NEWSLETTER

On Tuesday, our teachers and student support SSOs joined with the staff from Nuriootpa PS and Tanunda PS for our professional learning day. This was actually the third day of ‘Berry Street’ training: the first two days having occurred back in 2020.

What is Berry Street? Berry Street began 140 years ago as the Victorian Infant Asylum and was eventually named after its current location in Melbourne. It has evolved over the years to include youth and family services and now also includes a school for vulnerable students. Berry Street’s classroom strategies are based on trauma-informed practices and the science of wellbeing. Professionals from Berry Street now share their knowledge and expertise with other educators, as their approaches have been shown to benefit all students.

Mr Claridge and Mrs Sitters had already been using the ‘morning circle’ as part of their practice; and this week the other teachers have incorporated it into their routines. The morning circle includes greetings, values, expectations and ‘positive primers’.  Some of the aims of the morning circle are to:

·         create consistent predictable routines

·         build connections to school and staff

·         produce positive emotions to begin the day

The morning circle includes the question: what went well? This encourages children to always find the positives that have occurred as they began their day. These can be as simple as: I got out of bed straight away, breakfast tasted nice, mum/dad gave me a hug, I played with my pet,… Teachers are also practicing asking this question at other key points during the day: transitioning from another teacher, after lunchtime play, at the end of the day, etc.. This could also be a question that parents can ask at pick-up time.

One of the other aspects of the training that the teachers were particularly excited about was the notion of developing stamina for learning and how children can be engaged in developing this for themselves. For instance, in Ms Moffett’s class the children wrote a weekend recount on Wednesday morning. Ms Moffett talked to them about stamina in their writing and asked them all to set goals around how much they could write. During the SRC meeting yesterday, the student leaders from Ms Moffett’s class were excited to tell me all about their goal setting and how everyone in the class had achieved their goals. Ms Moffett was very proud of how much the students had accomplished during that lesson.

Our fourth (and final) Berry Street training day will occur in Term 4. We are all looking forward to it and the learning that will occur for us.

Gail Holland

Principal

Parents/Caregivers please make sure you have provided the school with an updated healthcare plan and current medication if your child needs support at school for a medical condition and in readiness for excursions & outings and swimming lessons which are in week 10 this term (pool staff may refuse to allow your child to participate and will provide standard first aid only).

Asthma Care, Allergic Reaction plans and Medication Agreement forms are available on the Skoolbag App for parents to access and take to your doctor or you can ask at the Front Office. 

Keep a copy of plans & medication expiry dates at home for your reference and ensure that they are updated in a timely manner.

If you are unsure of expiry dates, contact the Front Office. 

NB:  Parents will now receive an email reminder from school if plan/medication has not been updated.

 Expired medication can not be administered by staff and will be sent home.