STUDENT WELFARE

Student Wellbeing

Wellbeing Support for Students and Families

Bree Schmidt (Mon/Tues/Wed) YEARS 2-6

Jess Swain (Tues/Thurs) YEARS PREP-1

Ph: 5261 2660

breeana.schmidt@education.vic.gov.au

jess.swain@education.vic.gov.au

Helpful contact numbers

Parentline: 132 289

Kids Helpline: 1800 551 800

Lifeline: 131 114

Beyond Blue Coronavirus Mental Wellbeing Support Service: 1800 512 348

The Orange Door: (central intake for family violence support and child & family services) 1800 312 820

Helpful websites

Surfcoast Shire COVID-19 support and resources

Local support in the Surfcoast Shire including avenues for emergency relief packages, financial support, mental health support and more:

https://www.surfcoast.vic.gov.au/Community/Public-health/Coronavirus-COVID-19-information-and-resources/Get-Help

Beyondblue Coronavirus Mental Wellbeing Support Service

Information, advice and strategies to help you manage your wellbeing and mental health during this time, along with phone and web chat support:

https://coronavirus.beyondblue.org.au/

Talking to your child about Coronavirus

How to have a safe and reassuring conversation with your child plus links to helpful resources:

https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/talking-your-child-about-coronavirus-covid-19

Supporting children during COVID

A selection of resources to assist parents and carers to best support their children and reduce worry and distress:

https://emergingminds.com.au/resources/supporting-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/

Helpful apps

https://insighttimer.com/meditation-topics/children

https://www.smilingmind.com.au/

https://www.headspace.com/headspace-meditation-app

Helpful Resources

Strategies to support your kid's and teen's remote learning

Created by cyber expert Dr Kristy Goodwin during the first lockdown last year, to assist parents with simple strategies to manage remote learning

https://drkristygoodwin.com/strategies-to-support-learning/

Digital Wellbeing Checklist

Science-backed solutions to help kids and teens thrive online and create healthy digital habits

https://drkristygoodwin.com/digital-wellbeing-checklist

Building children’s resilience ebook and other resources, including relaxation audio tracks

https://www.maggiedent.com/lockdowncovidhelp/

Activities, links and stories for kids:

ACF499-A-Z-at-home-handout-v3.pdf

Back-to-School Care Package - Big Life Journal.pdf

masks_young.pdf

Click on the links for more information:

At-home-together-with-the-4-Ms.pdf

Bertrand-the-Bored-Story.pdf

Things-to-Look-Forward-to-Resource.pdf

Mindfulness and Respectful Relationships

Mum and Dad as the Teacher

During Remote Learning Mum and Dad have to wear many different hats.

They may wear their worker hat, their parent hat and their teacher hat all in one day. We are going to explore our school value of RESPECT when being taught or supported by our mum and dad at home.

RESPECT

RESPECT is a two way relationship. These suggestions are for PARENTS and STUDENTS

Some of the qualities of respect are:

Attentive listening- listening with your eyes, ears and your heart.

Patience- pausing and allowing space for learning to happen in the time it requires. Learning takes time. Often we need to repeat something many times.

Letting go of expectations- Accepting your yourself and others exactly where they are.

Clever Learners and Good Teachers know these things

We are not perfect!
It's 100% OK to make mistakes. Mistake help up learn and build resilience

3, Sometimes learning can feel really uncomfortable. When it does feel uncomfortable, we might need to check if we are both showing the qualities of RESPECT.

Week 2 - Mindfulness and Respectful Relationships

Feeling Our Body

Learning Intention

I am learning to use my attention and notice how my body feels.

Success criteria:

I can focus my attention on different parts of my body

Stress and uneasiness is what we feel when we are worried or uncomfortable about something. ... We may feel angry, frustrated, scared, or afraid.

The words stress is used a lot, so today we’re going to call it uneasiness or feeling uneasy.

Uneasiness can be felt in our body, breath, thinking and movements.

Our body can show us we are feeling stressed or uneasy. We might have a sore tummy, a head ache or even sore shoulders.

Reflect

If you think about yourself for a moment., when you feel worried, uncomfortable or frustrated where do you feel it in your body? In your hands, neck, shoulders or even your jaw? What does it feel like? Is it tightness, hot, cold or even numb.

