Colonel was training to work at Seeing Eye Dogs Australia. Unfortunately this didn’t work for him so he is now a much loved member of our school. Colonel started at Tinternvale when he was 16 months old and enjoys sleeping underneath Mr Mc’s desk. He loves when the students read to him because he gets lots of pats. Recess and lunchtimes are also favourites as he enjoys meeting students from the rest of the school. He loves blueberries, carrots and icecubes.
Vikki is a Seeing Eye Dog Puppy in training. She is being raised within the Tinternvale Primary School community. After a big day at school Vikki goes home with her carer Mandy, who is an Integration Aide at the school. Vikki works across many levels of the school, so she gets to visit lots of students. Schools are very busy, sometimes noisy and always exciting; they’re great places to train Seeing Eye Dogs to remain calm and quiet. Vikki will be at the school for approximately 12 months and after that time she will return to the training centre for assessment. During this assessment Vikki will go through a lot of tests to see if she will make the grade as a dog guide. If she is successful, she will continue with her training for another 16-20 weeks. Vikki contributes to the school immensely. She is teaching the students about Seeing Eye Dogs and how they’re invaluable to a person who is blind or has low vision. The students now know that when a Seeing Eye Dog is in harness they are not to distract them from working, which means no patting, no calling out, totally ignoring the dog. When Vikki is wearing her training jacket at school the students know to ignore Vikki and not call her. The school environment provides Vikki with a wealth of training opportunities. When she is off duty, she loves to snuggle with the students and is always up for a belly rub and pats. Vikki will be with the Tinternvale Community until May 2021. You can follow the dogs’ adventures on Instagram at Fern__and__Friends.
When Vikki is not at school her carer Mandy brings her other dog called Fern. Fern is also a black Labrador and is 5 years old. Fern has been with Mandy since she was six weeks old and was raised as a Guide Dog Puppy. When Fern went into Guide Dog training she was so well behaved and showed wonderful traits that she was chosen to be a Guide Dog Breeder, this is the pinnacle of puppy raising as she will breed the next generation of Guide Dogs. Fern had two litters, totalling 14 puppies. 8 have become Guide dogs, 2 Therapy dogs and 4 as pets. One even lives over in Singapore. Fern retired from breeding in October 2019 and became Mandy’s pet. Fern is very calm, well behaved and always listens, Mandy thinks she is the perfect dog. Her favourite thing to do at school is play ball with the students, this helps them come out of their shell and interact with others, it brings the students together as they get excited watching her jump and chase the ball. When Vikki heads into training in May, Fern will be coming in to take her spot. Fern always gets very excited when Mandy drives into the carpark at TPS and loves coming to school.
Be You is a mental health and wellbeing framework for primary schools and is proven to make a positive difference to the lives of Australian children.
Be You provides the proven methods, tools and support to help schools work with parents and carers, health services and the wider community, to nurture happy, balanced kids.
Be You is a flexible, whole-school approach to improving children’s mental health and wellbeing for primary schools. It can be tailored to schools' local needs.
Through Be You, schools undertake a two-to three-year cyclical process in which they plan and take action to be a positive community; one that is founded on respectful relationships and a sense of belonging and inclusion, and that promotes:
When schools take on Be You, they build on the work that they are already doing in these areas.
More information for parents and carers available here
Tinternvale Primary school is fortunate to be involved in World Vision’s KIDS HOPE AUSTRALIA- a program that trains caring adults on how to be a friend to a child and help that child learn. Twelve mentors will be working in our school. Each mentor has a “Working With Children Check”.
KIDS HOPE AUS. aims at creating a positive impact in the lives of Australian children and their families. It is a mentoring program where a trained mentor spends one hour each week with a child.
Mentors are thoroughly trained with the support of World Vision to understand their role in building caring relationships with children that will enhance their ability to learn and build resilience.
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We aim to build strong relationships amongst students, staff, parents and the wider community.Our goal is to continually improve student outcomes. We intend to do this proactively by concentrating on student engagement in learning and developing positive behaviours through many whole school programs and reinforcing our school values of Respect, Responsibility and Honesty.
The program aims to promote the building of positive relationships between students at different year levels. Every child will work in a STARS group comprised of students from all year levels. The STARS groups will meet at least 3 times a term and they will work with the same staff member each time. The program provides the students with the opportunity to develop relationships across all levels in a safe and supportive environment by involving them in activities that are designed to develop:
