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CAUSEWAY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER 3RD JULY 2020 1

Causeway School Wellbeing Newsletter Vol. 3 / 3rd July 2020

Dear All

I would like to welcome you to our well being edition. Once again it is packed full of

strategies and advice that you can use and share with your children.

Over the last few weeks and months, I hope our Well Being newsletter has been able to

provide our community with relevant support and guidance that has enabled you to

navigate your way through the pandemic.

If there are any other areas that you feel we could be providing further support with please

do let us know as I am very keen for the school to be at the very heart of our local

community.

Best wishes and take care

Sarah Speedie

Please email sdoyle@causewayschool.org if you have any suggestions or requests that you would like included in this newsletter!

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How to make time for rest and relaxation

As we start to come out of lockdown and normal-ish life returns we still need to take time to adapt back. To ensure that sufficient time is allocated for rest and recovery, write the word REST: Retreat, Eat, Sleep, and Treat in blocks in your calendar every week. Guard those windows and encourage loved ones and colleagues to do the same.

Retreat is the equivalent of tennis player putting a towel over their head between sets – find your moments to disengage from the world around you.

Eat (healthfully). A diet that is high in sugar, carbohydrate and with high meat and dairy product consumption will create more acidic conditions in the body, pushing cortisol up higher than it needs to be. For the most part, we should be eating green and bright coloured vegetables, fruits, nuts, fish, meat twice a week, rice, wholemeal bread, and good quality dark chocolate.

Sleep – is the most powerful performance enhancer we have, more vital for brain function and good decision making than any waking activity. Most people need between 7 and 9 hours. Inch up the hours of sleep you are getting by taking power naps, going to sleep 30 minutes earlie r or with a top up at weekends. Sufficient sleep is critical because if cortisol is too high, melatonin cannot kick in and our serotonin supplies are not renewed while we sleep, leading to brain fog and being short-tempered. Creating a sleep protocol with a wind down strategy and using techniques, such as sequential relaxation can help you fall asleep. If you have the time now, work on establishing good sleep habits.

Treat – There are two types of treats – those that are nice to start with but to which we are mildly addicted (sugar and alcohol being the main contenders), and those that are truly restorative. Keep the addictive treats to a minimum and develop a habit of indulging in the latter. Good treats boost dopamine and serotonin. Think beyond food. Having something effortless and enjoyable to read, watch or listen to – a soap opera, TED talks or a documentary series, whatever you really like – enables us to reboot dopamine levels.

When life does return to whatever our new normal will be, maintain the REST practice. Be on the lookout for burnout in yourself and your children and ask everyone across your family and circle of friends to do the same. Signs of burnout are people complaining of heart racing, looking grey in skin tone, digestion suffering, not stopping for even the shortest break, getting frequent colds and most obviously making minor mistakes, diary errors etc.

When we invest time in this kind of ongoing REST, we build resilience over time so that we can rely on our ‘bounce back’ mechanism and will consistently be at our best. Establishing a self-care discipline will create a solid foundation that you and those around you can use to achieve more, stress less, and live and work more happily that lasts well beyond the end of the current crisis.

Information supplied from netdoctor.com

Life after Lockdown

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Whilst there are huge benefits to being online in order to stay connected to family and friends during this period, the government recognises many parents may feel concerned about the activities and content their children are accessing. This guidance outlines resources to help keep children safe from different risks online and where to go to receive support and advice.

Keep your child safe online

It is important to have regular conversations about staying safe online and to encourage children to speak to you if they come across something worrying online.

These resources provide guidance for parents and carers to keep children safe online. They will, amongst other things, support you to talk to your child about a range of online safety issues, set up home filtering in a child-friendly way and set up age-appropriate parental controls on digital devices:

Thinkuknow by National Crime Agency-CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) provides resources for parents and carers and children of all ages to help keep children safe online

Childnet has developed guidance for parents and carers to begin a conversation about online safety, as well as guidance on keeping under-fives safe online

Parent Info is a collaboration between Parent Zone and NCA-CEOP, providing support and guidance for parents and carers related to the digital world from leading experts and organisations

NSPCC has guidance for parents and carers to help keep children safe online UK Safer Internet Centre provides tips and advice for parents and carers to keep children safe

online - you can also report any harmful content found online through the UK Safer Internet Centre

Government Advice

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What harms might my child experience online? You may have concerns about specific harms which children can experience online. There are more resources to help you understand and protect your child from different harms online, including:

child sexual abuse – a definition exposure to radicalising content youth-produced sexual imagery (‘sexting’) cyberbullying exposure to age-inappropriate content, such as pornography exposure to harmful content, such as suicide content

Child sexual abuse

If you are concerned call 999 or report it to the National Crime Agency-CEOP.

If your child has been a victim of child sexual abuse – online or offline – and you believe they are in immediate danger, you should call 999 and ask for the police. The police will continue to respond to emergency calls.

If you are concerned that your child has been a victim of online sexual abuse or you are worried about the way someone has been communicating with your child online, you can report it to National Crime Agency-CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection).

