A message from our Chaplains

Have you ever wondered what your Prep School Chaplain does?

In this, the inaugural Prep Chaplain contribution to the Prep School Fortnightly Bulletin I thought it might be helpful to outline what the role entails and how it can benefit the community of the KWS Prep School.  The introduction of the role emerged from the initiation of the National School Chaplaincy Programme, funded by the Commonwealth government and began in the KWS Prep School in Term 2, 2016. 

My aim, as chaplain, is to provide pastoral care services to anyone in the school community, particularly the students, and to promote strategies that support the emotional and social wellbeing of the students. In the context of being a Uniting Church school and as a committed Christian, I also offer students an opportunity to discuss and question a Christian approach to life, although the services of the Chaplain are offered to anyone from any faith background.

The chaplaincy role itself equates to only one day per week however in our context it has been merged with my role as Religious Education (more affectionately referred to as ‘RE’) teacher, so I have the flexibility to spread the chaplaincy role over the three days that I am on campus allowing students greater access to chaplaincy services.

In the KWS Prep School your child(ren) would see me wandering in the playground before school on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Each week I chat specifically with 4 students to be my Face of the Week which offers us all an opportunity to get to know a few fun facts about them. On Wednesday and Friday lunchtimes students will find me hanging out in Veggie Central (our prep kitchen garden) where we are unafraid to get our hands dirty!  If students are in Kinder, Year 1, Year 2 or Year 3 they also attend Chapel on Fridays run by me … where we have lots of fun singing, dancing and learning about the Bible. If students are in need of a little extra care (and let’s face it, we all need a little extra care at times!) then they are welcome to come and chat things through with me. All they need to do is let their classroom teacher know of their desire to do this, and we will make it happen! If something of a more serious nature is raised in these discussions, then parents and caregivers are notified and a referral to the school psychologist can be made. My role is not as counsellor but more as listening ear and support of students’ needs.

In addition, I am a member of our Kids Matter Team, established to monitor and promote social and emotional wellbeing of students in our Prep School. Through that forum we work together to establish and promote strategies to benefit the social and emotional health of all our students. So far, we have promoted the Kids Matter framework (2016), helped to implement Fun Friends, an annual social and emotional learning program in classrooms (2017) and we are almost ready to launch a fun take on our school values … stay tuned!

If you have any questions or queries about your Prep School Chaplain, please don’t hesitate to contact me through the Prep School office.  I am only too happy to chat … which is just one of the reasons I love this job so much!

Mrs Kate Bracks

Preparatory School Chaplain