Beyond the Bell is a fortnightly communication designed to support families with recommendations, information, and helpful content. Our aim is simple: to take what is learnt here at school beyond the bell and into WCCS homes.
Throughout this feature, we’ll be asking for your feedback, insight, and guidance on relevant topics. We want to make sure that the content we provide is practical, valuable, and easy to engage with, especially during the busyness of family life.
Mrs Linda Vanmidde
Student Wellbeing Program Coordinator
With R U OK? Day coming up later this week, it’s a timely reminder of just how important connection and meaningful conversations can be.
In the busyness of family life, it’s easy for so much of our communication with children to become about what needs to happen next, getting ready, getting out the door, homework, routines and reminders.
This week’s Beyond the Bell article brings things back to the basics of connection and the small, everyday moments that help our children feel seen, heard and valued. It shares some simple ways we can be more intentional about connecting with our children and creating space for the conversations that matter.
Monday, 15th June
Friendships are an important part of a child’s wellbeing and sense of connection. As children grow, they learn how to build, maintain and navigate friendships through both positive experiences and challenges.
The link below includes a range of short videos featuring experts answering common parent questions such as:
Join Us for Our First Beyond the Bell Live Session!
Primary parents and carers are invited to stay in the Hall after the Primary Assembly on Friday Week 10 for our first Beyond the Bell live segment. Natalie Hennessey, Assistant Director of Teaching and Learning, will share a short 10-minute presentation on the importance of reading and helpful ways to encourage reading at home with students of all ages.
Short, practical and valuable for busy families – we hope you’ll join us!
Monday, 4th May 2026
When your child is struggling, what helps most?
This short article from Dr Justin Coulson explores a powerful idea, that resilience is not something children build alone but something that grows through connection.
It is a quick, thought provoking read with a few simple ideas to reflect on as we support our children through the ups and downs of everyday life.
Today, our Primary and High School students took part in special Easter assemblies.
In Primary, students engaged with a series of short video clips from Bible Society Australia that bring the Easter story to life in an engaging and accessible way. These clips are short, easy to watch, and a great starting point for simple, meaningful conversations at home.
If you’d like to explore them as a family, you can find the full collection here:
Video link: The Easter Story – by The Bible Society
In the High School assembly, a vocal group performed a beautiful arrangement of How Can I Say by Deb Fung. While the arrangement was slightly different, the lyrics remained the same and served as a powerful reminder in the lead up to Easter.
For those with Spotify, you can listen to the song here:
Spotify Link: How Can I Say – by Deb Fung
We hope you enjoy a restful and meaningful Easter break with your families.
If you have any Beyond the Bell topic suggestions for Term 2, we’d love to hear from you. Feel free to share your ideas below.
This fortnight’s Beyond the Bell focuses on the importance of conversations between children and parents/carers about digital wellbeing.
Carpool Conversations – Digital Wellbeing Chats for Families
Looking for an easy way to start meaningful conversations with kids about their digital lives? Carpool Conversations from Common Sense Media offers short (2-minute or less) audio prompts designed for parents and children to listen to together. Each episode uses fun question formats like “Never have I ever…” or “Who’s most likely to…?” to spark discussions about topics such as screen time, online behaviour, and digital wellbeing. Perfect for listening in the car, at home, or anywhere you have a spare couple of minutes.
The resource is organised into four age-based playlists, making it easy to find conversations that suit your child’s stage:
Explore the playlists here:
This fortnight’s Beyond the Bell focuses on the importance of routines and how they support student wellbeing and learning.
At WCCS, our Ready to Learn Routines aim to help students feel calm, confident, and prepared for learning by providing clear and consistent structures throughout the day. These routines are used across all K–12 classrooms so students experience the same predictable expectations wherever they learn. When children know what to expect, they can focus more easily on their learning and feel more secure at school. Consistent routines build confidence, support wellbeing, and encourage positive learning behaviours.
Families can help by maintaining steady daily routines at home and reinforcing the value of structure and consistency. You can find some more information about helpful home routines for both Primary and High School aged children in this set of articles:
Ready to Learn at WCCS
As we begin 2026, our first Beyond the Bell connects with World Safer Internet Day, happening tomorrow (10 February). It’s a timely opportunity to pause and think about how our children and young people are navigating the online world, and how we can support them to do so safely and confidently.
For families with students in Prep to Year 6, the Online Safety Mighty Heroes are a great place to start. These short, engaging cartoons are designed to be watched together and spark gentle, age-appropriate conversations about online safety. The eSafety Commissioner has also created parent conversation starters to make discussions easier.
For families with high school students, there are several upcoming short webinars covering practical topics for navigating technology in the teen years. They provide guidance and reassurance as young people gain more independence online.
We look forward to working alongside you this year and hearing what topics you’d like us to cover in Beyond the Bell. Together, we can continue bridging the connection between home and school and support meaningful conversations at home.
Thank you to all our parents for taking the time to vote for this fortnight’s topic. The most requested topic was Managing Emotions, an important skill for children of all ages. The resource we’re recommending offers some practical tips and advice that align with the Second Step program currently running from Prep to Year 8 at William Carey. Second Step is a research-based Social Emotional Learning (SEL) program that focuses on emotion coaching and helps students develop strategies to identify their emotions and problem-solve their next steps across various settings. The skills learned through the program are useful at school, on the playground and at home. The poster included is an example of the language and content explored in the Second Step program. We hope that using the same language and approaches taught in the classroom will be helpful in supporting these skills at home too.
PDF Download: ‘Emotion Coaching’ based on the work of John Gottman
This fortnight, we are highlighting a free webinar designed to support parents and carers in navigating online safety. The session will cover the types of parental controls available, including those on smart devices, gaming platforms and apps. It will also explore how these tools can help prevent children accessing harmful content, and how they can complement other online safety strategies. With the webinar scheduled just over a fortnight from now, we wanted to give you plenty of lead-in time to plan ahead and set aside the 45 minutes if you are able to join.
Webinar Registration Link:
We are seeking your opinion on what topic you would like to see featured in an upcoming edition of Beyond the Bell. Please take a moment to vote for the option you’d find most helpful: Managing Emotions or Morning routines. Your feedback helps us shape content that is relevant and practical for families.
As we move into exam season for our high school students and approach the end of term for our younger learners, this fortnight’s focus is on the importance of sleep and its impact on learning and concentration. The article features two short videos, one on sleep for children and one on sleep for teens.
For parents supporting students through exams, we’ve also included a bonus link with practical tips to help your children during their study and assessment period.
Learn about how healthy sleep habits support learning, wellness, and growth:
Check out this Special Report on Healthy Study Habits: https://wccs.nsw.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-healthy-study-habits-au
With the government’s social media ban soon to take effect, many families are feeling uncertain about how it will work in practice and what the impact might be on children.
Even if your children are not currently using social media, it’s worth considering what this change means for your family now and how you might approach it as your children grow. In this edition, we’ve included a helpful question-and-answer section from the E Safety Commissioner, with the final response on the page offering practical ways you can help prepare your family for the shift.
We look forward to sharing this journey with you, connecting as families, learning together, and supporting one another. By engaging in conversations like these, we hope to strengthen the sense of community that makes WCCS so special, both at school and at home.
