Wellbeing News
Opportunities to promote wellbeing and belonging continue to be the focus here at MCC this term and in particular for the “Year 11 Wellbeing Team”. In the days prior to our annual MCC Harmony Day festivities a small working party took the opportunity to launch their 2025 anti-bullying campaign. This theme will continue throughout the year with subtle reminders of behaviours expected and accepted by community and providing contact details of the many supports available not only within our school, but also the wider community in general.
The students conducted a range of activities to acknowledge “National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence”. Posters were created and displayed throughout the school identifying the various types of bullying, the roles or upstanders versus by-standers and what supports are available within the school, within community and in particular in the realm of social media. Throughout the year the group will expand on this information and look at other acknowledgement days with a similar theme to ensure all students have a range of strategies and resources to access if required now and in the future.
On Wednesday the group invited students and staff to show solidarity and support the activity by encouraging them to
• wear blue or include a blue hair accessory or
• wear a blue ribbon that the group provided around their wrist
• have one nail painted blue by team members to represent the 1 in 5 people who are impacted by bullying or violence.
The activity was well supported and it only reinforces our ethos of zero tolerance for such anti-social behaviour and collectively sends a message that at MCC, we acknowledge and support the call to say “BULLYING, NO WAY!”.
Congratulations and thankyou to the students who were the driving force behind this activity.
The team will use the remainder of the term to identify their goals for future activities and also will be attending the headspace Griffith HYPE event. During this event the students will have the opportunity to network with various local service providers and engage in a range of activities promoting wellbeing for young people.
This activity is available to all young people as headspace and other service providers will still be onsite at the Griffith Community Centre in Olympic Street until 6:00pm.
April 2nd is “Autism Awareness Day”, acknowledging and celebrating the positive contributions those living with autism bring to our community. Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects how a person’s brain develops and functions, and studies show that an estimated 1 in 40 people are on the autism spectrum. Autism can be diagnosed in people of all ages, all cultural backgrounds and economic status.
As a parent of a child living with autism I like to think of the day as more of “Autism Acceptance Day” rather than focusing on awareness alone. Here at MCC we celebrate diversity and promote the values of inclusiveness, acceptance and tolerance. We recognise that we are all unique in our own way and that as individuals we all have strengths. The Marian way is to promote equality amongst all members of our school community and this allows each and everyone of us to reach our full potential.
During APC students will have the opportunity to be involved in a range of activities to promote both awareness and acceptance. If you would like to gain a better understanding of autism there are a range of great websites that have been developed including https://www.aspect.org.au/ and https://www.autismawareness.com.au/
Whist mainstream tv and the media may promote the false stereotypical presentation of a person living with autism the truth is that the diversity of those with a diagnosis is so vast that we should just accept that as a community we all perceive the world in a different way; we all have strengths and experience challenges in life and that’s what allows us to be our true self.
Coco Chanel famously said, "In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different." I like the way she thinks.
Sue Hone
Student Wellbeing Support Worker