Bemin Secondary College

Engagement, Wellbeing and Inclusion

Wellbeing Team Year in Review: Supporting Students at Bemin Secondary College

 

Holiday Supports

A reminder that over the holidays times can be tricky, and the usual resources that can be accessed via the Wellbeing Team or school in general can be hard to figure out on your own.

A great and handy solution to this is Ask Izzy – an organisation that can link you to services within your local postcode ranging from food support to legal support, housing information, wellbeing support and counselling and much more.

Ask Izzy can be accessed by clicking this link.

Some other relevant supports for our students are Kids Helpline, accessible on 1800 55 1800, and 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732.

 

The Wellbeing Team at Bemin Secondary College has had a busy and impactful year, ensuring students' mental health and wellbeing remain a top priority. Through a range of supports, programs, and engagement events, the team has worked tirelessly to build an inclusive, strengths-focused environment for all students.

 

Tier 1: Whole-School Initiatives

This year, the Wellbeing Team implemented several school-wide events and activities aimed at promoting mental health awareness and community engagement:

  • R U OK? Day:

     is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes the key idea that “a conversation could change a life”. It means that checking in on those closest to you, no matter how ‘small’ the interaction may seem, could change the trajectory of someone’s day. Emily, our Mental Health Practitioner supported students to lead discussions in Check & Connect classes and write down ways that we can ‘check in’ on those around us. 

    These written notes then contributed to a collage to be set up in the Wellbeing Hub, to remind incoming both students and staff to take some time to consider what those around them are experiencing. 

     

    The Wellbeing Team, supported by students on the Student Wellbeing Committee and other student volunteers also handed out milkshakes at lunch on both campuses, encouraging students to check in on someone once they had collected their milkshake.

     

  • Black Dog Institute Talks:

     Informative sessions providing students with tools to recognise and manage their mental wellbeing.

     

    Teacher vs Student Sports

  • The Wellbeing Team has had the opportunity across the year to introduce, run and engage in several Teacher vs Student sports sessions on both our Senior and Junior campuses. We have had competitions in volleyball and netball, with the students “occasionally” coming out on top (more often than not, but our staff are reluctant to acknowledge that…). Teacher vs Students sports events have become an integral part of the College’s culture, establishing a sense of community, challenge and camaraderie between staff and students, and acting as a celebratory send-off for school terms at Bemin. With music playing, students and staff acting as commentators or volunteering to play, DJ, umpire or just cheering from the sidelines – Teacher vs Student sports was a hit for all involved.

     

  • Breakfast Club: 

    has been a hit with students on both campuses this year. Students have had access to a range of healthy and filling foods that fuel them up ready for the day. Fresh fruit, fruit cups, toast with a range of toppings and other snacks to stock up on for the day ahead were available for students to collect and enjoy on multiple days on both campuses. Jordan met with a Foodbank 

     

    Representative on Wednesday in the final week of Term 4 to be inducted into the State Government’s School Breakfast Club’s Program – meaning in Term 1 of 2025 Bemin will officially have access to an updated range of food items to provide our students with.

     

    We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks and gratitude once again to Deb at Garrang Wilam Primary School who has been supporting Bemin’s Breaky Club this year.

     

  • Staff Professional Development: While created, this professional development initiative is ready to be delivered in the future to further support staff capacity in student wellbeing.

Tier 2: Targeted Wellbeing Groups

The Wellbeing Team facilitated a variety of small wellbeing groups throughout the year to address specific social, emotional, and behavioural needs:

  • Anger Group for Year 10 Girls (Daniella and Emily): Supporting students in understanding and managing anger constructively.
  • Social Skills Group for Year 7 (Daniella and Emily): Focused on building communication, relationships, and confidence.
  • RAGE Group for Year 10 (facilitated in partnership with Melbourne City Mission and led by Emily): A program addressing emotional regulation and healthy responses to challenges.
  • Bite Back Group for Year 7 Boys (Emily): Empowering students to improve resilience, mindset, and emotional wellbeing.
  • Mind Over Matter for Year 10 Boys (Jordan): Helping students strengthen their mental fitness and coping strategies.

