Assistant Principal - School & Student Operations

The Resilience Project 

The Resilience Project is committed to teaching positive mental health strategies to prevent mental ill-health and build young people’s capacity to deal with adversity.  

Teachers and students engage in weekly lessons and activities around the key principles of Gratitude, Empathy, Mindfulness (GEM) and Emotional Literacy to build resilience.  

At our final assembly for Term 2 we celebrated students with GEM Awards for students who have displayed the values of Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness.  

The following students were awarded Certificate of Achievement for displaying Gratitude at school: 

7A - Aarnav Shergill, Archer Owens & Medha Patel

7B - Zavier Long, Somto Chijioke, Amna Jamil & Stella Zearwie 

7C - Jarnail Singh & Navkirat Singh 

7D - Mehtaab Gill, Jaden Dela Cruz, Aarya Bhatia, Bel Ingram, Jasreet Kaur & Blake Wendt

7E - Dalton Paul & Anglina Bunijevac 

7F - Kavneet Gill & Adriel Reyes 

7G - Nmachi Mathew, Jacob Soakimi & Jaskirat Saini 

The following students have been awarded a Certificate of Achievement for showing empathy and kindness at school: 

7A - Khushmeet Pannu & Anayat Kaur

7B - Amna Jamil & Stella Zearwie

7C - Ashveen Dhillon & Sage Allen-Layton 

7D - Isabel Ingram, Abby Endress, Aarya Bhatia & Jasreet Kaur 

7E - Olivia Buckow & Arielle Faufuatu-Apulu 

7F - Lydia Nguma, Karter Toailoa & Saffron Mahey 

7G - Vyshnavi Alwaala, Davian Viera & Arnav Pawar 

The following students have been awarded a Certificate of Achievement for being mindful and in the moment at school:

7A - Jaskiran Kaur, Jasmeet Pannu, Natiyah Butler & Medha Patel 

7B - Pranav Peyyeti, Kash Bhullar & Ravneet Kaur 

7C - Maison Pettina & Snehdeep Virk 

7D - Tejasveer Singh, Harleen Dhillon & Adrian Koulouris 

7E - Brooklyn Giles & Daniel Bobe 

7F - Askari Ali, Jesslyn Nguyen & Yuvi Banga 

7G - Davian Viera, Maiah Papani & Rudhransh Shukla 

Check out their website for more information: 

And check out TRP@HOME; a place filled with inspiration and activities for the whole family, to help improve your wellbeing and build resilience. 

Mindfulness 

Working on mindfulness gives us opportunities to develop our ability to pay attention to the present moment and our thoughts. Practising mindfulness daily can help us stay focused on set tasks and reduce stress and anxiety. 

Whole Family Activity:  Mindful Walk 

• As a family, go on a walk outside in nature. This might be around your local walking track, at your local park or just around your streets. 
• While walking, tune into your senses and observe what you can see, hear and feel. Or you might choose to focus on one of the senses. E.g.: Hear: what are all the noises you can hear on your walk? 
• On your way home or when you return home, share what each person saw, heard or felt. 

Family Habit Builder: 

Each night at dinner, ask everyone to take one mouthful of food more mindfully than the rest and think about the flavours they can taste and how it makes them feel. (They can also thank the chef!). 

Every Day Counts 

How can I get my child/teen to school 

No matter how hard parents try, some students may be reluctant to go to school. Here are some ideas which may assist you to support a child or teen who is reluctant to go to school and may even be school refusing. Addressing attendance issues promptly and setting up good attendance patterns can lead to future success and can help students feel more engaged and connected at school. 

Did you know?

• Patterns of late arrival at school or missing classes are early warning signs of disengagement from school.
• Missing one day of school each week adds up to 2 months missed over a year. 
• Each day of absence has an impact on skill development and social connections.
• Poor attendance may be associated with future unemployment, criminal activity, substance abuse, and poorer health and life expectancy. 

What you can do 

Generally: 

• Act early if you are concerned. 
• Talk about the importance of showing up to school every day, make that the expectation. 
• Regular attendance at school sets up good behaviours for regular attendance at future workplaces and other life commitments. 
• Don’t let your child stay home unless genuinely sick. Complaints of headaches or stomach aches may be signs of anxiety. 
• Reward appropriate behaviour and don’t unintentionally reward unwanted behaviour by letting children who stay home have access to their devices and the internet. 
• Be sure to set a good example – how you meet your commitments impacts on how they will meet theirs. 

Daily routines & sleep 

• Help your child maintain daily routines such as finishing homework and getting a good night’s sleep. 
• Teenagers need an average of 8-9 hours of sleep to be healthy and alert. 
• You may also need to monitor your child’s use of the Internet, mobile phone and TV at night to ensure they are not staying up too late or being disturbed while sleeping. 
• Consider how your child is sleeping – is their room cool and dark and have all devices, including TVs and mobile phones, been removed? 

Talk about school 

• Talk to your child. What are their feelings about school? What interests them at school? Are there any difficult situations? 
• For teens, it helps if you open these discussions in a relaxed way so that your teenager knows you are demonstrating concern, not authority. It’s often a good idea to have these conversations while doing something else together such as driving, preparing dinner or going for a walk. If your teen doesn’t want to talk right then, let them know you’re ready to listen whenever they’re ready to talk

Extracurricular activities, social connections & part-time work 

• Encourage meaningful extracurricular activities that your child enjoys, such as sports and clubs, to develop positive relationships and experience success outside of a classroom setting. These activities can help your child feel part of the group, important to the school, and more motivated.
• For teens, try to be aware of your child’s social contacts. Peer influence can lead to skipping school, while students without many friends can feel isolated. 

Family holidays & appointments 

• Try not to schedule hair, dental or medical appointments during school hours. Arrange family holidays during scheduled school holidays so that students don’t miss out on classes and feel left behind. 
• If it is necessary to be absent from school for an extended period, arrange with your school for a Student Absence Learning Plan. 

School policies & monitoring attendance 

• Monitor your child’s attendance and school performance. Periodically check with their teachers to find out how things are going. If you find it difficult to contact several different teachers by phone, try email. Alternatively, the year level coordinator may be a helpful point of contact in relation to specific issues. 

Homework & assignments 

• If your child wants to stay home to finish an assignment, rather than letting them stay home, expect them to go to school – make attendance the number one priority. Later, you can discuss with them how they can improve their study habits or adjust their schedule. 
• Use the assessment calendar to help your child plan their study so that they avoid working late the night before an assignment is due.

Dina Becvinovski

Assistant Principal