End of Term 2

Student Services

It’s been a very busy and rewarding 2nd Term in Student Services. Our Learning and Support team have been kept busy as our students prepared for Naplan and end of semester assessment tasks. From a welfare perspective, a number of support groups have been coordinated through our chaplaincy service such as Shine and Strength. These have been very successful programs and have focused on the socio-emotional development of our Stage 4 students. Our Boys BBQ also is proving to be very popular with both staff and students and I would like to thank Dan Rogers for facilitating this great event.

 

Last Friday, our students had a wonderful day at Gosford High School participating in the annual NAIDOC celebrations.  A range of cultural activities including Aboriginal dance, craft and cooking were on offer. Students had the opportunity to visit the GHS new Aboriginal garden and gain an insight into traditional bush tucker. Our students were proud representatives of our school. They demonstrated enthusiasm and were great role models for the younger members of our Gosford Learning Community.

 

The Year 8 Wellbeing Day has a great success last Thursday. I’d like to thank the Year Adviser, Julie Starkey, for working very hard to create a great day that focussed on positive mental health.  The day concluded with a professional drama performance from Brainstorm Productions for both Year 7 and 8 called Cyberia. This performance had a social media focus.

 

The Year 7 Wellbeing Day will occur on 5 August. Thanks to Cassandra McLennan for her organisation of this event.

 

The Resilience and Wellbeing Team have been working tirelessly to implement 3 fantastic new initiatives this term. They are:

 

  • A new rewards system called VIVO. Vivo Rewards are used to enhance, complement and enrich lessons. Vivos can be assigned to the whole school, classes or individuals. At our first VIVO assembly our students were very excited to receive their chosen rewards. I would like to congratulate Michael Mellish for his work in getting this initiative up and running and we look forward to celebrating diverse student achievement and citizenship in the coming months.
  • Last Wednesday our female students in Years 9-12 viewed the Embrace documentary. Embrace is a feature film and is told from the point of view of the filmmaker, Tarryn Brumfitt, as she traverses the globe talking to experts, women in the street and well-known personalities about the alarming rates of body image issues that are seen in people of all body types. Embrace had its world premiere at the 2016 Sydney Film Festival, where it made it into the festival directors’ top 5 picks and was nominated for the Documentary Australia Foundation Award for Best Documentary. Our girls were thoroughly engaged with this film and insightful discussion was held after the film to unpack the issues raised. https://bodyimagemovement.com/embrace/   

 

Students as Lifestyle Activists (SALSA) The SALSA program is a peer-led educational intervention to motivate school students to make healthier lifestyle choices and is a partnership program with Sydney University, Central Coast Health Promotion Unit and our school. We are the first school on the Central Coast to introduce this program and have received an initial sponsorship from the CC Health Promotion Unit of $800.The broad aims of the SALSA program are to promote healthy eating patterns and regular physical activity in an engaging, fun and supportive school environment. We now have Year 10 Peer Leaders trained in SALSA and they are currently delivering the SALSA content to all Year 8 classes. This term our Year 10 leaders have also developed action plans which aim to improve the health and wellbeing of our school community. In the coming months they will work with the student body and the P & C to increase healthy menu choices in our canteen. This initiative supports the guidelines of the new DoE Healthy Canteen Strategy. Well done Year 10!  

Over the next term the following wellbeing programs will also be delivered across the school:

  • Top Blokes-12 boys from Yr 9 will be participating in the Junior Top Blokes Mentoring Program facilitated by the Top Blokes Foundation. This involves 16 workshops on cyberbullying, risk taking and peer pressure, mental health, healthy relationships, masculinity, anger management, leadership and teamwork and building stronger relationships with teachers. This is a fully funded program and again we are the first school on the Central Coast to offer it.   

 

  • Managing the Bull is a 6-week course that builds resilience in bullied teens through games, activities and discussions. In a safe, supportive environment, participants will learn to recognise bullying, discover inner strength, build self- esteem, communicate effectively, deal with cyber-bullying, build support networks and use personal protection plans.

From myself and the Student Services staff, have a relaxing and safe holiday

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs Tracy Smith - Head Teacher Student Services