Schoolwide Positive Behaviour

Koonung Secondary College Values Highlight - Resilience

At Koonung, we want all students to become the well-rounded people we expect them to be. This means that they represent all the school values (Collaboration, Creativity, Endeavour, Excellence, Resilience, and Respect) in their time at the College. In this week’s newsletter, the value of Resilience will be highlighted to demonstrate how this looks at Koonung, how students can demonstrate this value, and how parents can engage in conversations about resilience with their child.

The definition of Resilience is “to withstand or recover quickly from difficulties”. However, at Koonung, this value can be displayed in a wide range of ways:

In our classrooms and learning spaces: Students can display resilience by persevering with work even when they may find it difficult, and learning from mistakes in their work. For some students, resilience can also mean attending their classes if they have missed extended periods of school. This demonstrates the ability of the student to acknowledge their difficulty, and learn from the experience.
In the College grounds: Students can display resilience by taking responsibility for their actions, even when they know they have made a mistake, and by always trying their best, despite circumstances that make this difficult. Resilience also means reporting any concerns about negative behaviours and looking out for oneself, and others in the school.
When using IT: Students display resilience by communicating appropriately online, and by managing their use of IT despite the potential distractions that exist. Students who experience difficulties online can display resilience by reporting any concerns to their teachers or wellbeing staff.
Out in the community: Students display resilience by seeking out and taking on challenges, particularly in extra-curricular endeavours such as the musical, sporting achievements, or extra academic challenges. Resilience means that students learn from others in the community, including role-models, family, and friends.

Within the School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support model at Koonung, staff try to recognise these examples when students display Koonung’s values, including resilience. Secondary school presents many new challenges for students, and resilience means that students are able to overcome these challenges, and learn from them. The ability to surpass these challenges is bolstered by support from teaching staff, education support staff, wellbeing staff, and parents/carers. Parents and carers can engage their students in conversations about resilience by checking in with their progress both socially and academically. Additionally, it is important for students to acknowledge when they have not made the correct choices, and take responsibility for their choices. As staff, the ability for students to acknowledge their errors, and make amends for them, is a strong indication of resilience and respect at Koonung.

We are proud of the way that students at Koonung have demonstrated the value of Resilience this year at Koonung, including Year 7 students settling into Koonung and attending the school camp, our senior students rising to the challenges of VCE, VCE VM and VPC pathways, and all of our other students who continue to develop learning opportunities when faced with challenges in and outside of school.

We pass on our congratulations to all students who have demonstrated the Koonung values this year. The SWPBS team would also like to pass on particular congratulations to the following students who have received a merit certificate for consistently demonstrating the Koonung school values:

Cameron Tolliday (Year 8)
Perrin Smith (Year 8)
Alessio De Louise (Year 8)
Emily Nash (Year 8)
Illaria Stamp (Year 8)
Khattab Al Bordidi (Year 10)
Nathan Truong (Year 10)
Gary Louey (Year 11)
Harry Sencek (Year 11)

Luke Marinelli - SWPBS Communications