7 minute read
Wellbeing Update
THE KRISTIN EXPERIENCE
Wellbeing at Kristin
The beginning of 2022 included starting with a new team of counsellors and the addition of a firstaider to our nursing team. These changes have enabled us to better meet the needs of our diverse student population and increasing demands related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we implemented a new referral system that makes it easy for students to self-refer and for parents to get in touch with us.
There have been other changes to our wellbeing systems, such as a new counselling notes system and the use of screening assessment tools to identify wider student issues as well as any at-risk students not being referred. We have also arranged for an external Clinical Psychologist to be available for students during school time from the ease of our on-site Wellness Centre.
From the start of this year a new Year 9 Wellbeing subject has been introduced and is being delivered by our specialist Health Teachers. This new subject is being trialled for 2022 in providing practical strategies for Year 9 students around strengthening their personal wellbeing and seeking to address topics they have identified by surveys and feedback.
All these new initiatives have received very positive feedback so far, and have resulted in an increase of students and families accessing our Wellness Centre for support. These new strategies are all vital parts of moving forward to our proactive approach to wellbeing. As we move towards a preventative model of wellness we need to ensure that our base is strong, supportive and offers a high standard of care to our community.
In addition, we have introduced two tools that will help us measure and take a proactive approach to student wellbeing this year. GoodSpace is a survey-based tool that has two purposes: firstly, to identify students who may be struggling in a number of different areas, and secondly, to help us understand the health and social issues that a year level may be struggling with. This allows us to address these concerns on a population basis – not only for this group but proactively with the year levels below as well. In 2021 this was successfully trialled with our Year 9 group; in 2022 we have extended this to all students in Year 9 and above, scheduled at different times throughout the year to assist us in managing the flow of students through our service. To date, results from Year 9 and Year 11 have been integrated into our new Year 9 Wellbeing classes and this has helped us make some modifications to our existing Year 11 Learning for Life classes. This is part of our wider whole-school strategy around expanding our wellbeing support beyond the Wellness Centre and into the classrooms and approaches and practices throughout Kristin. The implementation of a new wellbeing software platform called Orah is the second tool that will be available to all students from Year 4 upwards. We are taking part in a pilot to help develop this tool to specifically meet the needs of our unique Kristin community. Initially it will provide a ‘pulse check’ for all students. This then allows their teacher, dean and wider support team to track when students start to show a decline in an area of overall wellbeing. By identifying this early we can respond before it may worsen to become a bigger issue for the student. It also enables us to track wellbeing of the overall student population, and identify what the triggers are for declining wellbeing. This information is then used to fine-tune our wellbeing initiatives and approaches. In the long term this will integrate a parent portal to allow you to also understand what is happening for your child, and provide on tap wellbeing information to our students to assist them in building their own toolkit to manage their wellbeing on a day-to-day basis.
All of these new initiatives are part of the whole-school Wellbeing
Framework that is currently being developed, based on best practice and existing research, and will be released for community consultation as the year progresses.
As part of this whole-school approach, we continue to focus on staff wellbeing too, and ensuring that we are developing a framework and processes that enables our staff to have the resources and tools – not only to support students but also to access a high-quality support and learning for themselves.
As we continue to navigate our way through 2022 we look forward to providing our community with many opportunities to have input into our new Wellbeing Framework and the exciting associated new initiatives, while we manage the challenges that the world brings to us.
KYLIE RYAN
Kylie Ryan
DIRECTOR OF WELLBEING
EARLY LEARNING
Masterclass on Social and Emotional Development
If we take a moment to ask ourselves, what is it that we really want our children to learn and develop in this life, what would you say? Well this is a question that was asked at our latest Masterclass webinar focusing on social and emotional development presented by Barbara Watson (pictured above).
For many people it is important that their child grows and develops into a kind and understanding person, a person who is filled with happiness, who holds a fulfilment of self-worth and success in their endeavours, and a feeling of empowerment in their self-intelligence. As I thought about my own children and the children I teach, I wished for them to not only attain the attributes pointed out above, but to also hold empathy and understanding for all people, for it is this open-mindedness that will allow our children to hold a perspective of the beauty of the difference in each individual they meet and an understanding of living in harmony. During this webinar, I was delighted to be reminded of an interesting Otago University study. This study followed the lives of 1,037 babies born between 1 April 1972 and 31 March 1973. Part of their findings (still ongoing) found that children who had developed strong emotional regulation and social competencies at age four were very likely to have a successful future regarding the aspects I mentioned previously, particularly in relationships and work life. For me, this highlighted the importance of supporting our children in developing these skills early, and the impact that we have as parents, caregivers and teachers on the future of our tamariki. To all of our relief, Barbara was able to shed light on how we can support our children in developing socially and emotionally. She shared some examples of moments when the world can come crumbling down, and your child is upset or angry. It is in these
crumbling moments that we should see teachable opportunities in the development of their emotional needs. Here we can talk about emotions. Understanding emotions is the first step towards self-regulation. We should encourage children to name their feelings and what caused them – “I can see that you are frustrated”. You can help your child find appropriate ways to react to strong emotions. There is a range of breathing techniques you can use, or simply supporting your child in knowing that reading a book or building with LEGO® can be calming. It is OK to feel angry, but it is what we do with that anger that is important. Be patient – it is a learning curve for both the child and the parent as we navigate the complexities of EQ . Barbara asked us to explicitly model self-regulation; this can be achieved by engaging your child in unpacking some of the emotions they may have experienced. This can be accomplished through reading books or role-modelling and is best achieved during calm times of your child’s day, not within the emotional episode. One of the biggest takeaways from this Masterclass can be applied to our everyday life for every child. Always remember … "Don't do “don’t do for your child what they can for your child do for themselves”. This can be from carrying their own bag, to resolving what they can do small conflicts and disagreements with their peers. These small acts can for themselves". empower your child to be independent, competent and to feel important and
BARBARA WATSON listened to. It will help them to develop an understanding and awareness of others and will provide them with opportunities to develop perseverance and self-pride in their personal achievements. It is our job to empower all children to have the skills to build a kinder tomorrow.
