Understanding Trauma and the Brain

At Lilydale, we know that when children feel safe and supported, they do their best learning.  Sometimes, children experience things can be scary, stressful or upsetting – these are called traumatic events.  Trauma can affect how a child’s brain grows and works, especially in areas that help to control emotions, memory and behaviour.

When a child experiences trauma, their brain can often stay in ‘survival mode’ for long periods of time.  This can look like students being very emotional, having trouble focusing, or withdrawing from others.  It’s not that the student is being ‘naughty’ – their brain is working hard to keep them safe.

There is some good news; with care, patience, and safe relationships at school and at home, the brain can be supported to heal and grow in healthy ways.  That’s why, at Lilydale, we focus on being Safe, Respectful and Learning every day.

At our staff meeting last week we were given the challenge to build a healthy brain that supports the child to be a learner.  Each team were presented with some cards that supported or hindered this brain growth which resulted in some brains being more healthy than others.  We sincerely thank Anna Musovic for leading us through this session.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Lilydale Cross Country Success

Our recent K-10 Cross-Country event was held last Wednesday on a beautiful autumn day and was a great success. All students from Kindergarten to Year 10 took part and gave it their very best.  It was fantastic to see students encouraging each other.  Our older students supported our younger ones as they made their way around the farm or our school track.  Our focus was on doing your best and finishing the race and there were certainly some red faces at the end.

Thank you to Mr Taylor, Mr Wise, Mr George and Mrs Page who work tirelessly to ensure our carnival was a success.  Thank you also to our parents and caregivers who came to support our students.  Your support is always appreciated.

Warm Regards,

Karen Hay
Principal

5-6A have enjoyed a busy and productive start to term 2. In Literacy we have started poetry and persuasive writing. In HASS we are studying, and researching  countries of Asia and comparing our countries, landscapes, customs, and way of life to ours here in Australia. We will then write a persuasive text persuading people to visit the country being researched.

Our students all ran fantastically in the school Cross-Country event and congratulations to Flynn, Izaac, Heidi, Mackenzie, Kaleb who will represent Lilydale District School at the TPSSA Country at Beaconsfield next Wednesday.

In Food and Fibre we visited the school farm and had the opportunity to watch some of the VET students weigh their livestock in preparation for showing them later in the year.

All Year 5 and 6 students have made their choices for 5-6 sport and can’t wait for that to start in week 8.

Our Year 7 students have been working super hard to this point in the term, covering a range of different topics across all subject areas.

In Maths, students have been learning all about ratios and how they apply to everyday life. Students were able to put their ratio knowledge into practice with a fun cordial mixing activity that they enjoyed the taste of.

HPE has had a focus of striking and fielding sports this term, bringing out some big hitters and awesome catches as students broaden their horizons to different types of sports. Some of which include, Cricket, Tee ball, Splat and Kickball.

During our HaSS lessons, students have started to learn about Civics and Citizenship with a focus on understanding the Australian Constitution. Students are in the process of creating their own class constitution whilst building understanding of how democracy works.

Recently the Year 7s were lucky enough to attend a presentation by a Seismologist from the Australian National University, who gave lots of interesting information about how Seismic waves are recorded from earthquakes. Students were able to see this in real-time as a Seismometer was brought to the classroom and students were challenged to make the loudest stomps they could.

The Year 7 space has been jam packed with lots of different opportunities and experiences so far, and we are excited to continue on for the rest of the year.

Hello from Prep! Here are some photos of us working and playing hard in prep this year.

Everyday we practice reading and writing in our UFLI lesson and buddy up for Bond Blocks activities and games in Maths.

Some other  super fun things that we loved this year have been the Easter extravaganza with Kinder friends and the fabulous sports carnival. 

On Monday, 5 and Tuesday, 6 May a group of very brave Year 7 and 8 Drama students went to the Earl Arts Centre and Princess Theatre to perform in the Launceston Drama Competitions.

Storm and Sianna entered the duologue section with a script called Dana and Lee at the Earl Arts on the Monday. On Tuesday Shaylii, Storm, Elisa and Xavier performed at the Princess Theatre performed a scene called Bus Stop.
Both groups represented the school very well and had a good experience of being in the theatre.

Families are invited to a free fun event Gumboot Gala on Saturday, 31 May at Inveresk in front of the QVMAG museum. Gumboot throwing competition, free tram rides, workshops and an exhibition of Creative Gumboots from a selection of students from the Visual Art room from Kinders, Years 3-4, 5-6, 9-10.

Any queries please contact Ms Schneiders 0437 003 200

High School – Student of the Week

Every week, all staff, Student Leaders and the wider community have the opportunity to nominate a high school student as a ‘Lilydale Legend’. These nominations acknowledge when another person has noticed the student demonstrating our school values of being safe, respectful and learning. If a student is nominated by multiple people their name will appear twice. Lilydale Legends for the week will get recognised in our high school assembly and receive a certificate. Congratulations to the Lilydale Legends for Week 3 and 4 - Term 2.

Week 3

The Lilydale School Association is an elected group of people including the school's Principal, teachers, parent/carers, and community members.

The committee is required to hold a minimum of four meetings a year (one meeting per school term) and we meet on the 1st/2nd Monday of the nominated month.

The School Association Committee has the important role of supporting the school in a variety of ways including policy development, financial arrangements, evaluation of school performance and encourages positive community engagement.

Being an elected member or an interested meeting observer, is a great way to stay informed!

Our next scheduled meeting:

When:  Monday, 28th July, 2025
Where: Kindergarten
Time:   7:00pm

We have also scheduled meetings for Monday, 20th October and Monday 17th November, 2025

If you need to get in contact with members of the School Association, please contact the school office on 6395 0100.

Thankyou.