Wellbeing

R U OK? Day 2022

On Thursday 8th September 2022, our school participated in R U OK? Day.

The day started with smiley stickers being offered to students in the playground and throughout the corridors in both our Junior and Senior school (who says teenagers don’t like stickers!). Quite a few of our students wore a splash of yellow and many students participated in activities in classrooms, at recess and at lunchtime. 

Thank yous go to the Year 12 students and Mrs Haworth for organising a very seriously contended musical chairs game for our Senior years students at recess, and to Mrs Robinson, Mrs Nield and our Year 6’s for offering R U OK? bracelets to make along with plenty of card and board games in the Library at lunchtime.

Being interested in the lives of our family, friends, colleagues and members of the public is certainly not meant just for one day a year. Relationships are important, God, His Son Jesus and The Holy Spirit are the creators of life and they brought us into being to have a relationship with them. 

Effective communication is a powerful tool that can enrich our relationships and honour God. The Bible gives us a great deal of insight on how to communicate well. The key starts in the heart because it drives how we respond to others. As we live out God’s guide to great communication we will see His blessings in our relationships and in our life.

Communication can happen anywhere, but it only happens when you make it a priority. Being present in a relationship means looking out for communication killers such as social media, mobile phones, texting, and YouTube. Effective listening needs to be modelled to our young people. Here are a few important skills:

• Lean forward showing interest in what the other person is saying.
• Make eye contact showing that you are focused
• Nod when appropriate and use minimal encouragers like “uh-huh, “yes”, “no”, “mmm” to let the person know you are listening to what they are saying
• Be completely present in the moment focusing on the dialogue
• Have a relaxed body posture.

Good questions are open-ended and clarifying. Open ended means the questions are worded in such a way that the answer can’t be one word. For example, “What was the best part of your day?” rather than, “Did you have a good day?”. When our motive is looking to the interests of others, we honour God and effective communication ensues.

Camilla McLeod

Chaplain