WELLBEING NEWS

Our fantastic wellbeing team continue to work hard to support our students and staff to feel happy, smart, and prepared in school. The team have been providing support to students through 1-1 sessions, group programs and check ins whenever needed. It has been a busy term, as our year 12 student begins to feel the pressure of exams and our younger students explore their evolving identities, often expressed in social and emotional challenges, and navigate the dark side of social media communications. The mental health of our young people continues to be a growing concern, and the temptations of risk-taking behaviours such as vaping are an ever-present beast.

We are very grateful for the care, passion, and hard work of our team members: Mel Toprak, Stella-Marie Pavlou, and Suzie Adsett, and appreciate the invaluable contribution that they make to our school. We welcomed Olivia Stephens to the team as an administrative assistant and are very grateful for the work she has done already in supporting attendance and providing a safe space for students requiring a wellbeing break during the day.

We bade farewell for now to our wonderful team member Jess Lowe, who has taken up a role in a school in Central Australia until the end of the year. She will be returning to us in 2024 and we know she will come back with a range of new skills and wonderful ideas, to help support our students.

Part of the work of the team this term has been implementing new referral processes. These are available on compass for parents to use when they require wellbeing support for their child.

We have also revived our Breakfast Club program, which is running three mornings per week. We are seeing approximately forty-fifty students attending each morning and enjoying a healthy breakfast before lessons begin. We have been delighted with this and hope to extend the program next term to provide breakfast every day, as well as lunches.

Our wellbeing programs have continued to run successfully with the support of the team, external providers, and Kym De Wit. Social Thursdays, K9 comprehension, Positive Start, Social games, Pride & Allies, Girls Group, and Health and Respectful Relationships all provide weekly support for the different needs of our young people and enable them to develop personal and social skills in a safe and inclusive space.

We would like to remind students and families about the external services available to support them, particularly over the holiday period. These can be found on compass, and we encourage anyone struggling with any aspect of their life, to reach out for help sooner rather than later.

Cassandra Willis

IDAHOBIT DAY

During the middle of May, 2023, the students and staff at Mount Eliza SC celebrated IDAHOBIT DAY (International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia).

There was much discussion and organizing by students and staff who attend the Rainbow Group every Tuesday lunchtime. The students were enthusiastic and excited by the many activities they were wanting to be involved with and share with their school community. There was discussion with the Corner Youth Centre, who continue to attend and support the weekly group, and were delegated the task of setting up their outdoor activities in the quadrangle for students to have fun and challenge themselves with.

The VM students and staff were the drivers of a fabulous sausage sizzle where sausages were kindly discounted by Mount Eliza Meats, and the bread generously donated by Mount Eliza Bakers Delight. The wonderful stalls run and managed by student volunteers where students lined up for nail painting, face painting, and the most popular being the coloured hair spraying.

A number of the Rainbow Group members also developed a Scavenger Hunt of the different Pride Flags which when located around the Quadrangle, students would receive a handful of rainbow lollies as a prize. Whilst the lunchtime air was filled with LGBTQIA+ music, laughter and lots of fun, lessons being learned were about creating awareness of diversity in our school community which benefits all students and staff, and to celebrate and create a culture of safety, inclusion and connectedness, which benefits the learning of everyone.

Many thanks to all those involved, it was a very fun and proud day for our community. Cassandra Willis