Welcome to this newsletter edition. The focus of this newsletter is Wellbeing - for yourself and our Good Samaritan staff. We keep hearing that our wellbeing is so important and it is true. This newsletter aims to support you and direct you to some key resources. I invite you to take from it what you need and returnto it as a source of information as we continue through this lockdown - together.

Dear Parents and Carers of Good Samaritan,

Thank you to the many parents who have communicated positive messages to the school about their child’s work and learning during this remote schooling experience. Hearing that students are coping quite well with the work being set gives us great feedback about our planning and delivery of remote learning.

You may be like me in as much that it seems that we keep hearing the same messages about wellbeing and ‘we’re all in this together’. So many of us are adapting to changes in our work and home lives that we can lose sight of the importance of checking in with ourselves to make sure that we are travelling along with a sense of positive health and mindset.

Many of the parents that I have spoken to over the last week are telling me that they are just getting done what can be done in the ‘school at home’ setting. I encourage you to continue to do what can be done in a day rather than try to do everything. The most important element to remember is to maintain good habits of learning.

What are good habits of learning, I hear you ask…

Good habits of learning include, but are not limited to:

• maintaining a routine for learning including beginning learning at a similar time each day
• be organised - have everything that is needed in one space for learning
• completing the ‘must dos’ of the day rather than ‘cherry picking’ what may be liked 
• recognising that all tasks in the learning plan have a learning intent behind them
• seeing a task through to its completion
• taking regular breaks 
• joining into the zoom sessions whenever possible (more on this later)
• reviewing learning particularly following teacher feedback
• limit distractions during the learning process

Your wellbeing as parents is really important during this period as is the wellbeing of our school staff who are also continually adapting their work to maintain engagement in learning and encouragement of good learning habits.

This newsletter is designed with a wellbeing focus to support you as parents. Throughout the term, we will offer many ways to stay involved with the Good Samaritan community. I invite you to take these up whenever you can. Your child’s learning is important but of more importance is your family’s well being - emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually and academically. Learning is important, but when parents are under stress their child’s mind and body does not learn as effectively.

Below are some resources that you may find helpful. In addition, please seek support from the school by:

• Talking to your child's teacher
• Talking to the Principal or Assistant Principal
• Seeking out the support of your child’s stage leader
• Contacting the school to request the services of the School's Pastoral Support Worker: Deb Tibbs (CatholicCare)
• Contact the school to request the services of the School Counsellor: Kath Walsh (CatholicCare)

Over the coming weeks, Good Samaritan will focus on some whole school themes that will allow for families to have some fun in learning together at home. We invite you to contribute as often as you can.

I continue to encourage you to do what you can each day always remembering that:

• it’s ok if all the daily learning plan doesn’t get completed 
• we don’t expect you to be a skilled teacher
• just do your best and expect the same from your child
• ask the school for help - we are here to support you
• actively promote resilience, a positive attitude, and a growth mindset towards learning

As you read through this newsletter, I pray that you will take what you need at this point in time to nourish yourself as parent, partner, friend, and gift to our world.

As we journey together, with Jesus this week,

Toni Sillis

Principal