Wellbeing and Inclusion

Anxiety Parent Workshop 

We have been extremely lucky to have secured a parent workshop on anxiety which will be presented by Step Through Care, a new integrated Mental Health support service that is delivered across western Victoria. Presenting the workshop will be Rachel (Child and Family Practitioner) who will deliver the presentation. Along with Rachel there will be a panel, Rachel – Child and Family Practitioner and Alex – MH and AOD Clinician, who will be present to answer questions from those who attend. The presentation will be at 2pm and will run for two sessions. The first session will discuss what is anxiety and offer participants the chance to ask questions to the panel. The second session will discuss strategies for managing anxiety. Currently, we are unsure of what day and date this will be presented but will let the community know when it is locked in.

Bully Zero Incursions

Bully Zero will be presenting two sessions to our students on Monday 27th May. Their core programs are a key part of the whole school approach. Their outcomes aim to achieve a reduction in bullying and conflict, increased awareness, and improvements in overall mental health and wellbeing. Students will participate in a workshop called Understanding Bullying which covers a general overview of bullying, what bullying is, what bullying is not, different types of bullying behaviour, strategies to address bullying, the role of the upstander, empathy and respect and help and support. More information will follow in a Compass event.

School Professional Learning

Last week, teachers participated in a Growth Mindset session that was presented by Jamie and Josh. Teachers looked at data, completed professional reading, discussed a fixed and growth mindset, looked at resources to use in the classroom and identified a survey they could use in the classroom to gather data of their students’ mindset. Growth Mindset will be a focus in each classroom throughout the term.

 Fixed Mindset

Fixed mindset is a way of thinking about your own intelligence and abilities. Specifically, it describes viewing your intelligence and abilities as innate and unchangeable. When faced with a task that seems too challenging, someone with a fixed mindset may think “There’s no way I can do that, so why bother trying?” This mindset is very outcome focused; instead of looking at failures as learning experiences, someone with a fixed mindset will feel that hard work, when yielding no direct result, was “all for nothing.” Their successes and failures may also be an important part of how they define themselves, meaning that they may avoid taking risks so as to not make themselves look bad in the case that they should fail.

Growth Mindset

A growth mindset is a belief that you can develop your skills and talents through hard work, the right strategies, and guidance from others. 

The term growth mindset was coined by American psychologist Professor Carol Dweck in her 2006 book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Her work explored how an individual’s underlying belief about their intelligence and ability to learn could impact their performance. 

Her studies show that those who believe they can develop their talents tend to achieve more than those who feel their abilities are innate and fixed. Those with a growth mindset see opportunities instead of obstacles, choosing to challenge themselves to learn more rather than sticking in their comfort zone. 

Successful C-Pen Trial

Towards the end of Term 1 and into Term 2, we have trialled two ‘C-Pens’ across the school to assist students who have difficulty with reading. C-Pens allow students with dyslexia, visual impairments, aphasia, or other reading disabilities to access text using a small pen like object that can scan text and then listen to them read aloud. By using ReadingPen, students can become more independent regardless of which reading disability they struggle with. They also have a built-in dictionary, where students can also get definitions of particular words that make it easier to understand the text. Feedback from students who have used the pen so far have been very positive, with one student reporting, “I can finally read text my peers are reading”. The pens promote active independent reading, understanding, and learning. With positive feedback from both students and teachers, we will be purchasing two pens with Tier funding to further empower our students in their reading. If you would like to learn more about the C-Pen, hit the link to find out more. https://cpen.com/school/

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