Student Wellbeing
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) - Schoolwide Respectful Relationships Curriculum at St Joseph's School
Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR)
St Joseph's School is a proud Respectful Relationships school. Respectful relationships education is part of the Victorian Curriculum and delivered by all Victorian government schools. It supports schools to promote and model respect, positive attitudes and behaviours. It teaches our children how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence and supports students to develop the knowledge, attitudes and skills needed for respectful relationships and helps to build respect and equality across the entire school community.
The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) lessons guide the teaching of Respectful Relationships in schools. The resources have been developed by experts from Deakin University and the University of Melbourne. These age -appropriate resources support curriculum delivery and include lesson plans and activities. These help students learn and practice social skills and apply them in a positive way to learning, life and relationships. There are 8 topics addressed every year from Prep to Grade 6, including:
- Emotional Literacy
- Personal Strengths
- Positive Coping
- Problem-Solving
- Stress Management
- Help-seeking
- Gender and Identity
- Positive gender relations
Research tells us that providing respectful relationships education at school can lead to positive impacts on students’ academic outcomes, their mental health, classroom behaviour and relationships.
In addition to this, The Royal Commission into Family Violence identified the critical role that schools have in creating a culture of respect, aiming to change Australia’s story of family violence for future generations. In 2016, Respectful Relationships education became a core component of the Victorian Curriculum and is now a mandated part of the curriculum in all Victorian schools, including Catholic Schools.
It is all about embedding a culture of respect and equality across the entire school community.
Term 4 SEL at St Joseph's School - TOPIC 8 - POSITIVE GENDER RELATIONS
This term through our weekly Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) classes, all year levels are working on Topic 8 - Positive Gender Relations, where students develop an age-appropriate understanding of gender-based violence, safe and unsafe behaviours and consent. Students also develop self-care, peer support and help-seeking skills they can use in response to situations involving gender-based violence.
- You can view a sample activity from this topic below:
YEAR 3/ 4 - Topic 8 - Activity 2: What is gender-based violence?
After building a definition of gender-based violence with the students, they will participate in the following activity:
Gender-Based Violence Scenarios:
When selecting scenarios to use, teachers will make modifications to align with the student cohort needs and the local context.
If you have any questions about Respectful Relationships education, you can contact myself on jennyt@sjsorrento.catholic.edu.au OR visit the Victorian Government’s Respectful Relationships page: https://www.vic.gov.au/respectful-relationships
Warm Regards,
Jenny Todd
(Student Wellbeing Leader)