Guided Practice

Today I am going to guide you through the technique of a body scan. This helps you to notice where you might be holding feelings of uneasiness in our body. You are going to give the different parts of your body your attention and a gentle squeeze and release.

This is a great tool to use before bed. Allowing you to drop off to sleep easily.

Week 3 - Mindfulness and Respectful Relationships

Self calming

Learning Intention

I am learning to self-calm and self-regulate.

Success Criteria

I can notice when I am feeling stress in my body
I can soften my body and breath

In this session we exploring a self-calming technique called melting. This technique first requires us to notice how we are feeling.

When we are under stress our physical body often becomes tighter and harder. Once we have noticed this tightening we are going to ‘think’ about our body melting and soften. As we imagine ourselves melting we are going to take long gentle breaths, in and out. Our might imagine that you breath is a gentle wave that soothes and soften you

Week 4: Mindfulness and Respectful Relationships

Breathe in- Breathe out

Learning Intention

Students identify activities and events that make them feel stressed or uneasy
Students describe coping strategies

Success Criteria

I can notice when my breathing has altered
I can regulate/change my breathing.

"When you own your breath, nobody can steal your peace "

I love this quote because It says to me that feeling peaceful is linked to our breath.

So to feel peaceful, we must make sure we are breathing well.

Shared Learning

We have discovered that when we become stressed or uneasy our physical body changes. Did you know our breathing does too.

We can experience different situations that may cause us to feel uncomfortable, worried or even scared and these emotions can affect our breathing. When our breathing is affected so is our thinking and how we act.

Have you even noticed that in situation where you might feel uneasy you might stop breathing or not breathe much at all.

Today we are going to explore some situations that might cause us some worry. As I am reading them, feel free to close your eyes and really get into the scenario. This will allow you to watch yourself and see and feel what your breathing does when you become stressed and uneasy.

Mindful breathing is one of my coping strategies

Guided Practice

Today we are going to explore mindful breathing

We will be using counting to even our breath

Inhaling to the count of 4, exhaling to the count of 4 with a short pause in between.

Once this becomes comfortable you can focus on drawing your breath into your belly

Filling your belly up and emptying your belly out.

Week 5: Mindfulness and Respectful Relationships

Feeling Good

Learning Intention

I am learning to identify activities that can help me to reduce my stress levels

Success Criteria

I know ways to help me to feel better.

Everyone has things they like to do to help them feel happy or calm when they are tired, or stressed, or grumpy.

There are things we can do to help ourselves

These might include singing, exercise, a favourite blanket, space, cuddles, finding thigs to be grateful for or even creating something and giving it to another person.

Activity

Create a poster that will help remind you of the things that help you to feel better.

Week 6: mindfulness and Respectful Relationships

Help Seeking Conversations

Learning Intention: I am learning to have help seeking conversations

Success Criteria: I can have a help seeking conversation

Help Seeking Conversations

Steps to having a help seeking conversation

Step 1: Identify a person who you trust who you will have a conversation with

Step 2: Share with them the problem

Step 3: Share with them how you feel

Step 4: Share with them what you need

Learning Activity

Identify a situation where you may need to have a help seeking conversation

Follow the steps to have this conversation

You may practice the steps with a toy first to develop your confidence with each part.

Week 8: Mindfulness and Respectful Relationships

How are my helpers at school?

Learning Intention: I am learning to identify who can help me at school

Success Criteria: I can identify a person who can help me with a problem or question.

Who are my helpers?

At school we can feel sad, scared, angry, sick, injured or we may lose something. We may have a problem we need help with or a question we need answered. There are lots of people you can ask for help.

Teachers,
Friends,
Buddies,
Yard duty teacher,
Office Helpers,
Well-being Officer,
Principal an d Vice Principal

Learning Activity

Identify who you might seek help from in these common situations.

I have lost my Pokemon in the school yard.
I have fallen over and have a graze on my knee
During class I am scared to go to the toilet by myself.
I have no one to play with.

Self Reflection

It's time to reflect on the process.

Were you able to identify at least 3 helpers for each example?

Now think back on a time when you had a problem or a question. Who is it that you could seek help from?

Important: Ask yourself: Am I one of these people? Can I help others when they need support? What type of attitude and behaviors do you think are needed to help others?

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