Principal Team Report

At Koonung, we have identified some key values which we believe can form the basis of a strong framework for life. At school these values are often explored with examples of how they can be demonstrated in our learning and interactions both within the classroom and out in the community. Many conversations and Professional Learning workshops have been had with staff as to what this means for us. If our young people leave us understanding the impact of endeavour to achieve excellence, the power of collaboration, creativity, resilience and respect they will be able to navigate a challenging world.

Is resilience the key to student success?

How to promote resilience in our students is a hot topic in education and health at the moment and for a good reason.

Resilience is the ability to cope with negative life events and challenges. It has been described as the capacity to ‘bounce back’ from difficult situations and persist in the face of adversity.

Developing resilience in young people is considered by many as the antidote to the epidemic of mental ill-health across our society today.

The rate of students with anxiety and depression is of growing concern (Sawyer et al, 2000; Mission Australia, 2009) and schools have a role with parents and families to contribute to healthy student attitudes and self-awareness.

There are some specific ways teachers can promote mental health and resilience in students and we have been working through these as a staff to understand the impact and power of our interactions. Increasing student engagement and building student self-regulation and understanding of their own learning is a key component of our strategic plan. It is important to support the building of strong relationships between students and staff and students and their peers. Recent student forums run by our SRC and student leadership gathered student thoughts on motivation and the ways we can improve autonomy and agency for our students. This feedback was presented to staff with strategies to implement in classrooms.

The curriculum in Positive Classrooms and presentations in assemblies are aimed at improving peer relationships by explicitly teaching skills of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making. We are aiming to foster positive emotions by building a sense of pride and belonging within the school. School connectedness is a strong protective factor for health and academic outcomes for all students. The positive anticipation for Koonung Day which has been organised and planned by students and teachers together should generate excitement and connection. The recent discussion and planning for the new building project also was valuable and a means to collect student thoughts and input into the future of the school. Another important element in increasing resilience is to give young people an opportunity to contribute to others. This gives meaning beyond themselves. Engaging our students with the local and global community, through programs like World Challenge, Rotary, mentoring at local Primary schools, The World’s Greatest Shave etc are powerful means to developing empathy and understanding. Working towards worthwhile goals increases students sense of wellbeing which impacts positively on student achievement.

As always, developing our young people is a partnership. As a parent, carer, or significant adult, you can help to develop essential skills, habits and attitudes for building resilience at home by helping our young people to:

Build good relationships with others including adults and peers

This can be done by spending quality family time together and supporting young people to engage with others in social settings and within co-curricula activities. Support young people to effectively manage social media and their use of technology. They need to understand the impact of comments and identify truth from fiction on the internet. Words hurt and digital reputations are hard to manage.

Develop independence

Give them responsibility and trust them to achieve the task, be it success at school, applying for a part time job etc. If they don’t step up eg by bringing the right equipment to school or being prepared for a challenge, allow them to experience the consequences of disappointment or failure and discuss the plan for next time. These situations are opportunities for learning and growth.

Learn to Problem solve

Talk to young people about how they might address a problem, rather than rushing in to solve the problem for them. Try to model 'healthy thinking' when facing challenges of your own. You can do this by demonstrating calm and rational problem-solving when something doesn’t go as expected.

Understand, express and manage their emotions

Being resilient is not always about feeling better or having fewer emotional reactions. It’s about managing and responding to emotions in a healthy and positive way. Adults play a role in helping young people articulate, respond to and manage emotions.

Develop a positive Mindset

Foster positive self-talk, self-compassion, and a sense of optimism.

If the self-talk is negative – for example, “I am no good at Maths, help them reframe their self-talk to something like, “Maths isn’t my favourite thing, but I’ll be able to cope if I practice and seek help when needed. Homework club may be good”.

Identify that difficult times are a part of life, that everyone experiences challenges and unpleasant situations.

Build confidence by encouraging challenge

Promote a healthy attitude of ‘having a go’. Young people learn through trial and error and they need to learn how to tolerate failure when it occurs. Not managing this can leave young people vulnerable to anxiety and lead to them giving up when challenged rather than persevering. It may also limit attempting new experiences which could deny them great opportunities.

Together we can work to support our young people, they are achieving wonderful things in many forums. Giving them the confidence to try, fail and pick themselves up under adversity is a powerful tool for learning and life. Speaking of wonderful things; The Spring Music Concert will be held next week which will be a great celebration of the performing arts. Two of our students Henry Andrew and Andy Ma have been selected to perform in the upcoming “State School’s Spectacular”. They are currently participating in a rigorous rehearsal schedule culminating in performances at Melbourne Arena on September 14. The beautiful Koonung Trail Mural has been mounted at the front of the school ready for an official opening and Paul Hamer’s shout out in Parliament for the successful season of Legally Blond is a great recognition of excellence, endeavour, collaboration and resilience.

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Marianne Lee

Principal

Senior School

City of Whitehorse Young Person of the Month