Wellbeing

Welcome Back – it is good for us to be here.

It is hard to believe that our term is now three weeks old as we say goodbye to the memories of our holidays.

Returning to routine can be a challenge for some after a long summer break but as time moves on, we adapt to change.

Having had two weeks of Step Up at the end of last year has helped settle much of the nerves associated with a new school year and for many of our students they have really hit the ground running. 

Can we remind everyone of some of the key structures that we have in place to support your young person in their learning in 2026….

Homeroom has been returned to the start of the day…

A reminder to all our families that morning homeroom has been returned to the start of the day with our first bell ringing at 8.35 and homeroom beginning at 8.40 before period 1. This first part of the day is important so all our students are aware of key messages, can organize themselves for the day and adapt to any changes such as whole school assemblies that take place. Homeroom is a compulsory start to the day.

The Role of the Homeroom Teacher

We place strong emphasis on the importance of our homeroom teachers and the role they play in the care of our young people. 

This person should be the first point of call for any of their concerns and the person that you would contact if you have any concerns about their wellbeing or learning.

The homeroom teacher will follow up on attendance issues and any uniform concerns and address any concerns you may have in relation to her day-to-day-to-life at Marian.

Community Leaders are also here to support both your young person and you and work collaboratively with the homeroom teachers as they work as a collective to support our community.

We have on the 12th of February conducted our Information Evening for Year 7 which hopefully gave all our families an opportunity to touch base with the staff and start building the very important relationship with you as a family.

Mrs Jennifer Stafford our Director of Students and I are here to support all staff and students in building positive relationships, developing a wellbeing, and learning program that enhances the growth of all members of our community.

Wellbeing Framework

Over 2025 the Wellbeing working party chaired by Mrs Jennifer Stafford started the significant work of creating our own whole school Framework based on research and significant support from material from both the Australian Wellbeing Framework and MACS – Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools.

This work has come from the original work done on creating a well-being framework but has now been refined to be a whole school framework for all.

Our Framework is constructed around our KEM Core Values of:

Hope, Hospitality, Compassion, Courage, Justice, and Wonder

Each value has key principles and goals and is linked intrinsically to our Pastoral Care program that has been refined to reflect its link to the Core Values and how it is sequenced from Years 7 -12.

We will continue this work this year and will share updates with our community as we make progress in building a framework that supports both our wellbeing, learning and faith programs. It will truly be a Framework that reflects:

Learning for Wellbeing and Wellbeing for Learning in a faith community

Uniform Reminders

It is pleasing to see so many students wearing their uniform with such pride and our school pants are certainly the preferred option for many of our students.

We made a slight adjustment to our expectations in 2025 – that is that students with a nose piercing are able to wear a plug over the course of the day. For many students this has been a positive compromise.

We have further refined our expectations in 2026 slightly that students are able to wear their uniform that is not bound by summer or winter. It means that if we have warmer days at the beginning of term 2 students can continue to wear their summer dress and if they feel cold in March, they can wear their full winter uniform including their tie. The only thing that has not changed is that they can only wear their Health and PE uniform on the days they have their PE classes.

A couple of key reminders that have been raised by our Homeroom teachers and Community Leaders. These are:

• Wearing their blazer as their most outer garment. This is compulsory, while it is not compulsory to wear your school jumper. Having been placed on gate duty at the start of the day this is our biggest concern.
• Socks need to be long and white ONLY. Black socks are NOT part of the uniform.
• No false eyelashes or eyelash extensions.
• No acrylic or false nails
• Natural hair only (no dyes / colours)

• Hair must be tied back in a single ponytail – not half up and half down.

   

We will continue to remind all students of these expectations.

Student leadership and our Investiture Assembly

2026 has seen the introduction of a new Student leadership structure. 

We have our Lamp Bearers of School Captains that are now supported by our Captains of Change leaders at Year 12.

