This term started with me joining the school community for cross country and the ANZAC parade. I also spent time with classes as they’ve learned about teeth-brushing or played indoors during wet weather. Next week I’m planning to join the secondary classes as they head off to the Gympie Show. These experiences are great as they allow me to get to know the kids and the staff better, and to see everyone try their hardest, participate in a range of activities, and experience new things.

Secondary girls’ group has not met so far this term, mainly due to staff absences. During our meetings last term, though, the girls learned self-care skills as we talked about and played with hair and nails. They also developed life skills as they completed various art and craft activities. Plus we got to have some good conversations along the way. Hopefully we will be able to start meeting again soon.

At the moment I’m working on a directory of community service providers. This project came about because it was identified that, while there are many avenues of support and things to do in the Gympie region, finding out about them can be difficult. The plan is to have the directory available for staff to use to give extra support to parents or students as needed. This project has been great because it has highlighted to me how much the Gympie region has to offer residents, and having this information in one place will be helpful.

My role is to support the wellbeing of staff, students, parents, and others in our school community. If you ever need to have a chat or help with something, please contact me. I’m at school on Tuesday (8.30-12.30) and Thursday (9.30-1.30), and can also be contacted via email – rsdri0@eq.edu.au.

Chappy Rachel