Wellbeing

Fathering Project

The BUS Principle

"What your kids really need is you"

The Fathering Project wants to remind fathers or father-figures that they really matter to children, who really need you to be present and actively engaged in their lives. The BUS principal helps you to remember this important message.

What is BUS?

The BUS principle has three pieces to remember: 

B – being there for them. Be available, present, and engaged when you are with them and let them know you want to be there for them.

U – show unconditional love. Tell them you love them and do it often. Let them know that even if you don’t love something they have done, you will always love them. 

S – help them realise how special they are. Help them to know how special they are as an individual and that you love the way they are.

As Fathers and father figures, we are really important to our kids, and they need us to be present and actively engaged in in their lives.  

Kids need to: 

• Feel safe and secure 
• To be loved unconditionally 
• To spend time with you. 

Fathers who show warmth, love and sensitive communication, who are available and engaged and who understand the importance of their role as fathers will provide the best outcomes for their children. 

Why is BUS important? 

Fathers have a powerful impact on the social, emotional, and physical well-being of children from infancy to adolescence, with lasting influences into their adult life. 

The benefits of positive fathering have been demonstrated in areas such as children’s academic achievement, empathy, self-esteem, self-control, well-being, life skills, and social competence. Fathers who show warmth, love, and sensitive communication, who are available and engaged and who understand the importance of their role as fathers will provide the best outcomes for their children. 

Top Tips

• What they need is you. Fathers really matter and they need you to be present and actively engaged in in their lives. 
• Tell them you love them. Tell them they are loved not because of what they do or don’t do, but simply because they are your son or daughter. 
• Be warm and supportive. Let them know you are there for them. 
• Listen to them. Ask them questions about their day and really listen to their thoughts and feelings. 
• Cherish the everyday moments. Spending everyday moments at home together has just as much value as the special events.

Dogs Connect Program 

We are excited to announce that we have partnered with the Dogs Connect Program and will be introducing a Wellbeing dog to Pilgrim School! 

This program will complement several other whole school wellbeing programs at Pilgrim School. The Dogs Connect Program focuses on broad scale connectedness and wellbeing across the entire School community. This is an evidence-based program that is underpinned by best practice, and we welcome you to look over the website to gain more of an idea of what the program is about.

Our School Wellbeing Dog will become a much loved and important member of our community. The Dogs Connect program will support us in implementing this very gradually, thoroughly, and considerately, and our dog will not be onsite at school for some time yet. In this time, we will be preparing the whole community for this introduction. We look forward to sending more information in the coming days and weeks. 

We would also like to assure the community that this program will not involve anyone who does not wish to be involved. We know that this work will have a really positive impact on many people in our community, and we acknowledge and respect that connection with our Wellbeing Dog will be offered on a great variety of levels.

Stay tuned as there will be lots of information being shared with you in the next few weeks!

National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence

Friday 18th August 2023 is the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence (NDA). The NDA is Australia’s key bullying prevention initiative for schools, connecting schools and communities to implement workable solutions to prevent bullying. This year’s theme is 'Growing Connections to Prevent Bullying'.

Planning for a safe and supportive school community requires a whole-school community approach. Whole-school responses to bullying prevention builds positive and supportive school environments by incorporating strategies for intervention at all levels, inclusive of students, teachers, parents and carers. 

Three key characteristics outlined in the national definition of bullying distinguish bullying behaviours from other negative behaviours which are not bullying. The key characteristics of bullying include:

1. power imbalance
2. deliberate intent to cause harm, and
3. ongoing and repeated behaviour.

While the following behaviours are not bullying, they may still be serious and require intervention at home and at school:

• arguments and disagreements (where there is no power imbalance)
• single acts of social rejection or unkind behaviour, or
• isolated incidents of aggression, intimidation or violence.

For more information visit:

On Tuesday the Year 2 class took part in a lesson around growing connections as a way to help prevent bullying. They made a paper chain with the details of all the different connections that they have including school, sports, church, family, etc. 

Year 2 Kimochis

Throughout this year the Year 2 class have been working through the Kimochis Protective Three program. 

If you aren’t familiar with Kimochis, they are 'toys with feelings' and the Protective Three programfocuses on three feelings – grateful, hopeful and brave. With a little bit from each feeling, we can get through all the really hard stuff, build our resilience and enjoy all the great moments.

Foundation – What’s the Buzz

This term our Foundation students have began a social skills foundation course, What’s the Buzz? For Early Learners. This is a well-regarded, highly-structured 16 lesson role-play and play-based programme to explore the benefits of developing social skills and friendship, developed here in South Australia.

Over 16 lessons, students will be immersed in a variety of ‘getting along’ skills, demonstrated by the experiences of a character, Archie. In each lesson the children will have the chance to support Archie with a range of situations that also happen in their lives.

As they do this, through activity, discussion, role-play and quizzes, they’ll learn how to become a stronger friend and a more flexible social thinker. 

Some of the topics covered in What’s the Buzz? For Early Learners are:

• Meeting friends and discovering differences
• Sharing and taking turns
• Cooperation
• Winning and losing – ‘gracefully’
• Working with feelings
• Angry feelings
• Honesty – ‘telling the truth’
• Saying, “No” – being assertive
• Empathy
• Worry – knowing about it, and dealing with it.

Year 6 Programme

During Term 3, our Year 6 students will be taking part in an 8 week programme designed to tackle relevant topics facing young people between the ages of 11-14. Each lesson is run as a video resource and includes a student journal, activities and discussions. 

• Year 6 girls – Becoming Women: The topics explored in Becoming Women include - stereotypes, body image, mental health, healthy relationships (friendships) and identifying and using your spark to create a positive impact in your community. The sessions will be run by Jenni Forder, Pastoral Care Worker. 
• Year 6 boys – Blueprint to Becoming a Man: The topics explored in Blueprint to Becoming a Man include - influence and identity, emotions, mental health and resilience, healthy relationships, and influence and role models. The sessions will be run by Mr Brett Middleton, Wellbeing Coordinator. 

Kind regards,

Andrew Edmondson, Jenni Forder and Brett Middleton

Wellbeing Team