big slideshow is not too overwhelming!

With NAPLAN happening over the next few weeks, it seems like a good time to remind ourselves that trying our best is all that matters.

But if you or your children are feeling a bit overwhelmed, consider having a read of the following, just to put things into perspective a little...

If you are new to our school, you might not know that in Term 4 last year we created buddy benches for our yard. 

Our buddy benches are designed to provide a spot to sit and think if you just need a little time to yourself. Or if you’re having a ‘lonely’ day and don’t have anyone to play with, by sitting on the buddy bench other children will see you and ask you to play with them. Or the buddy bench can be a seat in the playground where a child can go when they want someone to talk to. 

Buddy benches teach us all that it’s OK to ask for help and to reach out when things get tough.

They were beautifully decorated with meaningful messages by representatives from every grade in our school last year. 

There are also some new brightly coloured benches that can be played on when you don't quite need the buddy bench. 

It is very important to our SRC that the Buddy Benches are respected and taken care of, so they have visited all the classes to remind them of the purpose of the buddy benches, how to use them and how to take care of them.  

On Monday, Courtney - a youth worker from Brimbank Youth Services - came to work with our grade 5 children for the first of 5 sessions that will take place over the next 5 weeks. The job of a youth worker is to help young people between the ages of 10 and 25 through whatever stage they are at in their lives. While Courtney is working with our grade 5s, she will be focusing on Friendship. 

The children will participate in discussions, games and activities around different types of friendships and the emotions that we feel at different times throughout our experiences of friendship. The sessions will cover the following: 

1. The Friendship Finder (How to make new friends)

2. The Supportive Friend (How to be there for your friends)

3. The Cool Communicator (How to remain calm when things are hard to say) 

4. The Friendship Fixer (How to take steps to repair friendships that need fixing)

5. The Kindness Specialist (How to use all of this new friendship knowledge to be the kindest version of yourself)

Our participation in this program has come about in response to the results of the Resilient Youth Survey that our grade 5 and 6 students completed last year. In the results of this survey, it was found in our community, as well as across the schools in the local area, that some of the biggest worries for grade 5 children are around making and keeping their friendships. We hope that being a part of these workshops will help and support our grade 5s in this area.  

Week 2 of the friendship sessions was focused around being a supportive friend. They began by pairing up and having a look at the things that they had in common with others using a venn diagram. Some of the common things were quite unexpected and it was lovely for them to get to know a little more about people that they have known for a long time. 

One of the activities involved some scenario cards showing different emotions and in small groups, the children were able to share how they might support their friends when they are feeling the ways shown. Courtney then helped them to explore the zones of regulation and work out some strategies that they might use when they find themselves in the different zones. 

Week 3 focused on communication. There were lots of discussions about how important communicating is and how we can improve our relationships with good communication skills. One of the activities was a back to back drawing game that required clear and specific instructions to draw an image being described to them. Another task asked the grade 5s to work in small groups to decide what they would take with them for survival if their boat was sinking and they were about to be stranded on a desert island. They had to work together to negotiate and compromise - both very important communication skills! 

Week 4 was titled 'The Friendship Fixer'.  The focus was on how friendships can be fixed and repaired and a reminder that friendships don't have to end just because they hit troubled times, especially when we use apologies and forgiveness.  They began by identifying their own strengths and sharing them with the group. It was beautiful to see that they could all identify at least two things that they felt were strengths in a very short time. Then they took a look at a recipe for a real and meaningful apology (and the things that an apology should not be). In small groups, they acted out making and receiving an apology. They were able to reflect on how real the apology felt and what made it feel real. 

The final session focused on being Kindness Specialists. The grade 5s were able to identify kindness in themselves and their own lives. They identified the kind qualities in their role models and friends and then reflected on ways that they could be kinder and invite more kindness into their lives. It was a great way to end the Friendship Program!

This program also fits in perfectly with our first SEL skill of the month for 2024...   

Here are a few things that our grade 5s think are important when making and keeping friends...