Wellbeing Strand Update

SOC2035, our Strategic Vision states that education must do more than simply prepare young people for the world of work; we need to equip students with the skills and attributes they require to become active, responsible and engaged citizens.

GOAL:
Implement a framework that positively impacts students’ and staff wellbeing.

2021 allowed the College to reflect and refine its Wellbeing Framework to better meet the needs of our evolving community.

Supporting the wellbeing of young people is not a revolutionary idea in schools. For a long time, we have understood and prioritised the wellbeing of our learners. This has typically been through reactionary interventions, such as the work of School Psychologists and Counsellors.

Increasingly, educators are researching and implementing programs and initiatives aimed at explicitly developing and teaching the skills of wellbeing. This enables students to positively influence their wellbeing and develop strategies for working through the inevitable challenges along the way.

The science of wellbeing tells us that we process information emotionally before we can process it cognitively and that improved positive emotion leads to cognitive change. This includes broader attention span, increased working memory, enhanced verbal fluency and heightened creativity and engagement. This illustrates the connection between wellbeing and learning outcomes.

Refreshed Wellbeing Framework Launched

Recently our Pastoral Leaders have been collaborating on a refreshed Wellbeing Framework, to be implemented across Elphin and Penquite campuses in 2022. The Resilience Project (TRP) will continue to provide a proactive intervention to support the wellbeing of students and, for that matter, staff. Additionally, there will be reduced pastoral group sizes across Penquite campus and the addition of a Middle School Counsellor to the Wellbeing Team.

In Senior School there will be a maximum of 15 students from Years 9 and 10 or 11 and 12
working with a Mentor throughout their senior years, reducing the size of these groups by around half. This will allow Mentors to build meaningful relationships with the students under their care. In Middle School, students will have fewer core teachers and the link between learning and wellbeing will be supported through one of these core teachers also mentoring a class within each year level.

At the Elphin campus a new role has been created to support the Social and Emotional needs of our younger learners. The Social Emotional Learning Coordinator will work with the Deputy Head of Junior School to promote the wellbeing of Junior School students and build links through the curriculum.

Ultimately, our objective is to build people of good character who are resilient, that experience positive emotion in their lives and can achieve in their academic learning. The College’s refreshed Wellbeing Framework will support this objective into the future.