College Information

DSC Wellbeing Support

Checking-in on Students

At Doncaster Secondary College we aim to uphold a culture of mutual respect, trust, good communication, understanding and honesty. We want to continue this while we are remote teaching and learning at home with our families.

Everyone has been impacted in different ways due to the coronavirus. People may be stressed, anxious, feeling isolated, disappointed and uncertain about the future. These feelings may cause people to act and behave in ways they normally wouldn’t.

Relationships that may be affected are not just those of people in the house you live in, but also friendships, extended family, important people and partner relationships. This can be in-person or online.

In an effort to be proactive in providing support to our community, our wellbeing team has been attempting to make contact with all of our families. In the first instance, our team will be calling parents/carers and seeking permission to speak to students over the phone. If we are unsuccessful in communicating via phone, we will make contact via email or Microsoft Teams.

Support through DiSCovery

The role of the DiSCovery teacher during this time has an increasing level of importance. DiSCovery lessons will be held at the beginning of the timetabled class and will run for a duration of 30 minutes. This will give our DiSCovery teachers an opportunity to monitor communication channels and notice any changes in attendance, behaviour and student engagement. Our teachers can then utilise the remainder of this time to communicate with their students to inquire and offer support or plan for referrals to the student management and wellbeing team.

Our DiSCovery teachers have been providing opportunities for students to respond confidentially to questions regarding wellbeing and academic progress (Microsoft Teams chat function, Email and Microsoft Forms survey). This information can then inform our planning for the coming weeks.

Key topics from the Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) curriculum aim to build the personal and social capability of our students. RRRR topics include Personal Strengths, Positive Coping, Help Seeking, Positive Self-talk and Problem Solving, which are of particular relevance during this time. Please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s DiSCovery teacher if you have questions or concerns.

Ongoing Counselling

Given the current circumstances, counselling sessions for those students already seeing a member of the wellbeing team will be conducted via a combination of telephone conversations and video / teleconference. Students will be notified of wellbeing/counselling sessions through the generation of a Compass activity. If a video/teleconference is the approved method, a Webex link/Microsoft Teams link will be sent to the student's education email and/or embedded in the Compass activity. Only the Department of Education approved technologies identified above will be used.

Whilst the majority of wellbeing/counselling sessions will be conducted via telephone or teleconference, there may be instances where videoconferencing is the preferred method. In these instances, a second wellbeing team member/DSC staff member will be invited to the session.

Discussions involving personal information will only occur if needed, and no recording of sessions will take place. Communication with students will only take place during school hours. This method of providing wellbeing/counselling session will utilise this method until school returns to onsite schooling.

If parents, carers or students have any questions or concerns regarding the wellbeing/counselling sessions, please contact Glenn Morris Glenn.Morris@education.vic.gov.au or Drew Hanna Drew.Hanna@education.vic.gov.au.

Relevant Policies

Our wellbeing team is also aware that working remotely requires them to have a good understanding of relevant Department of Education Policies. As a result, we have been reiterating the importance of reviewing the documents identified below:

Child Safety Code of Conduct

ICT Acceptable Usage Policy for Students

ICT Acceptable Usage Policy for Staff

Social Media Policy

4 Critical Actions for Responding to Disclosures (DET)

Taking Care of Yourself

Things you can do to look after yourself and those around you during this time include:

Self-care 

Creating and maintaining healthy boundaries 

Open communication with the people in our lives 

Allowing yourself to feel what you are feeling - whatever that may be 

Do what you can: FaceTime with people, play boardgames and puzzles, bake, cook and go for walks. 