Pastoral Program

Dear Parents, Carers and Students of the Lalor Secondary College community,

‘People with a growth mindset know that it takes time for potential to flower.’

– Carol Dweck –

At Lalor Secondary College we are well into the implementation of a dedicated Pastoral Program. The initial program is being delivered to our Year 7 and 8 students. At Lalor we are always looking at ways to strengthen the educational outcomes of our students. Despite the earnest efforts of our teaching staff, the effects of chronic stress or traumatic stressors still impact child development and classroom learning every day.

With the introduction of the Berry Street Education Model to all staff last year (2019) we are seeing the positive impact in our teaching and learning programs across the College. The Pastoral program is a multi-faceted program. The program has been designed with the following principles in mind:

· Strong Relationships matter: The relationship between students and teachers matter as students learn best from teachers they love and respect.

· Dual-purpose is our aim: We believe that every lesson can teach academic content and also provide psycho-education (educational principles based on positive psychology).

· Visible learning and stamina for academic growth: Both a paramount towards students’ own understandings of their daily successes when developing a growth mindset.

· Psycho-education is self-education: All students must have the opportunity to understand themselves and how they learn. All students learn best once they learn about themselves.

Our focus for all students during Term 1 has been to gradually introduce the key ideas around how our body impacts upon our abilities to learn. Topics discussed have included but not limited to the following key themes:

· De-escalation (What is stress?)

· Present, Centred, Grounded (Learning to focus on your breathing)

· Self-regulation (Being ready to learn)

· Mindfulness (Be aware of your surroundings)

With the current COVID-19 crisis and the move to a flexible and remote teaching and learning model, our Pastoral program has been keen to provide activities for our students that promote health and wellbeing. As such, a web-based platform was quickly developed that would enable staff and students to have ready access to a suite of activities such as professional readings, videos and Ted talks that would promote wellbeing not only for our Year 7 & 8 students but also our larger online community at Lalor Secondary College.

All members of our community are welcome to browse the Pastoral Activities that Promote Wellbeing web page at their convenience. See the link below: http://wellbeingactivities.global2.vic.edu.au/

Take a moment to discuss some of these ideas with your child to get a better insight of what is being taught in the Pastoral program.

If there are any questions or enquiries regarding the Pastoral program, please contact our Assistant Principal Mr Timothy Cottrell on (03) 9463 7300