Semester 1 reports

Our staff have been working extremely hard over the past few weeks to assess and write semester reports for each student. Whilst the lockdown provided some challenges with completing student assessments, we are still able to publish our semester reports as per our original time line. Semester 1 reports will be available through Compass at 4:00pm Monday 21^st June.

Updated Department of Education Operating Guidelines

We have recently received updated guidelines from the Department of Education, following the announcement of the easing of some restrictions by the Victorian Government yesterday. This information will be provided through Compass tomorrow.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Parent Teacher Interviews are being held next week on Tuesday 22^nd and Wednesday 23^rd June. Interviews will run for 10 minutes and are an opportunity to discuss your child’s progress with their class teacher. Bookings are currently available through Compass and will close at 4:00pm Monday 21^st June.

Parent Teacher Interviews will be held online through Google Meet. An invite and link to the meeting will be sent to the email address we have on file. If you have recently changed your email address or would prefer the invite be sent to a different email account, please notify the school as soon as possible.

Farmers’ Market

We had a highly successful Farmers’ Market over the weekend. Thank you to all members of the Farmers’ Market Committee for their support behind the scenes and on the day: Anita P, Jade K, Amy D, Jon C, Janelle J, Paul K, Cameron S, Jody SC.

Our next market will be on Sunday 11^th July which will be the last day before Term 3 commences. Our Year 1/2 team will be coordinating volunteers for set up, pack up and on the gates, with $500 from the funds raised going directly to the Year 1/2 area. If you are able to assist on the day, please complete the Google form. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GUQ1F1xxNtUz1yWiPpiwpKkb0O182ypJ3j6eZJ4huBE/edit

Our Year 3/4 team will be running the BBQ at our July market. If you are able to assist on the BBQ, please contact your child’s teacher.

Art Show

Our students have worked extremely hard in Visual Arts this semester and have produced some fantastic pieces of Art work. Our Art teachers and staff, had set up an Art Show display for families as part of our Education Week celebrations which we unfortunately had to cancel due to Covid-19 restrictions. We have since had to take this down in order to return the display boards we had hired. Prior to taking this down, we filmed and photographed all art work and put this together in a video so you can enjoy the Art Show from home. This video can be found on the ‘Art Show’ page in this newsletter and on the front page of our school website. We hope you enjoy looking at the fantastic work by our students.

Establishing digital boundaries for a good night’s sleep

by Dr Kristy Goodwin

It’s well established that sleep is vital for children and adolescents’ learning, physical health, mental wellbeing and emotional regulation. Yet, a concerning number of Australian children and adolescents aren’t meeting the national sleep guidelines according to a recent study*.

There are many reasons for young people’s poor sleep habits including school demands, co-curricular and/or work commitments, perceived pressure from parents and educators and consumption of energy drinks. Young people’s digital device habits can have a significant, negative impact on their sleep.

Handheld devices emit blue light which hampers melatonin production. This can result in the delayed onset of sleep and potentially shorten critical phases of the sleep cycle. Research confirms that children who have not yet gone through puberty are particularly vulnerable to blue light exposure in the evening as they have larger pupils, compared to post-puberty adolescents.

Strategies to stop screens from sabotaging your child’s sleep

Parents can have a positive influence on their child and teens’ digital habits and doing so will yield positive results for their child’s sleep and subsequent learning and wellbeing.

Establish a digital bedtime

Kids should switch off digital devices 60 minutes prior to falling asleep. Reinforce this habit by establishing a ‘landing zone’ such as a kitchen bench, or desk in a study or sideboard where digital devices go for charging and storage. Many students report that they ‘need’ to complete homework or submit assignments late at night. Verify the validity of such statements and work in partnership with your child’s school to limit this type of required screen activity at night. Parents need to also be good role models by switching off before bed too.

Tech-free zones

Bedrooms should be tech-free zones so consider buying an alarm clock if your child uses a mobile phone to wake themselves up. Keeping devices out of bedrooms removes the tech-temptation to use them throughout the night, reduces the likelihood that they’ll reach for them upon waking and lessens the chance of cyberbullying incidents. Ensure any devices left in bedrooms are on airplane mode and that the device is away from their line of sight.

Ensure a daily dose of ‘greentime’

Exposure to natural blue light from sources such as the sun is critical for regulating circadian rhythms and promoting sleepiness at night. Ensure your child/teen is exposed to bright, natural, daytime light preferably before midday each day.

Use blue light filters

Most devices include options for ‘night mode’ or ‘dark mode’ that reduce blue light exposure. Dimming the brightness of the screen in the settings or applying a filter on a desktop or laptop also assists.

Do a screen swap before bed

Encourage passive tech activities before bed such as watching TV, listening to an audiobook, music or podcast, or reading on an e-reader.

It can be a challenge navigating digital boundaries with your child or teen particularly when it involves sleep, which is vital for health, wellbeing and learning. Talk to them regularly about the importance of sleep using science and facts to substantiate your claims.

*The Australian Department of Health recommends between 9-11 hours of sleep for children (aged 5-13 years) and between 8-10 hours of sleep for adolescents (aged 14-17 years). A 2019 study published by the Australian Institute of Family Studies found that a quarter of 12-15 year olds were experiencing a concerning lack of sleep and more than half of the 16-17 year olds in the study were not getting the recommended 8-10 hours/night (Source: https://aifs.gov.au/sites/default/files/publication-documents/lsac-asr-2018-chap4-sleep.pdf )

regards

Ken & Lisa

What has been happening at TheirCare Bonbeach.

The last 2 weeks were very quiet with the lockdown. We are so proud of our students and the resilience they showed during this time. We stayed very busy with the students creating all sorts of art and craft using hummers beads, paint, and fabric. We also played charades and hide and seek. It was great to see last Friday all the happy faces back and we cannot wait to finish off term two off with ‘painting theme week and a Lego Masters week’.

Bookings are now open for our winter holiday program ‘Full Speed Ahead’, the program is jammed packed with lots of fun activities including arts and crafts, excursions to Gravity zone and to the movies and much more. Brochures are available in the BER or at www.theircare.com.au  cannot wait to see you there.

            

                         

Bookings and Cancellations

Parents, as our bookings are increasing, we are encouraging you all to book your children into our BSC & ASC sessions. Bookings made less than 48 hrs will charge a fee. This also goes for cancellations. Doing this ensures we have the required ratio of educators to provide a high-quality program for your children. Please make sure you cancel your bookings if your child is not attending even if its last minute.