Wellbeing and Safety 

With World Mental Health Day taking place this week, it was timely for our grade 6 leaders to present their community action project related to this very topic.

Congratulations to Darcy, Oscar and XinSon for presenting to staff this week around BBPS Resilient Youth Survey data, with a focus on looking at student responses in grades 3-6 realted to mental health in the areas of hope, depression, anxiety and engagement. 

The data, supported by work with The Resilience Project, presents some interesting findings, with greater consideration needed for what we do as adults, both at home and school, to support our children to have a healthy mind. 

Strategies to help, as suggested by our student presenters and further brainstormed by our teachers, were:

Do regular emotional check ins - in class as part of the morning routine or end of day reflection, at the dinner table or on the walk to school

Ask 'are you ok?'

Practice gratitude and empathy - have family challenges, acknowledge students who show consideration for others

Offer students regular breaks from learning - go outside and get moving

Don't overcrowd the week with extra curricular activities

Consider what might be going on at home for students and how this might be impacting their learning

Talk to your child about trusted adults in their life and who they can go to for help.

For more information on the Resilience Youth Survey, completed by our grade 3-6 students annually, go to https://resilientyouth.org/survey 

And for more strategies that you can implement in your home to support your child's mental health, https://headspace.org.au/ has some great resources.