From the Principal
Dear Parents/Carers,
I cannot believe we are in Week 7!
There have been a lot of changes coming through with the COVID policies from the Department and I want to say thank you to you all for your flexibility and support in reading the communications sent out. I appreciate how confusing it must be with all the changes, so please know that we are here to support you in any way we can. Just give us a call in the front office on 9462 9500 or come in and see us. The Department are wanting all students to be at school (unless they are a close family contact) so please ensure you are sending them to school.
We are having some wonderful upgrades happen around the school at the moment. You may have noticed the carpets in the admin block have been replaced and this week the carpets in Rm 7, 8 and the P&C room are all being redone. These carpets are nearly 40 years old, so it will be a welcome improvement to our beautiful school. We are also going to be working with the artists who completed the murals in the undercover area to see if we can work on uplifting these.
At the end of the week, we will be recognising Bullying NoWay! Day. At Waddington PS, we take bullying seriously. We have made some positive adjustments to our behaviour management policy at Waddington PS to ensure that bullying is dealt with effectively and in a timely manner. Our student leaders will be speaking to students about bullying and what they can do if they feel they are getting bullied.
Just to let you know, we have an amazing NEW website with all of our information. Please check it out at www.waddingtonps.wa.edu.au You can let us know when your child is sick through the website and it has all of our current information. We have also been updating our school uniforms to order some cheaper alternatives. As such, we will have a new red zip up jumper available soon to purchase and a long sleeve polo shirt for winter. We will let you know when they arrive
Kind regards,
Jemima Tomlinson
Principal
From the Administration Office
COVID-19 latest guidelines
Effective 10th March 2022 the WA Government announced new guidelines for very high caseload settings which changes the definitions for close contacts, the testing and isolation protocols for schools.
Below is an overview of how the new rules will impact your child(ren) when there is confirmed positive COVID-19 case in the classroom and/or at home.
If you have any questions regarding this please contact the office on 9462 9500.
Term 1 2022 Planner
The Term planner is updated regularly and below are some important dates to be aware of for the coming 3 weeks.
Please find a link to the updated Term 1 2022 planner below.
Important Dates
16th March 2022 – School Board Meeting 10.30am (via Webex)
17th March 2022 – Bullying No Way! Day
18th March 2022 – Global Roaming – Room 5
21st March 2022 – Harmony Day
24th March 2022 – NAPLAN Practice test
30th March 2022 – Virtual Assembly – Merit Certificates only
1st April 2022 – Global Roaming – Room 5
Highway Heroes
The Triple B’s 4 Calming Down
This week, your child has learned how to calm down using The Triple B’s. Relaxing the Body will come as no surprise as being a necessary part of calming tight and bunched muscles. The Brain has been covered in our previous newsletter, explaining changing Stinkin Thinkin to Supa Thinkin. You might think that Breathing doesn’t need to be taught – being a natural and automatic action.
Breathing is probably the most vital part of the whole process. Rapid breathing signals to the brain that the body is experiencing stress – this could be physical stress of running or emotional stress. Rapid and shallow breathing as the result of emotional stress is part of a pattern of anxiety, anger and feeling down. Rapid and shallow breathing usually triggers the brain into a thinking pattern – usually Stinkin Thinkin – which then leads to the body tightening up, and the cycle begins.
Breathing needs to be taught as a specific method in order for children to use it to calm themselves down. Your child has learned about ‘Bubble Breathing’ as a method of bringing rapid and shallow breathing under control. This means a big breath in and then blowing out gently and evenly – just like blowing a bubble. Doing this 3 – 4 times sends more oxygen to the brain and the calming down process begins automatically. Your child will enjoy practising this skill with a container of detergent and a plastic wand; it’s a real technique to breathe out slowly without bursting the bubble.
The poster that follows would be very useful to display at home, copies are available at the front office. Encourage your child to practise the steps until they’re able to run through them quickly and easily. Remember, this is a skill that they will be able to use for the rest of their life.
This excerpt has been taken from the book ‘Highway Heroes: Smart Life Skills 4 Kids – Module 4 Strategies 4 Managing Me’ written byHelen Davidson and Claire Orange, Best Programs 4 Kids.
Community Notices
City of Stirling Junior Sports Coaching Programs
Stirling Leisure Centres Junior sports coaching programs are a term based program which gives the opportunity for children aged 5 – 15 years old to participate in a variety of sports, where they will learn general movement skills and the fundamentals of the chosen sport.
Basketball and Soccer programs are currently run at Stirling Leisure Centres – Herb Graham in Mirrabooka and Stirling Leisure Centres – Hamersley. Enrol your child today using the link below.
Any questions please feel free to contact our sports team on 9205 7323.
Balga Junior Football Club
Balga Junior Football Club are looking for players, please see the flyer below for details. Balga FC has been going for over 50 years and would love to continue being a part of the community but needs more players.
Better Health Program provided for free by WA Department of Health
Have you heard about Better Health Program yet?
It’s for kids aged 7-13 years old and their families! It runs for 10 weeks and teaches them to make healthy lifestyle changes together. It’s funded by Western Australia Department of Health, so it’s FREE for families. Registrations for our 2022 programs are now open!
The group-based program will be running at a local venue near you.
These sessions are for both kids and parents. They will learn about healthy eating, the kids will play game-based activities, and parents learn about positive parenting and behaviour change.
Families also receive FREE resources to support them to making healthy changes at home, like a water bottle, backpack, label reading tool, and a portion cup.
What if families can’t attend a group-based program?
The program is also delivered online! Families learn about healthy eating, keeping active, and forming healthy habits at home by doing interactive online sessions and weekly telehealth appointments with a qualified health professional. With access to the internet, it can be done anytime and anywhere.
