Student Wellbeing

Personal Strength

Personal Strengths is Topic 2 of the Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships curriculum.  Our children need a vocabulary to help them recognise and understand strengths and positive qualities in themselves and others. Personal strengths help to build your child’s ability to recognise and understand positive qualities in themselves and others. This will help to build your child’s self-confidence and the capacity to face and manage challenges.

Research in the field of positive psychology emphasises the importance of identifying and using individual strengths. Social and emotional learning programs which use strength based approaches promote student wellbeing, positive behaviour and academic achievement.

These activities are based on the Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships teaching and learning materials that you could try at home.

For students in Foundation level

Goal: Recognise our strengths by talking about things we are good at.

Activity: With your child, take turns at drawing a portrait of each other. Around the portrait write all the things you think each other is good at.

For students in Years 1 and 2

Goal: Describe how we use our strengths to be a good family member.

Activity: With your child, discuss what each of your character strengths are. Draw a picture of yourselves using one of these strengths at home.

For students in Years 3 and 4

Goal: Recognise our personal strengths.

Activity: Personal strengths are our positive qualities. Ask your child: What are your personal strengths?

What do you think are my personal strengths? Swap!

For students in Years 5 and 6

Goal: Demonstrate character strengths.

Activity: With your child, plan to do something kind for a neighbour, friend, or family member.

HINT: You might like to:

• Check to see if an elderly neighbour needs help with grocery shopping.

• Call a family member you don’t live with such as an uncle, aunt, or grandparents to say hello.

• Write a letter or send an email to a friend and post it to them.