Compassion is a non-judgmental emotion that we practice to ease pain and show genuine love to one another. Here are 8 ways you can positively impact someone’s day using skills like empathy, patience and understanding.

Be considerate

Be equally considerate to friends, family and strangers. Listen fully without judgment, and give each person your full attention (no texting, no phone calls, no seeming to be bored!)– use direct eye contact and keep your ears open to their needs.

Be affectionate

Sometimes all people really need is a loving touch, a sincere hug, or a warm smile. Simple gestures of affection, even a pat on the hand, help ease strain and show your genuine compassion.

Communicate in a warm way

Let your genuine interest in helping the other person show through heart felt communication. You can make a world of difference by simply listening and talking in a warm, patient manner. Use encouraging vocabulary, be optimistic and concentrate on showing complete understanding.

Show empathy

Empathy is showing that you understand another’s feelings or emotions; you identify with the situation and care enough to place yourself in another’s shoes. “I understand” is a great way to communicate this.

Be selfless

To help someone else you have to take your own needs out of the equation. Put your focus and energy on the other person, be selfless, and limit any distractions or personal goals as long as you are committed to the needs of another.

Practice acts of kindness

Go out of your way to be kind. You can treat someone to small things like a new book, frozen yoghurt, or just a laugh to brighten even the toughest of days.  You can also volunteer your time, offering to babysit, run errands, etc. for anyone with a lot of weight on their shoulders.

Send a meaningful message

Send compassionate feelings via a simple text message to someone you care about.  Just tell them you were thinking of them and you love them.  A simple way to show they matter to you.

Show unconditional love

This is a total approach towards showing compassion in every area of life. Don’t just hear, but listen without judgment, be extremely present in the conversation, give sound advice, offer your hugs and love freely. Be understanding and above all, love unconditionally.

While compassionate action is second nature to some, anyone can learn to use these skills to make any family, friends and strangers feel a little happier and feel a little more loved each day.

STUDENT LEARNING SUPPORT AT ST ITA'S

This year St Ita's has refined its Learning Support for all students across our school. To support students and ensure they have the best opportunity for targeted teaching at their level of learning we will provide:

• Levelled Literacy Intervention (LLI) in Grades 1-2;
• Rainbow Reading Grades 2-3;
• Headsprouts Reading Program delivered in the Grades 2-6. The Headsprouts program is designed to improve kids' reading skills at various levels, from non-readers and early readers to established readers, reading above their current grade level;
• Numeracy Extension in Grades 5-6;
• An ongoing commitment to extending and supporting all children within the classroom via teaching to their specific point of need.

As well as this, we continue to invest in our nine wonderful Education Support Staff who work tirelessly to assist our teachers with their programs and work to support our learners.

COVID -19 TUTOR PROGRAM

As some parents may be aware, the Victorian State Government has provided funding for schools to implement a Tutor Learning Program. Schools across the state have received varying amounts of funding to be used to provide support for students whose learning has been impacted throughout periods of remote learning.

There are a number of important considerations that must be taken into account before embarking on this initiative. Firstly, and most importantly, we need to ensure we accurately identify student needs and determine whether a student would benefit from this support.

On the basis of this information we can then determine the best approach to meet the needs of all of our students and deliver the best “Bang for our Buck”.

In order to begin the Tutor Learning Program, we need to ensure we have appropriate staffing. The school is currently in the process of employing new staff to undertake this work. In the coming weeks Staff will look at 2020 student data, current levels of student support as well as the social and emotional impacts that Covid had on specific children to identify those who will be able to access the Tutoring Program.

Once we have established a list of eligible students to access the Tutor program, St Ita’s teaching staff will contact you and outline what we will be offering these students onsite.

The Tutor Learning Program is for the 2021 school year and we are determined to ensure it has the best opportunity to have a positive impact on our students.