Bounce Back and Sleep Well
On behalf of the wellbeing team, we want to welcome everyone back to Term 3. We have another busy term throughout the Junior School and are looking forward to running our Peer Support program for students in Kindergarten to Year 5. This program will be run by our Year 5 students who will be leading our Bounce Back program lessons in small groups across the Junior School. Year 6 will be working their way through the topic of Human Growth and Development and we are excited to have Rowena Thomas from ‘Amazing Me’ coming in on Tuesday night 6 August to support our families in opening up conversations around these important and sometimes awkward topics.
As our students spend time this term focussing on their wellbeing, whether that be how they can build their friendship skills and resilience through the Bounce Back program or learning about the changes their bodies will go through during puberty in Year 6, we will be sharing some important topics for our families to consider on a health series published through SchoolTV. You will be provided with a wealth of information from experts and specialists in each area and the opportunity to explore further links, articles and videos if you are seeking more information.
The first topic we will be sharing is on the topic of ‘sleep’. As our students adjust back into the routine of school, the importance sleep plays in our children’s growth and development must be considered. We hope you find the information below informative and can spend some time exploring the additional SchoolTV resources offered to our College community.
Sleep
Students today have extremely busy schedules, with ever increasing responsibilities at school and at home. Many kids, especially adolescents, are going to bed later and later and are at risk of sleep deprivation. This affects three areas of a child’s development: psychological, physiological and psychosocial. All three are essential to a child’s growth, learning ability and overall wellbeing. Sleep is vital to a child’s overall development and is as important as diet and exercise.
Sleep also strengthens a child’s immune systems and supports their ability to function properly on a daily basis. Children who do not get enough sleep show increased levels of aggressive behaviour, are less attentive and are much less active. Trying to catch up on sleep on weekends is not the answer and can still lead to severe sleep deprivation.
In this edition of SchoolTV, parents will learn about the importance of sleep and how sleep deprivation can have adverse effects on a child’s health and wellbeing.
We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this edition of SchoolTV and we always welcome your feedback. If you have any concerns about your child, please contact the school counsellor for further information or seek medical or professional help.
Here is the link to the Sleep edition of SchoolTV:
God bless,
Mr Luke Przydacz
Deputy Head of Junior School – Wellbeing
