Year 8 Pastoral Guardian

Wanted: contentment, comfort, and overall good health.  These three measures to wellbeing are basic human needs for optimising life satisfaction.  According to the New Economics Foundation, there are a core group of actions that we can proactively adopt to improve our levels of wellbeing.  These five ways are:

• Connect with others – enrich your life by being present; invest time by showing genuine interest in others; take the time to listen and talk.
• Be active – find an activity that you can enjoy and that suits your lifestyle and needs
• Take notice – be curious and take note of the world around you and your feelings.
• Keep learning – try something new, expand your horizons and how you see yourself.
• Give – be kind to others with your time, your words, your talents, your presence.

Image source: mindit.org.uk

At Mount Alvernia, these core actions mirror our Franciscan values, our classroom practices and expectations, and the core principles for involvement in extra- and co-curricular activities.

In the next week, you will receive a letter informing you of the Outdoor Education experience for all Year 8 students from 6 to 8 May.  This experience is a significant event for the development of personal and social competence, intercultural understanding, sustainability awareness and action, and critical and creative thinking.  Therefore, these three days are compulsory, as they provide a real-world context for promoting the 3 Rs for well-being and personal growth: resilience, relationships, and reflection.   It is through working together, in a different setting, that students make meaningful connections with each other and their teachers; they have the opportunity to challenge themselves through familiar and unfamiliar experiences to problem solve, take initiative, and build resilience; they free themselves of technology and actually connect with nature, connect to, and reflect on their own feelings and their interactions with others; they learn about themselves and surprise themselves as they go beyond their comfort zone and they have an opportunity to contribute to another person’s wellbeing.  All of these experiences build self-esteem, belonging, and their skill set.  Yes, girls will be challenged, but the real significance is in the learning - not the liking- so that our students develop optimum strategies for mental, physical, social, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual wellbeing – for now and their future.

Should you have any questions about the Year 8 Outdoor Education experience, or any other matter pertaining to Year 8, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you in anticipation of your support in ensuring your daughter attends camp, and for the preparation you will undertake to enable her to learn and grow.

Conversation Starters

What did you learn about yourself last year at camp?

In what way would you like to challenge yourself and grow at this year’s Outdoor Education experience?

How can you be proactive, if you have any concerns about the upcoming outdoor education experience?

Jeni Barlow