Student Wellbeing 

Student Wellbeing News

Martial Arts Therapy

M.A.T is a fun and interactive program that is intended to help students develop resilience and understand how to manage their emotions. It combines the basics of behaviour management with principles of traditional martial arts.

Some of the things it covers are:

• Self Awareness
• Self management
• Social awareness
• Social management

Student Experience

My name is Grayson Leon, I am 11 years old and I am in grade 6. I attended the M.A.T program and absolutely loved it.

In my short experience in this program, I have found it a rather intriguing one.

While short (and not to mention fun), it was a memorable one. We not only learnt martial art skills, but also everyday life skills as well. My teacher was very helpful and supportive of all of us participating in the program, and all in all, the M.A.T

Before doing M.A.T I would get frustrated and distracted easily and I was not a very calm person.

During M.A.T I learnt how to stay focused and how to stay fit. The environment enabled me to learn significantly because I found it very calming.

The activities I did were warm ups, stretches, push-ups, sit ups, dodging the noodle and breaking boards.

My favourite task was dodging the noodle because it taught me the importance of perseverance and being prepared for whatever comes my way.

Guy was the instructor and he was really kind and friendly. One thing that impacted me positively was learning about the importance of mind over matter.

Guy taught me that the biggest challenges we face are in our mind. His words “If you believe you can’t you wont, if you think you can you will” really resonated with me. 

Now that I have finished M.A.T I can say that I am a calmer person and I have become better at staying focused. I feel as though I have more control over my emotions because I don’t get easily frustrated with my siblings and with my friends. I now think about my actions before I respond to something.

I strongly recommend the M.A.T program because I’ve learnt so much about myself and I have developed a sense of resiliency. My advice to those that want to do this program is that make sure you have fun and enjoy all the activities but most importantly go in with an open mind because this program will provide you with skills that you can apply to your life.

National Day of Action against Bullying & Violence 2019

The National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence was held over a whole week this year, with co-ordinated classroom lessons and activities like circle time during the week. It culminated with some fantastic lunch time displays and entertainment on Friday 15 March. 

This year we were among at least 5,726 schools nationwide participating in this very important awareness raising event. Our students were part of the 2.4 million students involved in a really positive way to raise awareness about the importance of stopping bullying and being active bystanders.  Students learned that being a proactive bystander can lessen bullying significantly!  

The ‘No Bully’ group visited during lunch time and organised games and music. As part of the day students and staff were encouraged to wear odd coloured socks to school to visibly show their support for the anti-bullying theme!  Some anti-bullying wallet cards and wrist bands were given out, and displayed outside for all to see was the magnificent photo wall of students seriously taking a stand! (see photo below which is now situated in the main building foyer for all to see).

Our thanks go to Liza Hoang, Phuong Bui, Seral Fehmi and to the students.

By Josie Mitchell, Secondary School Nurse