Personal Development Immersion Day
Last week, students in Years 7 to 9 spent a full day immersed in a range of personal development opportunities that included team building activities with Year 10 Peer Support Leaders; an online respect and safety seminar; and the “Not Even Once” schools program related to drugs, vaping and alcohol.
The “Not Even Once” schools program focuses on early intervention through Alcohol and other Drug education. This non-profit organisation has been operating since 1971 and their programs include residential rehabilitation centres. Being at the coalface working with individuals and families struggling with addiction, facilitators have a unique, and very real, perspective on the impacts of drugs, including alcohol, cigarettes and vapes.
Facilitators shared real-life experiences with students and gave science-based explanations of what drugs are doing to young brains and bodies.
Students also participated in a session that challenged them to consider their contribution to a safe and respectful internet. Students worked in small groups on activities that reinforced that respect online isn’t a fixed idea and that we all make mistakes. Students learnt that the important thing is to try to build awareness of how their actions affect others and how they can become better decision makers in our online world.
The final session in which students participated was team building activities in the gymnasium, hosted by Year 10 Peer Support Leaders and Heads of House. From group jump-rope attempts and completing an obstacle course blindfolded, to a paper plane competition and a skateboard challenge, the students had a great time working together towards shared goals.
The immersion day was hugely successful in providing vital information, data, evidence, and the sharing of lived experiences to empower our students to make the best possible decisions about their lives. Sessions of this kind give young people a solid and relevant context for the choices that they make and an opportunity to forge deeper relationships with one another.
From the students:
"I think it's a great message that all young people need to hear, currently vaping and drinking is a huge problem even among our age group, and many don't realise the long term affects it will cause. It's great that we are being educated on it. "
"I loved the seminar, it is important to inform the young adults of the population about the harms of drugs before the majority of them fall into the traps of addiction."
“Thank you to Tanya and the team at #notevenonce, your seminar was a real eye-opener."
"Overall, it was a really useful and the knowledge provided of the impacts that having drugs and vapes can cause tells me defiantly not to go down that path."
