Wellbeing News

Respectful Relationships

At SMDP we value and explicitly teach our students the importance of developing and maintaining respectful relationships with each other. This year, we have continued to consistently embed the Respectful Relationships Education into our weekly curriculum and support the students in developing their social and emotional skills.

The teachers from Prep to Six have given feedback that the students have really enjoyed participating in the Respectful Relationships lessons, and they have had opportunities to develop their ability to express their feelings and understand their emotions.

Some of our students would like to share their experience of Respectful Relationships this year:

‘Something I have enjoyed was to physically tell someone how I feel and to share different coping strategies. During lockdown if I didn’t have these strategies, I don’t think I would have survived as well’. (Dale, Grade 6) 

‘Something I have enjoyed during Respectful Relationships is that emotions are all around us and that you can experience more than one at a time. During lockdown I used multiple coping strategies to keep me motivated and do my work, as well as using self calming strategies’. (Chagai, Grade 6) 

‘I liked when we had google meets and talked about our emotions during remote learning, it helped me alot. Next year for high school I will definitely use the shifting strategy as well as self calming activities. During lockdown I used many coping strategies from Respectful Relationships’. (Bella, Grade 6) 

‘In Respectful Relationships we get to share and talk about feelings with talking teddy. We learnt how to name different feelings like happy, sad, angry, infuriated, scared and worried’. (Sofia, Grade P/1S) 

We hope our families have enjoyed the opportunities to learn about Respectful Relationships Education this year via our newsletter and even during remote learning on our school page. Respectful Relationships will continue to be a strong focus for us in 2022. 

Kathy Blythe 

Student Wellbeing Leader