Positive Futures News
What is the EDSC Positive Futures program?
Positive Education brings together the science of positive psychology with best-practice teaching.
The school’s journey with Positive Education began in 2012 with Positive Education focuses and values implemented across each year level and over time has evolved into the whole school approach launched in 2020.
Our Positive Futures program has some very clear goals:
- We want to improve student quality of life and their engagement with others, including with their teachers
- We seek to develop students in a more holistic way, with a stronger focus on wellbeing
There are six tenets of Positive Psychology that are embedded into our model:
Positive Health – Positive Self
Developing knowledge, understanding and skills to promote health and well – being.
Positive Relationships
Nurturing positive relationships based on respect.
Accomplishment
Generating hope and optimism through the accomplishment of personal and community goals
Positive Emotion
Building and experiencing positive emotion.
Meaning
Believing in serving something greater than ourselves.
Positive Engagement
Developing critical thinkers by promoting challenge, curiosity and creativity.
More resources and information can be found here:
https://www.eastdonsc.vic.edu.au/wellbeing-engagement-positive-futures
Term 1 progress
We have now had a number of sessions and staff and students are starting to settle into the groove of Positive Futures.
Our focus this term is to get students engaged in The Resilience Project and becoming familiar with their core philosophy of GEM (Gratitude, Empathy, Mindfulness and Emotional Literacy). Students will be introduced to these elements by the end of Term 1 as they will feature throughout the year program.
Year 7/10 Peer Support Program
Another exciting part of Positive Futures this year is the introduction of a Peer Support Program. The Year 10 students that have volunteered to be part of this program have received training with our Mental Health Practitioner, Maddie Sill, and are looking forward to working with groups of Year 7 students through various Positive Futures sessions throughout the year.
Student Planners – Use in Positive Futures
At the beginning of the year all students received an EDSC planner that is to be brought to all classes. You may notice that there is a substantial part of the planner dedicated to the Resilience Project. This has been specifically designed as a workbook for students at all year levels to use in Positive Futures. Therefore, it is imperative that the planner is brought to every Positive Futures lesson to be used to record notes, complete activities and explore the GEM model.
If your child has lost their planner, please contact the appropriate sub school for guidance in obtaining another one.
The Resilience Project is committed to teaching positive mental health strategies to prevent mental ill-health and build young people’s capacity to deal with adversity.
Teachers and students will engage in weekly lessons and activities around the key principles of Gratitude, Empathy, Mindfulness (GEM) and Emotional Literacy to build resilience.
Check out their website for more information:
And check out TRP@HOME; a place filled with inspiration and activities for the whole family, to help improve your wellbeing and build resilience.
Refer to the attached flyer:-
The Resilience Project – Resilient Youth Survey
Resilience and wellbeing are key factors to ensure a happy and fulfilling future for our young people.
We are proud to partner with The Resilience Project to assist our students in their wellbeing journey. In order to gain an accurate understanding of our students’ strengths and challenges, we will be conducting a resilience survey developed by Resilient Youth Australia and the University of South Australia. In recent years, they have surveyed more than 500,000 Australian school students.
We will administer the Resilience Survey this year online during Positive Futures. Students typically take 30-50 minutes to complete the survey.
The data from the survey will be reported in aggregate descriptive form only, by year level and gender, and no individual student responses can be identified.
The Resilience Survey is completely voluntary and anonymous. The survey will provide valuable information to assist us to create and maintain the best culture of wellbeing and resilience that we can.
Positive Futures Book of the Week
If ever there was a time for us to be resilient, it was when a deadly virus emerged and engulfed the planet. As death rates soared and lockdowns radically altered our lives, The Resilience Project founder Hugh van Cuylenburg was one of the people Australia turned to for advice on how to cope. Under pressure to deliver good news during a historic crisis, it didn’t take long for the Melbourne-based educator to realise he wasn’t coping.
Like millions of others around the world, Hugh was forced to reassess life during the pandemic as COVID-19 undermined our sense of safety, strangled our personal connections and saw levels of happiness plunge. After taking the time to address his own feelings, Hugh recognised he was being hamstrung by the same powerful issues that affect the lives of many: shame, expectation, ego, fear of failure, the quest for perfection and control, and our addiction to social media.
In this follow-up to the bestselling The Resilience Project: Finding happiness through gratitude, empathy and mindfulness, Hugh combines powerful insight with research and his own disarming and candid storytelling to show how it is possible to create authentic connections, cope better during challenging times and rediscover joy.
Rebecca James
Student Engagement & Connection
Learning Specialist