Engagement & Wellbeing Page

Wellbeing  at Surfside in 2026

Meet Our Wellbeing Team

We are thrilled to introduce our Wellbeing Team, dedicated to building a safe and nurturing culture at Surfside Primary School! Together, they bring a wealth of experience, passion, and evidence-based expertise to support our students and staff.

Kellie Hewson and Mel Lonergan play pivotal roles in driving whole-school improvement. Here’s a snapshot of their responsibilities:

• Whole-School Professional Learning: Leading professional development sessions to embed evidence-based strategies in Engagement and Wellbeing including School Wide positive behaviour support, Respectful Relations curriculum, Berry St Practices and Disability and Inclusion.
• Coaching and Mentoring: Working alongside teachers to refine classroom management practices, set goals, and enhance student outcomes through collaborative coaching.
• Specialist Intervention and Support: Designing and delivering targeted interventions for students, ensuring every learner has the opportunity to thrive.
• Fostering Parent - School Relationships: Wellbeing staff are easily accessible and available to support parents as they guide and nurture their children through life at school. The wellbeing team can be a great source of information, support and referral to external agencies if needed.
• Building Teacher Capacity: Supporting staff with implementing high-impact wellbeing strategies, including student voice and agency, supporting inclusion and belonging and facilitating peer relationships across all classrooms.

Mel Lonergan                                                             Kellie Hewson

Disability, Inclusion and Wellbeing                      Mental Health and Wellbeing

melissa.lonergan@education.vic.gov.au            kellie.hewson@education.vic.gov.au

We thank Gill Hodgson for her contribution to our Engagement and Wellbeing program and our Connect Belong Grow program. Gill will continue to be on leave during term 1 and we wish her well during this time. We definitely hope to see Gill back at some stage in 2026.

Connect, Belong, Grow @ Surfside

Our Connect Belong Grow program allows us the time and space to build strong connections in the classroom between students and their new teacher(s) as well as between peers and get ready for a fabulous year of learning and growth.

Before we get heavy into our academic program we love to get each class working as a team to create a positive, supportive environment. For many years we have had the mantra of teaching our students to be SAFE, FAIR and FRIENDLY.

Our students, parents and teaching staff all contributed to choosing the school values and creating a matrix of positive behaviours to work towards. See the image below.

We are off to a flying start! Go Team Surfside!

LUNCH CLUBS AND ACTIVITIES

Here at Surfside we provide students with a range of different options for extra support and more structured play spaces throughout recess and lunch playtimes.  All of our Clubs are facilitated by teachers and designed to support any students needing either a quieter space, or a little extra support building and maintaining friendships and social play.  Our Lunch Clubs will start in the coming weeks once we have completed our Student Voice meetings to determine the type of clubs and activities that students require.  

Keep an eye out on Compass, in future newsletters, and on posters going up around the school for our regular Club schedule, and feel free to encourage your child/ren to try out a Club.