The Peer Support Program will be in operation again next year. It provides students with a supportive, fun and engaging environment where young people can develop understanding, skills, attitudes and strategies to improve their mental, social and emotional wellbeing. The module students will participate in has an anti-bullying focus entitled: Strengthening Our Connections. It is designed to equip young people with the skills to deal proactively with life experiences.  

Year 7 students will meet in small groups every week for eight weeks. Sessions will run for 40 minutes and during this time students will work through activities from the module. Briefing and debriefing sessions, led by teachers, take place before and after each session. Trained Year 10 Peer Leaders, supervised by a teacher, facilitate the sessions. Training of these volunteers continued this week.  

The Peer Support Strengthening our Connections Module aims to encourage positive behaviours in students, such as gratitude, respect and kindness. This module offers an approach to reduce and respond effectively to negative behaviours, including bullying, both face to face and online by:

• encouraging students to discuss behaviours that make themselves and others feel good and help everyone reach their potential

• helping students navigate the challenges that can and do arise in relationships

• identifying and responding appropriately to a range of harmful or hurtful behaviours.    

This month on SchoolTV - Mindfulness  

Over the last decade, mindfulness has been slowly rising in popularity with many individuals practising it on a regular basis. Evidence based research has found that there are many benefits to mindfulness which has prompted schools across the nation to implement this practice into their daily routines.  

Mindfulness can be described as attention training for your brain, enabling you to focus on something without judgement and to stimulate curiosity. Mindfulness can be practised in a number of ways and is something that can be done by everyone - no matter what your age! It has been practised by many cultures around the world, but it is not exclusively affiliated to any particular philosophy or religion.  

Mindfulness helps improve memory, engagement and performance. Its positive effect on the brain can improve immunity, mental wellbeing, learning ability, emotional health and even, time management. It is especially important in this era of information overload as our attention is constantly being pulled in many directions making us more distracted.  

In this edition of SchoolTV, parents can learn the best way to introduce mindfulness to their children, implementing it into their daily lives to have an overall positive impact on family relationships. We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this month’s edition and we always welcome your feedback.  

If you have any concerns about your son, please contact his Formation Leader for further information.  

For further details please select the following link to this month’s edition on SchoolTV – Mindfulness.

Ilona Welch
Acting Leader of Student Wellbeing