Positive Futures News

What is the EDSC Positive Futures program?

Positive Education brings together the science of positive psychology with best-practice teaching.

The school’s journey with Positive Education began in 2012 with Positive Education focuses and values implemented across each year level and over time has evolved into the whole school approach launched in 2020. 

Our Positive Futures program has some very clear goals:

• We want to improve student quality of life and their engagement with others, including with their teachers
• We seek to develop students in a more holistic way, with a stronger focus on wellbeing

There are six tenets of Positive Psychology that are embedded into our model:

Positive Health – Positive Self

Developing knowledge, understanding and skills to promote health and well – being.

Positive Relationships

Nurturing positive relationships based on respect. 

Accomplishment

Generating hope and optimism through the accomplishment of personal and community goals

Positive Emotion

Building and experiencing positive emotion. 

Meaning

Believing in serving something greater than ourselves.

Positive Engagement

Developing critical thinkers by promoting challenge, curiosity and creativity. 

More resources and information can be found here:

https://www.eastdonsc.vic.edu.au/wellbeing-engagement-positive-futures

Term 3 Update

Now that we are in Week 4 we have seen a number of groups either deliver their Community Action project and/or put planning into place to deliver their project later in the term. 

One such group is the Year 12 VCAL students. 

Over the last 3 sessions they have been writing inspirational quotes for the Year 12 students. They came up with the idea, actioned it and posted the quotes into each Year 12 locker.

They stuck a few spares on the whiteboard in The John Landy Centre.

It has been great to watch them get involved and to want to give back to the school in this way – particularly for the Year 12 VCALs as the current mainstream Year 12s have been their friends throughout their schooling here. They wanted to encourage and support them. 

 Tina Marchant

 Year 12 VCAL Positive Futures teacher

We look forward to sharing other Positive Change projects with our school community over the next few months. 

Respectful Relationships Week will be taking place in Week 7 this term and in Positive Futures classes we will be undertaking activities focused on respecting ourselves and others in Week 5 to Week 7. 

Disrespectful Language

We completed a session on Disrespectful Language over the last two weeks with many groups sharing their thoughts on how this makes others feel and what we can do to call out this behaviour.  Here are some examples of reflections from various groups.

In the last few weeks of the term, our Year 12 students will have visit from the Red Cross Blood Bank, Year 10s will do some work in the area of Respect Education and in the last few sessions, all students be focusing on accomplishment and legacy at EDSC. 

So exciting times ahead for our program!

Positive Futures Book of the Week  

A Year of Positive Thinking for Teens: Daily Motivation to Beat Stress, Inspire Happiness and Achieve your Goals - Katie Hurley

Transform your thoughts and find the confidence to navigate your teen years with positive thinking.

Being a teen can be an emotional roller coaster. When you're overwhelmed by unrealistic expectations from your friends, family, social media feed, teachers, and even yourself, it's normal to have thoughts and feelings like This is too hard or I'll never measure up. With A Year of Positive Thinking for Teens, you'll discover how to overcome these anxious thought patterns, and build a happier, more positive mindset to achieve your goals.

Let go of stress with relatable prompts and reflections-all grounded in positive thinking and positive psychology strategies. Find a daily dose of motivation through insightful quotes and affirmations designed to encourage you to embrace happiness one day, one thought, and one year at a time.

This guide to positive thinking includes:

• Pockets of joy-Practice positive thinking in the moment with this beautiful, easy-to-navigate, and portable book.
• Achieve your dreams-Insightful quotes and affirmations will help you remember your strengths, stay motivated, and reach your goals.
• Teens like you-From self-esteem issues to social media stress, you'll discover prompts to help you through a wide range of issues teens face every day.
• Find confidence, courage, and clarity on the road to adulthood with positive thinking.

Rebecca James

Student Engagement and Connection Learning Specialist