Student Wellbeing

Over the past few weeks, we have taken the opportunity to celebrate ‘R U OK?Day’ and ‘Wear it Purple Day’ here at KWS. Raising awareness is a vitally important goal for our Wellbeing program, both in the sense of better understanding one’s self (self-awareness), but also through our improved understanding of the lives and feelings of others (empathy, our feature topic for Term 4). Self-awareness and empathy are key attributes of heightened emotional intelligence, which is strongly linked to a successful career (as outlined here) and is thus a key area of focus for the School.

As a school of the Uniting Church, it is important that we celebrate diversity and look to include all students within our community. Thanks to the hard work of our Year 11 Williams Mentor Group, a sea of purple and rainbow (as purple seems a challenging colour for many wardrobes!) was awash throughout the student population in late August. This was a fantastic first step in ensuring our LGBTQIA+ students and families feel included at KWS, and in raising the awareness of the challenges they face.

Similarly, it was fantastic to see so many students from K-12 showcasing ‘a splash of yellow’ as we learnt what more there is to say after R U OK? Whilst we know that we should always be checking in on each other, it can be easy to become caught up in our own lives, particularly so in 2020 with the year that has been. As part of the day, students practised and engaged in conversations to inquire on how others were travelling. I include the guidelines for such discussions below and would encourage you all to reach out to someone you have not spoken to in a while to see if they are indeed okay.

As this article suggests, a key skill in raising one’s awareness is learning to listen. As such, it has been great to see the SRC provide an authentic student voice to remodel our House Charity Shield Competition. Ready for re-launch in Term 4, version 2.0 will involve our new House Captains working with their Houses to choose a charity, relevant to our region, to support over the next 12 months. Whilst their support will still involve fundraising, it will now also include raising awareness of the work of that charity and commit the students of the House to meaningful community engagement. Whilst I doubt any Houses will rival the work and generosity of Chuck Feeney, I look forward to sharing their progress in the months to come.

Mr Tom Riley 

Head of Student Wellbeing