Sharing & Caring

Year 8 Wellbeing Program - The Big Sister Experience

Tamara Ghazale

Junior School Leader

 

 

 BSC invited the Big Sister Experience to work with our staff and students recently.

 

The Big Sister Experience reinforced to students that our school is a supportive and safe environment, where they can feel comfortable opening up to peers and educators about life’s challenges. The program also gave students the chance to learn new ways and strategies to care for their personal mental health.

 

Through interactive workshops, students explored key topics such as self-love and confidence, body image, mental health and emotional resilience, as well as ideas around social inclusion and building community bonds.

 

The sessions included open conversation and hands-on activities designed to help students better understand themselves and those around them,  encouraging our young people to invest in the personal and inter-personal tools and skills they need as they navigate life’s challenges.

 

Staff and student feedback from the sessions was overwhelmingly positive, and we will continue to embed the key messages and lessons from The Big Sister Experience into our weekly Home Group sessions.

Renad Abubakar

Year 8

The Big Sister Experience was enjoyable and was interesting since you could see things from other perspectives. I also enjoyed hearing people’s thoughts and what they go through on a daily basis, knowing that it’s hard to speak up about it.

Simona Gogaceska

Year 8

The Big Sister Experience was amazing to experience as you could talk about your feelings to others without feeling judged one bit.  It was a safe environment to share your thoughts, as well as making you feel that you are not the only one that feels this way and that others also can feel the same.

 

Olive Horstead

Year 8

In the Big Sister Experience we were encouraged to share our stories and challenges to the group. Many people shared because everyone made sure to create a very safe, comfortable environment. We used lots of different activities to help us get comfortable and to help us understand better who we can talk to, and what things help us feel happy and relaxed. Everyone there was very supportive when people were sharing, some people contributed strategies or solutions to some peoples struggles, and we all felt very safe talking to the instructors because they had really good energy and helped everyone out.

 

Aleksia Eliadis

Year 8

The Big Sister Experience made me feel very comfortable and open to share different things about myself. I also felt safe talking to the two girls running the experience.