A Whole School Approach to Wellbeing

Throughout the year a Wellbeing Committee has been meeting regularly and working towards establishing a Whole School Approach to Wellbeing at the College. The College is registered with Be You, a national initiative launched by Beyond Blue for educators, aimed at promoting and protecting positive mental health in children and young people. This enables us to work with a Be You consultant and have access to the numerous resources available on the website.

A Whole School Approach involves students, staff, families, and the wider community.

The Be You framework promotes an understanding in the following areas:

Mentally Healthy Communities
Family Partnerships
Learning Resilience
Early Support
Responding Together

The benefits of a Whole School Approach include:

Enhanced social and emotional wellbeing
Improved engagement and academic performance
A positive and supportive learning environment
Improved support and earlier intervention if mental health issues emerge
Increased resilience and capacity to manage emotions and problems as they arise
Fostering of an environment where children and young people feel safe and supported to speak up when something is bothering them
Strategies to support children and young people at different developmental stages and create smoother transitions between stages of learning

The Wellbeing Committee have been working through a process to identify the needs of our Learning Community, develop a plan, and take action. The process began by gathering data using a reflection audit tool of existing practices, and collecting information through staff, student and family surveys. The results highlighted that there are many effective practices currently in place throughout the College and identified that the initial focus should be on promoting Mentally Healthy Communities and Learning Resilience. One of the first priorities in this Whole School Approach is to foster and further promote a positive, supportive and inclusive environment that embraces diversity and supports strong, collaborative relationships with families and the broader community.

Some Wellbeing initiatives throughout the year included:

Guest speakers at the Middle School and Senior School Assemblies from the Black Dog Institute to promote strategies to support mental health
Guest speakers from the Black Dog Institute at Parent Forums and a staff meeting
Guest Psychologist at a Parent Forum for Primary parents outlining strategies to support childhood anxiety
Focus on student wellbeing at Assemblies
The introduction of ‘Be Well and Prosper’ in the College newsletter to promote mental health
The whole College ‘Wellbeing Day’
Student initiatives through the Interact Club for R U OK? Day
Year Prep-12 Lessons and activities for the week in Life Skills highlighting R U OK Day?
My Aitken links to support Wellbeing
Incursions with counsellors from the Kids Helpline focussing on positive coping strategies, friendships and developing resilience
Drafting wellbeing policy documents

The Wellbeing Committee would like to give thanks to students, staff and families for valuing the importance of mental health and wellbeing and look forward to further embedding evidence-based approaches throughout the College.

INTERACT CLUB

During 2020, Interact Club was committed to supporting the student community with mental health, wellbeing and gratitude strategies. We focused on providing strategies and tasks to assist peers on how to manage workload during COVID-19 lockdown and mechanisms for checking in on each other. It provided supporting material and a video of encouragement for RUOK? Day. The committee also created wellbeing and mental health slogans for World Mental Health Day and Term 4. They were targeted for their peers and a social media campaign, including Facebook, Instagram, student and staff bulletin and the College newsletter.

We were thankful for every Interactor’s contribution and the opportunity to work with our fellow Interact Club members in making a positive change to each other during this challenging year.

Aitken College News

In Mind and Spirit

Issue 2: For Future Families & Alumni · 17 Dec 2020

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