Wellbeing
Wellbeing: One day off-timetable each fortnight for Year 12
Tim Bowden, Trinity Grammar School, NSW
ABSTRACT
Following the pandemic experiences of lock-down, we discovered that many of our senior students identified a number of benefits for their wellbeing and learning. The absence of commuting, the reduction of various school-based demands on their time, the opportunity to manage their own time, and the overall chance to slow down were all seen to have been benefits.
In addition, in light of the increased experience of remote tertiary study and the rise of work from home as a feature of professional careers led us to recognise that the capacity to self-manage productive remote study has become an invaluable life skill.
Therefore, in 2021 the timetable was reconfigured so that every second Monday is designated a ‘Focus Day’ where Year 12 students have no timetabled classes, no co-curricular obligations, and no requirement to come to School. Instead, they work from home one day in ten, managing their own workloads.This innovation, which will have been running for three years by the time of the conference, has been warmly received by students, parents and staff and has resulted in strong benefits for student wellbeing.
Cultural Projects: Bullying, Respectful Relationship and Healthy Sexuality and Student Leadership Development
Anthony Micallef, Brisbane Grammar School, Qld & David Carroll, Brisbane Grammar School, Qld
ABSTRACT
Strategically shaping culture in a school is crucial for its cohesion, growth and sustainability. The cornerstone of a quality education is underpinned by an intentional focus on high quality wellbeing which requires, first and foremost, the creation of a safe and secure environment. The introduction of three cultural programs at Brisbane Grammar School has allowed leaders in the wellbeing domain to collaborate with external leaders in associated research areas to enhance collective understanding of how a healthy and vibrant school culture is nurtured through explicit attention to: bullying, respectful relationships and healthy sexuality, and student leadership development. The external experts audited the school’s programs and practices in each of the three areas, culminating in the presentation of three reports, each providing key findings and recommendations to assist in focusing future strategic activity. The reports formed Stage 1 of our project, providing an essential evaluation of our current position in the three identified areas. Stage 2 of this cultural project focuses on developing knowledge and understanding of our wellbeing program leaders and then disseminating this new learning across the entire teaching staff. Stage 3 then turns to intentionally developing the cultural behaviours for staff, student and parents necessary to implement and underpin the school’s desired outcomes. Stage 4 involves our external experts assisting with the collection of data and evaluating the nature of our progress and degree of success in shifting cultural behaviours. All cultural projects are at a different stage, but our learning about the importance of their interconnection has proven to be critical in the implementation process.
All cultural projects are at a different stage of implementation but our learning about the importance of their interconnection has proven to be critical in the implementation process.
Addressing Wellbeing through Conservation in Action.
Jonathan Walter, Carey Baptist Grammar School, Qld
ABSTRACT
The presentation will describe the development of a 20 day immersion experience for students in Yr.10 in North Queensland where students have the opportunity to examine and respond to environmental challenges on both the Great Barrier Reef and on the Mt Zero Escapement. In Partnership with AWC students are playing an active role in re-wilding the landscape to create habitat for the endangered Northern Bettong. The program has been co-created with students playing an important role in the design and delivery over a 2 year trial and implementation phase. Critical to its success has been the disconnection from technology and the reconnection with the natural landscape and the opportunity for students to act in service of the environment. The expeditionary learning cycle builds awareness, resilience and empathy.
Redefining the ‘how’ in the classroom - Firbank’s 7 Principles of Practice. They define a shared language of learning across the entire school, weaving Wellbeing into learning.
Jenny Williams, Firbank Grammar School, Vic
ABSTRACT
The 7 Principles of Practice are used from ELC -Year 12 at Firbank Grammar School in Melbourne. The Principles were introduced in 2021 to engage the entire school community in a shared language of learning. They guide staff and students in how to approach learning, encouraging the creation of joyful and impactful learning environments.
Background
The Firbank Strategic Intent developed by describing the why of the school, stating the school Vision and Purpose. The next stage was articulating the what of Firbank, by using 4 Pillars of student achievement, wellbeing, strong community and sustainability, 5 Values – compassion, courage, integrity, curiosity and respect and 6 Domains which describe the skills and attributes essential for success in the world of today. The final step was to develop how learning should happen, which led to the 7 Principles of Practice. Learning is at the heart of everything in the school, so being able to describe the conditions that can maximise learning in and outside the classroom was essential – the ‘how’ of teaching and learning. An important belief underpinning their development was how wellbeing is intrinsically interwoven into learning.
The Principles
Firbank Middle Leaders worked together during 2020, with leadership from expert Sophie Specjal, to develop the principles. Feedback from other staff and from students was sought and incorporated into the final product.
Each principle has a robust research base that brings together teaching, learning and wellbeing for all. In 2022 to make the Principles visible, a series of audio and visual resources were developed accessible for all staff. Together with external coaching and focused and explicit dialogue across ELC to Year 12, the series helps to shape the ongoing development of a language of learning across the school. The presentation will include sharing the story of the 7 Principles of Practice and the alignment with the school vision, mission and values. Participants will discover how the Principles were developed and engage in understanding the specific intent of each one. They will be challenged to think how learning is constructed and how the 7 Principles could be reshaped for their context.
The positive impact to staff wellbeing from engaging a mental health clinician, weekly, who provides both clinical supervision and mental health professional learning opportunities.
Michele Wakeham, Gippsland Grammar School, Vic & Mykelle Ramsay, Latrobe Regional Hospital, Vic
ABSTRACT
The burden on teachers and school staff is constantly increasing with such things as Covid-19, limited staffing, increase in childhood challenging behaviours and mental health conditions, ever growing demands in and out of the classroom, potential negative workplace culture and community expectations. This is having a direct impact on staff resulting in job dissatisfaction, burnout, reduced capacity to create supportive student-teacher relationships, absenteeism, increase in rates in teachers experiencing mental health issues, lower retention of staff and decreased recruitment. The support services for staff both internal and externally to organisations can often be lacking, as is in the example that we will be presenting. A regional private school located in Victoria, Australia has been experiencing all these deleterious circumstances in addition to a complex leadership upheaval, which has developed damaging outcomes as described above. The current programs the school offered staff were Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and collegial support. To better care for the staff and improve their health and wellbeing the writers came together (as acting principal at the time, and a mental health nurse) to create a plan to provide a similar program to Clinical Supervision as is offered to Mental Health Nurses, as provided by the mental health nurse writer. This one-on-one time gives the staff an opportunity to talk to an individual external to the school and with no bias and provide strategies and suggestions that may be appropriate for each person, in addition to group education to improve team relationships and workplace culture. The response and engagement in this program has increased over time and the impact on staff wellbeing has been measured and extremely positive. We would like to share our programs and findings to encourage further offerings of this kind in Australian schools.