Principal's Report
Angela Dawson
Mental Health and Wellbeing - Dogs Connect Program
The Victorian government (Department of Education) has invested $217.8 million over four years to support student mental health and wellbeing, including identification of approved and endorsed evidence-based programs and initiatives that:
- promote student mental health and wellbeing;
- enable schools to intervene early to support students;
- provide targeted and more individualised support for students who need it.
Programs have been externally assessed for how well they support student mental health and wellbeing, ensuring schools implement evidence-based supports to meet their needs. Schools have been encouraged to have a strong and sustained focus on promoting student wellbeing actively and reducing risk factors that lead to poor mental health outcomes. The Dogs Connect Program is one of these programs, so it has the endorsement of the Department of Education. We welcome you to look over the Dogs Connect website to gain more of an idea of what the program is about. https://dogsconnect.net.au.
Dogs Connect will support us in implementing our wellbeing dog very gradually, thoroughly, and considerately across the whole school. At Valkstone, we have a core team of staff who will lead this program, who have already begun intensive professional development to ensure a smooth start to the program.
I would like to assure the community that this program will not involve anyone who does not wish to be involved. We know that this work will have a really positive impact on many people in our community, and we acknowledge and respect that connection with our wellbeing dog will be offered on a great variety of levels.
Welcome to Maggie the Wellbeing Dog!
We were very excited to have Maggie, our Wellbeing Dog, come and visit us today for her first day at Valkstone!
Maggie the Wellbeing Dog will be living with Kate Smith, the teacher of 1C. This means that during the school day, Maggie will be in a designated area within the 1C classroom. Please be assured that Maggie WILL NOT be out roaming around the room, the school corridors or the playground. She will have an area dedicated to her, which she is not able to get out of and which the students will not be entering. We are also lucky in that there is an additional adult who works in 1C, who will ensure that Maggie has plenty of outside time to walk and have very regular toilet breaks.
Maggie is still a very little puppy, and this initial separation of spaces will ensure that Maggie becomes familiar with the noises of a classroom and how a school functions while she is still in a safe space that she feels comfortable in.
Wellbeing Dog Survey
While we know that the Wellbeing Dog program will have huge benefits to our school community, we do acknowledge that there are a wide range of experiences and comfort levels around dogs amongst our students, staff and wider community.
To ensure the best possible start to our Wellbeing Dog Program, I ask that all families please complete the survey that can be found at the address below. This survey will help us get to know your child's experiences with dogs, so that we can help everyone get the best possible outcomes from the program. If you could complete this as soon as possible, that would be greatly appreciated.
If the link does not work, please copy and paste the address above into your web browser.