Student  Wellbeing 

Mental Health in Schools

Hi Everyone, 

My name is Ginette D’Souza and I am SoGS Student Wellbeing Leader and Child Safety Officer. This is my ninth year at School of The Good Shepherd and I am passionate about ensuring our school is a caring and compassionate environment. I encourage open-mindedness, critical thinking from our community and that everyone is treated honestly, fairly and with respect. I work closely with Carmela D’Amato, our School Principal, to create a culture that provides a safe and supportive environment, that contributes to positive learning outcomes and the wellbeing of students, staff and the broader community.  

Education models such as Berry Street Education Model, Zones of Regulation and 4Rs(Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships) are unpacked with our students and support practices such as using zones to identify and regulate our emotions and Mindfulness practises; mindfulness strategies reinforce mind-body connections and focus on the importance of the present moment. 

In my role, I liaise with a wide variety of professional services for family support and ensure practices and protocols are aligned with national and state initiatives and SoGS Child Safety Standards Policy.  

Building and supporting strong partnerships with our parents is a key element of my role, which I enjoy thoroughly. I manage initiatives such as SoGS Parent training sessions to build our SoGS Parent Volunteer register and SoGs Kitchen volunteers. I look forward to parent’s being engaged both in the classroom and at various school events.

Managing and supporting student co-agency in school based decisions is another area of my role. I am looking forward to meeting regularly with our soon to be elected 2023 Student Representative Council, brainstorming lunchtime Social club ideas and training our Year 5 & 6 students for Peer Mediation during lunch and recess. 

A snapshot into Drawing Club!