Loch Primary School

Respectful Relationships

Letter from Ms King

Dear Parents/Carers,

As you know Loch Primary School is a Respectful Relationships school. Respectful Relationships supports schools and early childhood settings to promote and model respect, positive attitudes and behaviours. It teaches our children how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence.

So far this year our students have been enjoying learning and practising skills through lessons taught using the Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) teaching and learning materials. Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships is a curriculum resource developed by the University of Melbourne and provided by the Department of Education and Training to help schools to develop students’ social-emotional and positive relationships skills. The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) learning materials cover eight topics of social-emotional learning across all levels of primary and secondary education. So far this year we have been teaching the first five topics and our students have been learning and building their skills in emotional literacy, personal strengths, positive coping skills, problem-solving and stress management.

Shortly we will be starting the next three topics in Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships, ie Help-Seeking, Gender Identity and Positive Gender Relationships. In these topics we:-

  • Learn about the importance of seeking help and providing peer support when dealing with problems that are too big to solve alone
  • Learn about key issues relating to human rights and the importance of respect within relationships as well challenging gender stereotypes that can be rigid and limiting.
  • Develop the skills needed to solve problems, set boundaries within relationships, and play an active role within the prevention of gender-based violence.
  • Develop peer support and help-seeking skills that can be applied in response to situations involving gender-based violence in family, peer, community and/or on-line relationships.

Teaching and learning about respectful relationships helps our school to build a culture of respect and this contributes to a positive climate for learning. The Victorian Curriculum Prep to Year 10 provides the basis for teaching and learning about respectful relationships.  The Victorian Curriculum F-10 identifies the knowledge, skills and understandings for students to be able to engage in respectful relationships.

The importance of teaching Respectful Relationships education was highlighted in the evidence and findings of the Royal Commission into Family Violence, which recommended that respectful relationships education be covered in the curriculum in Victorian schools. Respectful relationships education focuses on building and promoting gender equity in relationships and challenging of gender stereotypes.

Schools are also required to implement and adhere to the Child Safe Standards: teaching respectful relationships education supports our school to meet the requirements of Child Safe Standard 7: Standard 7: Strategies to promote child participation and empowerment

Child Safe Standard 7 requires schools to develop strategies to deliver appropriate education about:

  • standards of behaviour for students attending the school
  • healthy and respectful relationships (including sexuality education)
  • resilience
  • child abuse awareness and prevention.

We will continue to include information in our School Newsletter, in assemblies etc about what you can do at home to reinforce the learning and further develop your child’s skills in these important areas.

If you have any questions about teaching and learning in our school, please contact me through the school office.

 

Yours sincerely,

Tracey King

Principal

Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships

The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) learning materials cover eight topics of social and emotional learning and positive relationships across all levels of primary and secondary education.

TOPIC 1: EMOTIONAL LITERACY

Emotional literacy can be defined as the ability to understand ourselves and other people. It includes the ability to understand, express and manage our own emotions, build empathy, and to respond appropriately to the emotions of others. Building a large vocabulary for emotions helps to increase emotional literacy and build self-awareness and empathy for others.

TOPIC 2: PERSONAL STRENGTHS

Children and young people need a vocabulary to help them recognise and understand strengths and positive qualities in themselves and others. This topic provides learning activities to build this vocabulary and to use it when discussing personal, social and ethical challenges. Research in the field of positive psychology emphasises the importance of identifying and using individual strengths. Social and emotional learning programs which use strength based approaches promote student wellbeing, positive behaviour and academic achievement.

TOPIC 3: POSITIVE COPING

Learning activities in this topic provide opportunities for students to identify and discuss different types of coping strategies. When children and young people develop a language around coping, they are more likely to be able to understand and deliberately utilise a range of productive coping strategies and diminish their use of unproductive coping strategies. Students learn to extend their repertoire of coping strategies and benefit from critically reflecting on their own choices and being exposed to alternative options. Activities introduce students to the concept of self-talk and practice using positive self-talk to approach and manage challenging situations. Positive self-talk is a key strategy for coping with negative thoughts, emotions and events. It is associated with greater persistence in the face of challenge, and can be learnt or strengthened through practice.

TOPIC 4: PROBLEM SOLVING

Problem-solving skills are an important part of the coping repertoire. The program provides a number of learning activities to develop students’ problem-solving skills. The activities in the program assist students to develop their critical and creative thinking skills, and to apply them to scenarios exploring personal, social and ethical dilemmas.

TOPIC 5: STRESS MANAGEMENT

Children and young people experience a range of personal, social and work-related stressors in their everyday lives. Activities within this topic have an explicit focus on teaching positive approaches to stress management. Assisting students to recognise their personal signs and symptoms of stress, and to develop strategies that will help them to deal with stress effectively, will help students cope with future challenges. The activities focus on the ways in which self-calming strategies can be used to manage stressful situations.

TOPIC 6: HELP-SEEKING

Learning activities in this topic area are designed to help students discuss the importance of seeking help and providing peer support when dealing with problems that are too big to solve alone. This helps to normalise and destigmatise help-seeking behaviour. Scenario-based activities help students identify situations in which help should be sought, identify trusted sources of help, and practice seeking help from peers and adults.

TOPIC 7: GENDER AND IDENTITY

Learning activities within this topic assist students to challenge stereotypes and critique the influence of gender norms on attitudes and behaviour. They learn about key issues relating to human rights and gender identity, and focus on the importance of respect within relationships. The activities promote  respect for diversity and difference.

TOPIC 8: POSITIVE GENDER RELATIONS

Learning activities within this topic focus on building an understanding of the effects of gender-based violence and focus on the standards associated with respectful relationships. Students develop the skills needed to solve problems, set boundaries within relationships, and play an active role within the prevention of gender-based violence. They develop peer support and help-seeking skills that can be applied in response to situations involving gender-based violence in family, peer, community or on-line relationships.

Source: Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships: Introduction