16 MAY 2022 Student Wellbeing

Student Wellbeing

With the return of face-to-face incursions, it has been wonderful to see students having diverse and engaging opportunities to reflect on their Wellbeing.

On May 4, the Year 9s attended a presentation by the Pat Cronin Foundation - an organisation committed to raising awareness and empowering young people to end the ‘Coward Punch’. It was fantastic to see our students listen so respectfully and attentively to the tragic story of 19-year-old Pat Cronin and reflecting on safe choices for themselves and their friends.

On May 6, the Year 7s participated in their Wellbeing Day where they participated in an interactive workshop run by the Reach Foundation. The day focused on the importance of connection and Year 7s had the opportunity to reflect on building empathy and supporting positive experiences with peers, within the school environments.

On May 9, our Year 11s attended a seminar conducted by ‘Your Choicez' that explored the development of positive relationships with the opposite sex and the expectations and appropriate behaviours of genders with regards to this.

On May 12, all Year 7-9 students attended a workshop with guest speaker, Susan McLean - a prominent expert in the area of cybersafety. This session sought to raise awareness with younger students about the potential risks they may encounter online and how to keep themselves safe.

Finally, the Year 8s attended their Impact Day on May 17 with Greg Mitchell, focusing on social and interpersonal skills, including addressing bullying, resilience and connection. A team of our Year 10 and 11 students were involved in the day as student mentors, working closely with the Year 8s and having the opportunity to continue to build their own leadership skills.

A huge thankyou to our Directors of Students, Simone McLaughlin and Samantha Mizzi, our Wellbeing Team, our Year Level Leaders and the many, many teachers who have been involved in supporting this busy few weeks of Wellbeing events. I would also acknowledge the fantastic way in which our students have embraced these opportunities, participated with enthusiasm, and consistently given all guest presenters their respect and attention.

Student Senate

Students recently had the opportunity to apply to join our inaugural Student Senate - a new student leadership group composed of students from Years 7 to 11. We were overwhelmed by the number of applications we received, and the Year Level Leaders faced the very difficult tasks of selecting just one representative from each Pastoral Care Group.

The selected representatives were presented at the Full School Assembly on May 18. These students are:

Student Feedback Surveys

This term, we have introduced a weekly student survey for students to complete to provide us with feedback on their classroom experiences. For the past two years, despite the disruptions of the COVID pandemic, our teachers have worked on establishing consistent, agreed standards for the classroom to enable students to have predictable expectations for their behaviour and learning experiences across the school.

Complementing the Student Surveys that were introduced in 2021 for students to provide individual feedback to teachers that inform each teacher’s professional learning goals, these new weekly surveys aim to provide the College with important information about student experiences across all of their classes.

The weekly survey - which takes students 1-2 minutes to complete - invites students to reflect on their classes that day in terms of the agreed standards and indicate whether:

• Their teacher was interested in their learning
• Their teacher spoke to them at least one (individually) in the lesson
• The class began with a formal greeting
• Students were accountable to be in class on time
• Only one person was allowed to speak at a time
• Disruptive behavior was managed and did not impact their learning

Alongside these surveys is the development of a poster which has been put up in each classroom to provide a daily reminder of the Agreed Standards.

Mrs Tracey Kift
Deputy Principal