Climate and Culture- Social Emotional Wellbeing

Communicating with the SWPBL Climate and Culture Team

If you have any questions relating to our SWPBL framework, please email:

Llewela Humphries: llewela.humphries@education.vic.gov.au

Stacey Bowles: stacey.bowles@education.vic.gov.au

Damien Kitch: damien.kitch@education.vic.gov.au

What will you find on this page in Issue 5?

Recess Clubs, recess clubs and more recess clubs!

Recess Clubs

This term, the SWPBL team have introduced "RECESS CLUBS"!

Berry Street Education recommends recess clubs as an opportunity for students to have fun and interact with peers, including peers from different year levels, who have similar interests and passions. Recess clubs are known to create benefits for students such as:

• Engagement in teamwork, co-operation and collaboration 
• Opportunity to increase interests, knowledge and skills 
• Increasing feeling of safety whilst at school 
• Decreasing loneliness 
• Learning social cues and opportunity to practice social skills 

Each recess, a club is available and facilitated by a teacher for students to participate in. Some clubs are specific to Junior or Senior students, and some clubs are open to all students from Foundation to Year Six.

Below is the schedule of recess clubs. 

Enjoy some photos of the first week of Recess Clubs below!

Anime/Manga Club

Duplo Club

Just Dance Club

Drawing/Colouring Club

Junior Choir

Junior Drawing Club

Netball Club

Yarra Valley Psychology is partnering with our school!

We are pleased to share with you that our school has secured a partnership with Yarra Valley Psychology (YVP) Services (https://yvp.com.au/), with the aim of providing in-school counselling services to students. 

Throughout schools across Victoria, student counselling is a much needed (and under resourced) service. Many of our families are currently experiencing first-hand the difficulties associated with trying to gain access to support services for their children. Therefore, we must be grateful that we have been presented with the opportunity to enter a partnership with YVP, as the resources do not exist for this partnership to occur across schools within our region. 

Please be aware of the information below:

Is there a cost involved to access the service, and does my child require a Mental Health Plan?

There is no cost involved for the family. 

Your child does not require a Mental Health Plan to access the service. This is due to the fact that the counselling sessions will be delivered by a Masters of Counselling practitioner, who is under the direct supervision of Yarra Valley Psychology (YVP) Services. 

There is also no limit on the number of sessions a child may access. Access to sessions, and duration (in weeks) will be determined between YVP, the school, and the parent/carer. 

When do sessions commence, and how will they be structured?

Sessions will commence from the beginning of Term Two, with student-needs being prioritized in partnership with the school and YVP. Prior to any child commencing, a confidential discussion will take place between the YVP counsellor and the parent/carer. 

Our school has been allocated a male counsellor who will conduct sessions each Wednesday for the entire duration of Term Two and Term Three. 

The counsellor will have the time allocation to see up to five students per day, with each session being allocated 50 minutes. At this stage sessions will be occurring each Wednesday. 

Will each child who is referred be able to access the service?

Unfortunately, this is not achievable within the current mental health environment. Referrals will be prioritized on a needs basis from within our own school cohort. 

If I wish for my child to access the service, what do I need to do?

Please complete the referral form below and return it via the instructions on the form.