Term 1 Wellbeing Wrap-Up

Our Wellbeing Program at Altona College has had a great start and the students have transitioned well back into the classroom after a few disruptive years of remote learning. Their resilience and participation has flowed positively through to their learning and engagement.

Our homeroom program has continued to be a fantastic opportunity for the students to learn about and develop their personal and social skills. These lessons explicitly teach these important lifelong skills and allow our students to practise using them in a supportive and collaborative environment. This term, our homeroom program has covered the following topics:

In the primary

Recognition and expression of emotions
Resilience

In the secondary years

Recognition and expression of emotions
Collaboration
Careers and pathways (Year 9 only)

All students will have also developed their ‘Ready to Learn’ plans. This plan is created in collaboration with their class or homeroom teacher to help students identify how they best learn and what strategies help them to be ready for learning at all times.

To support our in-class wellbeing curriculum, the students have also had access to some of the following programs:

Canine Comprehension (Small group in Year 5/6) – supported by the School Focussed Youth Services at Hobsons Bay Youth Services
Teen Mental Health First Aid (Year 10)– supported by Hobsons Bay Up Counselling
Pro-active Police Unit
- ‘Think You Know’ presentation (Year 7 & 8)
- ‘So You Know’ presentation (Year 9 & 10)
Arthur Bolkas talk (Year 10) – ‘Success = What’

Here are some photos from the Canine Comprehension program during this term.

Our wellbeing team has also undergone a change this term. We sadly have to say good bye to Paula Poots from the Secondary School Nursing program. Paula has been with Altona College since 2020 and, after a number of secondments during the Covid lockdowns, has moved to schools closer to her home. Paula was a valued member of the team who will be missed. We wish her all the best at her new school. We would also like to thank Trish Worthington who filled in for Paula for the interim.

Kylie Crisp has now joined our team as our new Secondary School Nurse. Kylie brings with her a wealth of knowledge and we would like to warmly welcome her to Altona College and the Wellbeing Team.

Shyamala Arulampalam (Wellbeing Support – Chaplain) and Curtis Judge (School Mental Health Practitioner) have also continued to work with our students and staff, supporting their wellbeing and learning.

Our Breakfast Club has continued to grow and is now fully operational again after offering a scaled back service during Covid. We are incredibly grateful to the Foodbank, Altona Rotary Club and the Community Bank of Bendigo for their continued sponsorship of this important and well used program at our school.

Altona College, with the support of Adem Pak (Year 11 VCAL), is also now collaborating with the Louis Joel Community Centre in the distributions of some beautiful home cooked meals to members of our school and wider community. These meals are prepared at the Laverton Hub and frozen, ready to a shared with families who are requiring some extra support.

We would like to wish you all a happy and restful holiday. Please take this opportunity to look after yours and your families’ wellbeing, enjoy some family time and have some fun. Below is a link to some suggested wellbeing ideas from Reach Out. We encourage you all to connect, be active, take notice, give and keep learning.

https://schools.au.reachout.com/5-ways-to-wellbeing

Enjoy the break and see you next term.

Julie Giles & the Wellbeing Team

School Nurse

Hello Everyone,

Don’t forget that the Hobsons Bay Youth services has multiple Free events, activities and programs happening over the two-week break for young people aged 12-17 yrs.

Including Yoga, arts & crafts, Queer Camp and survivor games!

April Holiday Program - Hobsons Bay

On another note, ‘The Body Shop’ Highpoint has donated multiple pamper and skin care products/packs for our students participating in small group activities, these special products will hope will promote self-esteem in our students. We thank them for their generosity.

Happy Easter,

Kylie Crisp

Secondary School Nurse

Key Dates