These resources provide information and support for parents and carers on what to do if you’re worried about child sexual abuse:

you can contact the NSPCC helpline (0808 800 5000) for support and advice if you have concerns about your own or another child’s safety. The Together, we can tackle child abuse campaign also provides information on the signs of child abuse and neglect

Thinkuknow by National Crime Agency-CEOP has developed activities to support your child’s safe use of the internet and the Lucy Faithfull Foundation’s Parents Protect website also provides advice on how to help protect children from child sexual abuse

if you see sexual images or videos of someone under 18 online, report it anonymously to the Internet Watch Foundation who can work to remove them from the web and help to identify victims and survivors

you can contact Stop It Now! for information and advice if you have concerns about someone’s behaviour, including children who may be displaying concerning sexual behaviour

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‘Sexting’ (youth-produced sexual imagery) If you are worried about your child sending nude images or videos (sometimes referred to as ‘youth-produced sexual imagery’or sexting), NSPCC provides advice to help you understand the risks and support your child. If your child has shared nude images, Thinkuknow by National Crime Agency-CEOP provides advice on talking to your child and where to get help.

Cyberbullying If you are concerned about cyberbullying, you can find government advice and information about how you can protect your child and tackle it if it happens.

Age-inappropriate content and parental controls

If you have downloaded new apps or bought new technology to help stay connected at this time, remember to review and adjust privacy and safety settings if you or your child is signing up to a new online service.

Internet Matters has provided step-by-step guides on how to set up parental controls so that you can control what content your child can access online. The UK Safer Internet Centre has developed guidance on how to switch on family-friendly filters to prevent age-inappropriate content being accessed on devices in your home. The NSPCC provides more information for parents or carers with concerns about their child seeking inappropriate or explicit content online.

Apps to help children stay safe online The BBC have a website and app called Own It. The website has a lot of content for children to help them navigate their online lives, and the free smartphone app comes with a special keyboard which can intervene with help and support in the moments that children need it the most. It can be downloaded for free in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. SafeToNet is an app for parents to help them safeguard their children from online risks like cyberbullying and sexting, whilst respecting their child’s rights to privacy. The SafeToNet Foundation is providing UK families with free access to 1 million licences during coronavirus. This information is taken from the Government website, further information and help can be gained by visiting: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-keeping-children-safe-online/coronavirus-covid-19-support-for-parents-and-carers-to-keep-children-safe-online

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From ELSA Support

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What is your vision for the world after coronavirus?

The COVID-19 pandemic raises many questions about how our societies are organised, and how public health challenges can be tackled. As governments struggle to protect lives and keep our economies afloat, ambitious

ideas that once seemed improbable have suddenly become surprisingly plausible.

Now that everyone is thinking about what our post-lockdown future might look like, openDemocracy and UCL are teaming up to invite young people to have a say. We want to find and shout about the best ideas from the

next generation for what should come next.

What might democracy look like as countries emerge from lockdown? How will public health change as a result of this global pandemic? What lessons from history have we forgotten that might guide how the world recovers?

How will our societies and cultures respond to this global crisis and its aftermath? How to Enter

Whatever your interest or background, we want to hear your thoughts on these and many more questions. In particular, we're looking for ambitious ideas about how governments, citizens, scientists, artists – or anyone

else you think has a role to play – can shape a different and better future. The competition is open to school, university and higher-education students over the age of 14.

Submit your entry as either a written article, short video or image/photograph that describes your vision for the world after coronavirus.

Only one entry per person. If you submit more than one entry, only the first entry submitted will be accepted. Winners and Prizes

Two winners will be selected from the entries in all three categories; a grand prize winner s elected by the judges and a People’s Choice winner selected by public vote.

There will be prizes for three runners-up chosen as outstanding entries by the judges. The grand prize includes £200 in book vouchers and a bespoke training opportunity with either open

Democracy or UCL that may take the form of a mini-fellowship, work experience, or placement in line with the winner’s area of interest. The People’s Choice winner will receive £100 in book vouchers and runners-up will

receive £50 in book vouchers. All winners and runners-up will receive a personal mentoring/career advice session with one of our expert

judges and their entries will be published on openDemocracy’s website.

Competition

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Let the Games begin…

The Specsavers ‘Virtual’ Sussex School Games is an exciting programme of sport competition running throughout the summer term, giving children the chance to represent their school team, alongside their friends and family, to be crowned Sussex champions. What it’s about, how it all works, and how to get involved, can be found by clicking here.

Get Involved It’s never too late to get involved, with a new sport, and a new set of medals, released at 9.30am, every Monday morning. You can get going straight away. Just click here for the latest challenges. You can also follow on social media for a chance to win more prizes and some special surprises: Twitter: @SussexSchGames Facebook: Specsavers Sussex School Games Instagram: @SussexSchGames TikTok: @SussexSchGames

Simply upload your training videos and pictures to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and include the hashtag #SussexSchGames, and a weekly winner will be selected at random.

Try this little challenge with your household family members as a little project, ask you household 20 questions during lockdown. It covers things including: the logistics of lockdown, living through lockdown, learning from lockdown, life after lockdown, your favourite song during lockdown, favourite meal etc. You could record your family's answers and keep for the future, or write them as a diary perhaps. Take a look at this link:- https://www.amazingapprenticeships.com/app/uploads/2020/05/2020-Memory-Maker.pdf In addition, the link below provides a link, for a 'Memory Maker' front page, if you would like one to print off: https://www.amazingapprenticeships.com/app/uploads/2020/05/My-New-Normal.pdf We hope this proves interesting, incorporating a little bit of fun as well. Think of it similar to a time capsule exercise, whereby you can ask your family and friends some questions, store the answers somewhere safe, then return to it in five years time, as a historical reference maybe . . .?

Virtual Sussex School Games 2020

Challenge

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Help & Support for students

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Don’t forget you can always find help and information on the school website:

www.causewayschool.org or email us at office@causewayschool.org

Help & Support for parents