The Baimbridge Globe

What's up in Wellbeing

Wellbeing in Term 2: Positive Growth and Opportunities 

Wellbeing is a key component of teaching and learning at Baimbridge College. It has been a busy yet productive term for our Wellbeing Team. We have worked closely with range of community-based agencies and organisations to help support the growth and development of students. 

 

Our teaching staff have worked hard to implement the Resilience Project during Community Time by focusing on teaching our students a range of life skills including mindfulness, stress management and strategies to deal with conflict. End of semester school reports now feature the Resilience Project as a component of Personal and Social Capabilities.

Conflict resolution is an essential life skill. In Term 2, Year 7-10 students gathered in cohorts to work closely with Project ROCKIT. The cohort sessions were designed to explore bullying, relationships, conflict management and strategies to be a positive role model in society. While each cohort focused on slightly different areas, the purpose was to draw our students together to help embed a safe learning environment for all students and staff. The sessions were enthusiastically supported by our students. We are hoping to see Project-ROCKIT again in Term 4 to help us to further build our skills. 

 

Project ROCKIT areas included: 

Year 7-8 CONNECT: explored the positive potential of technology, upskilling students with online skills to build connected communities, support wellbeing and navigate harmful experiences. 

Year 9 RALLY: empowered students to create a culture that challenges bullying, online and in person. Students are equipped with socially credible strategies to take action and unite together, instead of standing by.

Year 10 REWRITE: was a powerful development opportunity for senior students to develop literacy and understand how they can take action on diversity, prejudice, discrimination and unconscious bias.

 

The Baimbridge College Breakfast Club has been relaunched by our wonderful Ms Toni Bywaters. She has quickly drawn in valuable community members to support the Breakfast Club including Keleigh Flavel (VicPol Youth Resources Officer) and Michelle Ellis (Aboriginal Community Liaison Officer). This trio have been cooking up a storm to ensure students are well fuelled for a full day of learning! 

 

In addition to cooking, Keleigh Flavel has supported the Wellbeing Team to cofacilitate a range of key topic areas. We hope these sessions help keep our students well informed in current trends and topics. We have delivered targeted sessions in the following areas:

  • Vaping- physical health, mental health and the law: Students were fortunate to have several experts present in their field including our Mental Health Practitioner (Robyn Lyons), Registered Nurse (Lou Starkie) and YRO (Keleigh Flavel). The students enjoyed learning from a range of perspectives and provided positive feedback about this session. 
  • Violence, Racism and Reporting: this session focused on different types of violence including gender-based violence, impact on individuals and communities and how to keep each other safe. Students learnt about racism and the different ways in which racism operates including the use of racist language online. Students explored powerful ways to call out behaviours and safe ways to report at school and in the wider community. This area will be further explored in Term 3, linking in with our Respectful Relationships program.

We continue to offer support for students with the DARE Program. DARE is run by Brophy with a focus on early intervention for drug and alcohol usage. Students can seek support to access this program through their Year Level Coordinator or Wellbeing Team. You can find more information on the Brophy Website: https://brophy.org.au/our-programs/for-young-people/health-wellbeing/ A big thank you to Peta Heaver who has become an integral part of our wellbeing network. 

 

We are extremely fortunate at Baimbridge College to have a strong, dynamic and professional Wellbeing Team! There is so much more to share about the amazing work the team has done this term BUT more importantly, the positive and engaging response from our students. I am often in awe at the strength, compassion and leadership our students display. On behalf of the Wellbeing Team, I would like to thank each and every student for working with us to explore, learn and be vulnerable in the wellbeing space. We look forward to working with you again Term 3! 

Have a great break!

 

Louise Lonergan