Somerville Community Services Incorporated
Anglicare NT
Nitbusters

Somerville Community Services Incorporated

Telephone: 8945 1533

Website: www.somerville.org.au

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Anglicare NT

Telephone: 1800 898 500

Website: www.anglicare.asn.au

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Nitbusters

An important notice to ALL Parents and Guardians. From time to time there are outbreaks of Head Lice, which if not contained, spread very quickly. Head Lice live their whole life on the human scalp and survive by using their mouths to suck blood from the scalp – much the same way as a mosquito does. Head Lice are HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS.

In the interest of all students at Humpty Doo Primary, you will be contacted and asked to collect your child from school if he/she shows visible signs of Head Lice. You child will need to remain at home until the hair and all visible sign of Head Lice and Nits/Eggs have been removed. A treatment form will be required to be completed and returned when your child returns to school. If you would like to attend a workshop or need advice please contact the front office.

What Signs to Look for:

• Frequent head scratching
• A fine black powder on the pillow (this is louse faeces)
• The Lice themselves
• Tiny white specks stuck near the root of a hair (these are the ‘nits’ or lice eggs)

Treatment:

• Check the whole family. It is highly likely that if one member has Head Lice then others may too
• Use a recommended Head Lice treatment. Read instructions carefully as most treatments are applied to DRY hair
• Use a fine toothed comb or your fingernails to clear the head of dead lice and nits
• Wash all brushes, combs, hats, sheets and recently worn clothes in boiling water, and;
• Isolate non washable items, such as soft toys, straw hats etc in a plastic bag for two weeks.

To Minimise the Risk of Head Lice Infestation:

• Notify school of an outbreak
• Check the family on a weekly basis, more frequently if possible
• Encourage children to brush hair frequently, as this damages the lice
• BECOME BETTER INFORMED – ATTEND A HEAD LICE WORKSHOP

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Bullying No Way

Website: www.bullyingnoway.com.au

What you will find on the website:

The issues
Making informed responses to bullying, harassment, discrimination and violence based on understanding of the issues helps us to create safe school communities.

Your rights
Everyone has the right to safety and respect. We also have the responsibility to help guarantee these same rights for others.

The behaviours
Understanding the role of power in relationships helps us to identify harmful behaviours and to develop a shared approach to these issues.

Deeper issues
Day-to-day relationships in the school community are influenced by underlying factors that maintain behaviours such as bullying, harassment and discrimination in society.

Creating change
Positive change incorporates support for individuals, fair and consistent expectations, and approaches that address the deeper issues and encourage wellbeing for all individuals, groups and the whole school community.

Where to now?
We know that school communities are addressing issues of bullying, harassment and violence. Social capital suggests ways to measure and benchmark these changes.

Restorative Justice in schools
www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi219.html

This paper describes the background to and implementation of the Responsible Citizenship Program (RCP) among all Year 5 students in an A.C.T. government primary school. The RCP is a restorative justice program which aims to combat bullying in schools byincorporating a range of related processes for maintaining healthy relationships, including community building, conflict resolution and shame management. Evaluation of the program showed that students' feelings of safety increased over the course of theprogram; they reported a small increase in use of adaptive shame management skills and a significant decrease in maladaptive shame management; and there were increases in measures of respect, consideration and participation. The paper concludes that restorative justice approaches are effective in bringing about positive behavioural change in the school setting, and that it is important that schools be adequately resourced to address the debilitating social problem of bullying.