These leaders were elected at the end of term 3 last year and they are:

Lamp Bearers – Livinia Jason and Fiona Ulku

CAPtains of Change    -    Learning – Leila Balaz

                                                  Faith – Marysatty Schwenke

                                                 Justice – Zaina Khurrum

                                                 Sport – Skye Koutsofta

                                                 Arts – Isabelle Cresp

Our Student Representative Council for Years 8 -11 are:

These leaders were acknowledged in our Investiture Assembly at the end of the Opening School Mass on Friday 6th February. 

Congratulations to all those students elected to a leadership position in 2026 and we look forward to sharing with you their work over the course of the year.

We are presently electing our leaders at Year 7 and our Class Captains and in our next edition of the Marian news, we will acknowledge all these leaders who will make an important contribution to the growth of our community over the course of 2026.

Child Safety Work and Presentation to the staff

As part of the professional learning program all our staff participated in a Child Safety presentation earlier this term that covered all the Child Safety Standards and looked at the updated version of the KEM Child Safeguarding Policy and the expectations for all of us when working with our young people. Before the end of the term all staff – teaching and non-teaching will now be expected to complete their annual responsibility in relation to Mandatory Reporting. 

Child Safety is a key responsibility for all our staff so that you know when your child arrives at school that their safety is one of the key principles that we take very seriously and continue to review, evaluate, and improve.

Child Safety Sub - Committee

With this ongoing commitment to keep all our young people safe we would like to re-establish our Child Safety Parent Sub-Committee that we started in the last few years.

If you would like to join our Parent Sub-Committee for 2026, please contact me at school via SEQTA direct message or by phoning the school and leaving a message. 

Everyone is most welcome to join. 

We will also share this invitation via a Direct Message.

Process for our students entering the school grounds over the course of the day.

Over the Christmas period a significant amount of work has taken place in the reception area of the school. All students over the course of the day should enter via the student pedestrian entrance gate that was created at the front of the school that opens both at the start of the day and end of the day for students to enter and leave the property.

It also remains open to 9.00 am and in the afternoon till 4.00 pm for students that arrive late in the morning or are leaving after the school day has finished with after school classes or VET classes.

This gate has been installed to stop students from entering the school over the course of the day or leaving early via the front office.

Students who need to enter or leave the school over the course of the day should press the buzzer and reception will open the gate for them and then close it as they enter or exit.

We remind all students that this gate is the main entrance now for our school community over the course of the day.

Re-establishment of our PULSE – 60 second check in

This week we re-established our PULSE program for all students as a 60 second check in each week so that we can monitor their Wellbeing and how they are travelling now that we have been at school for a number of weeks. 

This check-in is monitored by our Homeroom teachers and Community leaders and students who indicate that they need assistance or raise concerns are followed up by our well-being team. 

This program also allows students to identify what they are grateful for and they can also send GRATITUDE to other students or staff to acknowledge them in some way or simply thank them for something they may have shared such as a sense of humour. 

We will share with our community over the course of the year some of the trends in the data that we have been able to identify from the students completing this program.

A new initiative in 2026 – School TV 

Over the course of this term, we will introduce to our community a new initiative that we have committed to for 2026 – School TV.

This program that we will share with our community has great material such as podcasts, articles and up to date information about wellbeing concerns that are relevant to our young people and families. It will be a great resource for all members of our community. 

One of the key aspects of the program that also makes it truly viable for our community is that the material is available in a variety of languages that gives all our community access to the material and information.

We look forward to sharing updates with you in relation to the material available for our community in the next edition of the Marian News.

Collection Notice for Parents/Guardians for 2026

Please find attached a copy of information from the federal government in relation to the personal information such as Residential addresses that we obligated to share with them as part of our responsibility to the government.

If you have any questions in relation to this collection notice, please direct them to the front office.

Wellbeing Tip for Everyone

With summer now well and truly over halfway and as we lose some of the light that we have seen over the summer please remember to find some time in the hustle and bustle of life to find time to do something that rejuvenates and gives you energy. It may be walking the dog, playing sport, or reading a book. Whatever works for you remember we cannot look after others if we do not look after ourselves ….