Wellbeing

Starting School 

Today we welcomed our 2025 Prep students and their families for our first orientation session! We were honored to have psychologist Carley McGauran from Inform and Empower join us for a special presentation. Our current families will recognise Inform and Empower as the platform through which our children participate in online safety sessions each term.

It was a refreshing change to have Carley onsite, speaking directly to our Prep families. Starting school is an exciting time filled with emotions for both children and their parents, and Carley shared valuable, practical advice to help ease this transition.

For all of our families—not just our Preps—we wanted to share the toolkit she provided for parents and carers. This guide serves as a helpful resource for anyone preparing for the upcoming 2025 school year, as many of these feelings and experiences are universal.

Carley also shared some insightful resources, including short YouTube clips that help open discussions about emotions with our children. Talking about feelings is a wonderful way to help children name, recognise, and trust their emotions. Big feelings are okay, and small feelings are important, too! Helping children understand that no feelings are "bad" is key to building their emotional literacy.

Below, you’ll find a clip from Inform and Empower that’s perfect for starting a conversation about emotions—it’s only two minutes long but makes a powerful impact.

Many families are familiar with Pixar’s Inside Out, and the poster below is another useful tool to help children name their feelings and build emotional awareness.

https://youtu.be/msrCTzjh5Ak