Wellbeing
This Term has seen many of our external providers back into the school to give our students access to some wonderful skill building.
Top Blokes Program Term 2.
This term, ten Year 10 boys have had the opportunity to participate in the men’s mental health and wellbeing program. Program facilitators Dan Allars and Aaron O’Driscoll have been running the program every Friday morning for the past 10 weeks. The boys have had the opportunity to build skills in building resilience, harm minimisation strategies and overall wellbeing in a safe and supportive environment. The boys look forward to meeting with Dan and Aaron each week as male mentors they will have access to beyond the program. The date of graduation is Week 9 24th June where the boys will celebrate their successful participation with a meal and award ceremony. Keep an eye on our social media pages for photos of the event. We look forward to running another program in Term 3. If your child is interested, please contact Mrs Da Silva to nominate.
For more information please visit: https://www.topblokes.org.au/
PCYC Perfect Prescence Program:
A BIG welcome to PCYC Youth workers Lucy and Brandy who are running the Perfect Prescence Program (PPP) this term. The PPP is an innovative program aimed at supporting young people to engage in their school community as happy responsible, and respectful citizens. Grounded in the principles of promoting Growth Mindset and instilling STAR Values: resilience, commitment, integrity, respect, and citizenship.
This program provides a range of experiential learning activities aimed to develop emotional intelligence, and cognitive engagement to reconnect students with a sense of belonging, self-awareness, self-belief, and learning. At KKHS we are running 2 groups across the week for Year 8 and Year 9. Both groups get 1 full day of practical workshops and a 1: 1 mentoring session the day following the group session. Group sessions covered include:
• Growth Mindset to encourage passion, perseverance, and resilience.
• Mindfulness to encourage a holistic approach to physical, mental, social and emotional wellbeing
• Physical Fitness and Creative Arts to encourage physical and mental resilience.
• Nutritional Learning (Food & Mood) to boost mood and overall wellbeing.
• Focus on Building Resilience and Life Skills
• Focus on Re-engagement and Learning Strategies
• Focus on Job Ready Skills for our Yr 9 and 10 students.
We are pleased to see vast improvements in the students engaged in the program and we will be offering the program in Term 3 for stage 4 and 5 students. Students who have been part of the program in Term 2 have had increases in their attendance on program days and a reduction in negative incidents with increases in positives.
YES Program
Every Tuesday we have had the opportunity for Niamh Walpole a senior Youth worker from Cessnock Youth Centre and Outreach service (CYCOS) run the YES program for any interested First Nations girls. YES stands for Yarn, Engage and Succeed and the program uses physical activity and practical strategies like art making for students to connect with other students in building cultural awareness and connection, creating a safe space to talk about the importance of aspiration and goal setting. The program has been very successful that it will continue next term and beyond.
CYCOS are strong partners of the school and often run programs afterschool and in school holidays. For more information on what programs CYCOS are running in please seek and follow on Instagram and Facebook using links below:
For all Wellbeing programs offered for our students please see graphic below outlining all the ways we can support your child :
WELLBEING LESSONS Term 2:
In years 9 and 10, students have been participating in activities looking at Stress management and building mental Fitness using the Black dog Insititute Bite Back program. Students have been engaging in self-reflective activities and a variety of practical activities that evaluate personal stressors and help expose students to the variety of ways they can manage stress. This term students have really enjoyed making Stress balls as a way to learn something new and walk away with an easy tool to help manage tension they can find where a fidget tool can help redirect negative thinking and tension.
Next Term is our R U OK? Day Term where students will be working towards at group projects aimed at building awareness in suicide prevention and skill building in communication. Students will be working in class groups to contribute to our annual R U OK? Day celebrations.
Coming up in TERM 3
We are fortunate to have all the programs previously reported on running again next term with the addition of the Youth Aware of Mental Health (YAM) program, which is targeted for all our Year 10 students. Permission notes will be emailed home outlining what the program is about specifically, and parents/carers will have the opportunity to OPT OUT if you do not wish for your child to participate. YAM is developed and endorsed by the Department of education to support the wellbeing of students through the implementation of an evidence based mental health and suicide prevention. Of the suicide prevention programs explored, YAM has the strongest evidence for reducing suicide attempts and ideation and facilitating help-seeking among young people. This universal program provides a safe space for young people to talk about mental health and consider different ways to manage everyday life challenges. Role plays, group activities and presentations are used to build knowledge, promote increased discussion about mental health and develop emotional intelligence and problem-solving skills.
Programs Parents/Carers can access to support your Teens
Maitland Headspace
Blackdog institute
Parent Programs from the Butterfly foundation
Let's Talk Body Image in Boys - Information for parents, explores the particular challenges facing pre-teen and adolescent boys and strategies for supporting body image in males.
Download event flyer here.. BOOK NOW
DATE: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
TIME: 7 - 8.15pm AEST, via Zoom
FREE: Offered as part of Body Kind celebrations!
Let's Talk Body Confident Children and Teens, designed to help parents support the development of positive body image and healthy behaviours in children of all ages and genders.
Download event flyer here.. BOOK NOW
DATE: Monday, 12 September 2022
TIME: 7 - 8.15pm AEST, via Zoom
FREE: Offered as part of Body Kind celebrations!