Student Wellbeing

Social and Emotional Learning

We use The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships learning materials, which have been designed to develop students’ social, emotional and positive relationship skills. Efforts to promote social and emotional skills and positive gender norms in children and young people, has been shown to improve health related outcomes and subjective wellbeing. 

The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) learning materials cover eight topics of Social and Emotional Learning: 

• Emotional Literacy; 
• Personal and Cultural Strengths; 
• Positive Coping; 
• Problem Solving; 
• Stress Management; 
• Help Seeking; 
• Gender Norms and Stereotypes; 
• Positive Gender Relationships.

Berry Street Education Model

The Berry Street Education Model (BSEM) is a practical approach to teaching and learning that aims to support students’ self-regulation, relationships and wellbeing to increase student engagement and significantly improve academic achievement.

The Model comprises five domains: 

• BODY 
• STAMINA
• ENGAGEMENT
• CHARACTER
• RELATIONSHIP

Zones of Regulation

Feeling Zones are used to support self-regulation and emotional control. Students explore ways to safely move between zones and recognise triggers with their emotions.

There are four Feeling Zones: Blue, Green, Yellow and Red.

School Expectations and Values

Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Safe

At St Paul’s Primary we have five school values: Responsibility, Respect, Courage, Justice and Responsibility. 

Wellbeing Programs

Lunch Clubs – St Paul’s Primary offers lunchtime clubs for students to participate in when they have a special interest, having difficulty with building peer relationships in the playground or requiring some quiet organised time during playtimes. We currently offer 5 sessions per week, which may include activities such as colouring/drawing, chess, board games, Lego, gardening, organised sporting activities, looming/beading, and more.

Buddies – To help Prep students with transition into school life, we have a buddy system. Each Prep student is partnered with a Year 6 student to support each Prep child.

Student Representative Council (SRC) – Each class has two representatives to gather and share student voice and opinions on matters around our school. They meet fortnightly for SRC meetings, and alternate fortnights for class meetings.

Mini Monbulkers – Our senior leaders have the opportunity to be part of our social justice group ‘Mini Monbulkers’. They organise and run events to raise money for our local community. These events can include Colour Run, Crazy Sock Day, Sausage Sizzle, Angel Tree and many more.

Restorative Practices

Restorative practice is a whole school teaching and learning approach that encourages behaviour that is supportive and respectful. It puts the onus on individuals to be truly accountable for their behaviour and to repair any harm caused to others as a result of their actions.

A restorative approach focuses on building, maintaining and restoring positive relationships, particularly when incidents that involve interpersonal conflict or wrongdoing occur.

Understanding Restorative Practice Restorative Practice is a teaching and learning approach that promotes self regulation and encourages behaviour that is supportive and respectful. It puts the onus on individuals to be truly accountable for their behaviour and to repair any harm caused to others as a result of their actions.

When schools are restorative they:

• value quality relationships 
• model empathy and respectful relationships 
• value student voice and utilise collaborative problem solving 
• view inappropriate behaviours as opportunities for learning 
• apply procedural fairness 
• recognise the importance of repairing damaged relationships 
• separate the ‘deed’ from the ‘doer’ 
• use active listening and positive language and tone 
• avoid scolding, judging, lecturing or blaming 
• foster self-awareness in the student 
• implement consequences that are proportional and fair 
• remain future focused

They direct questions toward problem solving what needs to happen to ‘make things right’:

• What happened?
• What were you thinking at the time?
• What have you thought about since?
• Who has been affected by what you have done? In what way?
• What do you think you need to do to make things right?

Counselling

St Paul’s Primary offers a trained onsite student counsellor to support students and family. The service aims to assist our school community through one to one or group sessions. The support may include art therapy, small group student workshops, parenting workshops, mediation, phone calls with families, mindfulness, problem solving and much more.

The Service aims to:

• Provide students, their families and staff with support and or appropriate referrals in difficult situations, such as during times of grief or when students are facing personal or emotional challenges
• Support students and staff to create an environment which promotes the physical, emotional, social and intellectual development and wellbeing of all students
• Support students and staff to create an environment of cooperation and mutual respect, while promoting an understanding of diversity

Our service is available to every family within the school and offers sessions for students, parents, staff and other members of the school community as required. The program is offered to the school community with the understanding that participation is always voluntary.

Specifically, our trained counsellor:

• assists families facing personal and emotional challenges such as ‘Grief and Loss’ through death, divorce and separation, or loss of a pet
• mediates between children experiencing friendship issues, helping build self-esteem
• provides strategies for dealing with anger management and anxiety issues
• provides resources and support to parents dealing with ‘parenting issues’
• builds relationships with both children and their families, whether simply connecting through a phone call, or just being there to listen
• organises and provides meals and a support network to families, in times of personal crisis
• provides details of outside agencies to parents seeking specialised services
• presents staff with initiatives to promote Social Emotional Learning
• trains staff and parents in the principles of Restorative Practices
• builds networks with Shire groups e.g. SFYS (Student Focused Youth Services)