Student Services : Wellbeing 

NCASA incursion : supporting our Respectful Relationships programs

On August 13 NCASA (the Northern Centre Against Sexual Assault) were back for their fourth year, to deliver workshops and presentations to half of our Year 9 cohort and to all our Year 12 students. NCASA support our school community by facilitating Respectful Relationships programs that bolster our own curriculum.

Over the years, in addition to running programs, NCASA has supported staff professional development, met with senior students for focus groups, provided expert advice to members of the school community and secondary consultations to the wellbeing team. 

NCASA will be back on August 27 to present to our Year 11 students and the second half of our Year 9 cohort.

Special message about our wonderful Year 12 students from Kaye – NCASA’s Prevention Team Leader and Counsellor Advocate:

Last Tuesday, myself and Nadine, another counsellor from the Northern Centre Against Sexual Assault, came to do a workshop with year 12 students about ‘Sexual Assault and the Law & Equality in Relationships'. These topics were chosen in response to a short survey given to the year 12s asking their preferences for the workshop content. The students were given the option of being in an 'All Genders' group, or a 'Young Women and Gender-Diverse' group. Previous year 12s have told us that this is their preferred way to have the groups divided for optimum safety in the workshops. The workshop went for about 80 minutes and consisted of a PowerPoint presentation and lots of interaction from the students.

We have been delivering sessions to year 9s, 11s and 12s at NHS since 2021 and have established a strong working relationship with Ms Leanne Petroff, (Head of Student Services), and other staff at the school as well over this time. We have found that the students participate eagerly and offer up robust, constructive feedback for us to keep honing the content to their interests. This is an oft'-repeated experience for us when we come to NHS and it feels long overdue for me to write this feedback about our experiences. 

On the 13th, myself and my colleague were absolutely delighted by the respectful, insightful, considered and nuanced input from the year 12 students. It was a joy to present to these students.....they help us to be hopeful for the future!  

Congratulations to everyone who has helped to grow and nurture these young adults, and of course, congratulations to the students themselves for the ways in which you conduct yourselves! You do credit to yourselves, your parents and your school when you are able to engage with often very challenging subjects in such a mature manner.

Warmest Regards

Kaye

NCASA

And another message from Sarah (one of NCASA’s Counsellor Advocates) about our brilliant Year 9 students:

I have spoken with all the NCASA facilitators and the sentiment across all groups was that Year 9s were an engaged, curious and clever bunch of people. We were asked excellent questions about understanding the nuances of consent, how to be a supportive friend and active bystander, and about the challenges of learning about sex when mainstream porn is so popular in society. Well done to all year 9s who participated in these workshops - they really impressed us with their maturity and engagement.

Celebrating “ Wear it Purple Day” next week.

We will be celebrating Wear it Purple Day next week. The theme this year is, ‘ Your Passion your Pride’

Wear it Purple day unites LGBTQI+ youth and allies to shine a glorious light on the thousands of schools, community organisations, universities and workplaces that are coming together to create a more inclusive future for all Australians. NHS will be celebrating with a lunch time dance party – stay tuned for more information!

A reminder too that NHS Rainbow group meets each Thursday Lunch time in M15, everyone welcome. 

Sabatinie and Megan go to the Year 12 Formal!

Last Thursday, we got dressed up to attend the Year 12 formal. We practiced a lot of restraint in an attempt to not out-shine the Year 12s, but soon realised that we had nothing to worry about with all the glitz and the glamour walking into San Remo Ballroom. It was wonderful to see the Year 12s buzzing with excitement, hyping each other up, ready for a night of dancing the night away. We loved being a part of the Year 12 formal experience and had a laugh at the range of awards handed out on the night. We’ve also been thinking about our own high school formals and thought we’d throw it back to the good ol’ days:

Can’t wait for the next one!

Sabatinie and Megan, Student Wellbeing Coordinators