  • SkillSpace (facilitated by Headspace and led by Daniella): A group supporting Year 7 students to develop emotional literacy, communication, and resilience.

     

    Afterschool Programs

    Our Senior Campus students were lucky enough to receive two after school sports programs delivered by local organisations with objectives in enhancing engagement, fostering community and building skills in both soccer and basketball. The soccer program was facilitated by Football Empowerment, and was an eight-week program that established or enhanced soccer skills while engaging students in positive and proactive relationships with local community members. 

     

    The Shooter’s Shoot program was delivered by Sagalee and his team, and saw a group of Year 10s participate in an eight week basketball program that not only enhanced connection to community and developed basketball skills, but also developed wellbeing capacity and taught valuable skills such as introspective journalling. A big thank you to both Tom from Football Empowerment and Sagalee from Shooter’s Shoot for the delivery of your programs at Bemin!

Tier 3: Individualised Support, Counselling and Referrals

For students requiring individualised support, the Wellbeing Team provided counselling with a Strengths-focused and inclusive sessions were delivered using a brief intervention model. Relationship and connections where established with Headspace Werribee

Youth Support and Advocacy Service (YSAS)

and Melbourne City Mission. 

 

Student Wellbeing Committee

Students were able to support the Wellbeing Team by joining the Student Wellbeing Committee in the second half of the year. The Student Wellbeing Committee assisted the Wellbeing Team with planning for next year, as well as supporting the delivery of multiple Wellbeing engagements across the College. SWC members volunteered in Breakfast Club, helped cook sausages on Footy Day, handed out milkshakes on R U OK? Day and much more. 

We as a Wellbeing Team and wider school community are so grateful and proud of the support that the SWC members and our students have offered us this year – thank you!

 

Senior Celebration Day

The Wellbeing Team had the opportunity to help celebrate the final day of our Senior Students on Friday, December 6th. This was a momentous occasion, as it acknowledged the first cohort to complete a year at Bemin Secondary College. With their exams complete and their pathways for 2025 locked in, our Year 10 cohort enjoyed some pizza followed by a Teacher vs Student volleyball game that saw the students take home the 2025 cup for the Senior Campus… Here’s hoping the staff can come back with a victory on the Junior Campus on the last day of the school year!

 

Inclusive Education

This year the Inclusive Education team, along with leaders and teachers, have worked to establish processes that support an inclusive environment at Bemin Secondary College. We have worked to ensure our diverse students have access to all they need for their education.

Supports and interventions that are frequently used in our classrooms include, Inclusion Aides in many classrooms, adjusted learning tasks, visuals, fidget toys, communication cards, checklists and schedules, regulation or movement breaks, regulation spaces, social stories as well as modified assessments. These supports work in conjunction with our consistent routines and expectations to provide a learning environment where students can achieve their best and feel safe.

 

Classroom observations, discussions with students and recommendations from experts such as Occupation Therapists, Speech Pathologists and Learning Specialists all go in to determining the supports we provide to students in the room.

 

Student Support Groups

We have collaborated with students and families during Student Support Groups (SSGs) where we have met to discuss approaches to assisting students in the school and classroom. We spent time discussing student strengths and how we can use these to support the student’s outcomes in all areas.

 

Individual Education Plans

Individual Education Plans (IEPs) have been developed with students, families, teachers and specialists to monitor progress towards individual goals. These goals target growth in personal and social skills, literacy and numeracy skills that can lead to improvement in learning across all areas.

Disability Inclusion Profile

The new funding model, ‘Disability Inclusion Profile’ (DIP) has been rolled out in our region over the last few years. The IE team has participated in professional learning and worked with the Department of Education to become skilled in meeting the requirements for this new system. The DIP model requires schools document adjustments and modifications made for students prior to applying for funding. This means the staff have collaborated and worked to a high standard of practice leading to successful DIP outcomes this year.

 

We are very proud of the school and IE teams efforts this year!