Wellbeing Matters

Wellbeing Matters

Paulina Skerman, Santa Sabina College Principal

The wellbeing of students, teachers and even our families has become a significant focus in schools especially in a post Covid world and it is one that cannot be ignored.

The statistics, particularly for young women who are experiencing serious mental health illness, are on the rise and sadly, these illnesses are impacting their capacity to learn and their quality of life. The Australian Wellbeing Framework speaks to the wellbeing of children and young people being enhanced and their learning outcomes optimised when they feel connected to others and experience safe and trusting relationships. According to Professor Donna Cross OAM, Emeritus Professor and Senior Honorary Fellow at the University of Western Australia and Senior Strategic Advisor at the Telethon

Kids Institute and the Chief Behavioural Advisor to the NSW government, “relationships are the number one predictor of a long and happy life.” (Cross, 2022)

“relationships are the number one predictor of a long and happy life.”

If we want our kids to be able to learn, then wellbeing matters and it cannot be reduced to a program or a guest speaker, a school psychologist or a wellbeing dog. It is all of that and more. Everything we do must be grounded in evidence based approaches and the constant upskilling of our staff in areas of health and wellbeing should be

prioritised as critical professional development that ensures ongoing learning in this aspect of schooling.

While we are certainly aware that mental health is a significant area of concern, we also turn our attention to the physical and social wellbeing of our community as well.

It sometimes feels like everyone, everywhere is stressed, anxious and overwhelmed. We hear it so often that we need to work hard to separate those who are clinically unwell from those who are having a bad day, week or month because the fact is that all of us will feel stressed, anxious and overwhelmed at times and that is a normal part of life. So, our job as educators extends beyond the delivery of the academic curriculum to helping young people and their families

recognise the difference between going through a struggle that is normal, and developing strategies to cope; while also being able to recognise those children who need referrals to medical and allied practitioners who have the skills to support them medically. If half of all lifetime mental health problems occur before the age of 14 and 75% before the age of 25, (Cross, 2022) schools must be able to recognise and support students and their families as they are likely to suffer the first episode while they are at school. We must create a school environment that protects and strengthens young people to deal with ups and downs.

Creating a school environment that prioritises students’ health and wellbeing at Santa Sabina College is a multi-faceted, systemic, whole school approach and it aims to meet the diverse needs of staff, students and families. We call our wellbeing program Santa Strong and it is embedded in our school culture and reflected in the school climate, that is in the order, safety and discipline that exists. For me and my colleagues, both the wellbeing climate and culture are important.

Every opportunity to enhance wellbeing is carefully planned and reflected in all aspects of our interactions.

Pastoral Care lessons are now offered once a fortnight following the restructure of our timetable. They are delivered by a qualified team of teachers who are able to tackle topics such as the impact of drugs and alcohol, consent education, cyber safety, developing respectful relationships and so much more.

Topics are also tailored around school data that is collected that allows for informed decision making in order to effectively meet the needs of our community. We use tools such as the Resilience Survey and surveys from the Black Dog Institute to support the collection of this information. Expert speakers such as Danielle Miller OAM, CEO Enlighten Education, are engaged to deliver specific lessons for example on body image issues or we call upon experts in cyber safety amidst others depending on the year level

and their needs.

Students who are aware of their own behaviour, who can selfregulate and deploy coping skills, are less likely to misbehave in school. From the earliest years we employ Zones of Regulation as a social and emotional learning framework. In Years 5 & 6, in our new girls’ only ‘tween precinct, Gioia House, a bespoke wellbeing program was introduced, Action Girl.

From the age of 8 research tells us that confidence begins to wane for girls, (Kay & Shipman, 2018) thus our program is developed to build confidence by encouraging girls to take action, to take risks, to learn to regulate big emotions.

Once such strategies have been developed and strengthened, they turn into essential life skills and help students to become motivated and determined to succeed. This supports our girls as we transition them across to the Secondary campus.

From the age of 8 research tells us that confidence begins to wane for girls, thus our program is developed to build confidence by encouraging girls to take action, to take risks, to learn to regulate big emotions.

We also educate parents to support their children to be healthy which has led us to develop a podcast series, The Santa Dialogues, which invites students, teachers and exstudents who are experts in their field to discuss important topics of concern. So far, we have explored the benefits of reading for good health and academic success; playing sport for a healthy life; and we are about to create our next one which will be how community service and social justice advocacy help others while helping students develop armour for good health providing perspective and agency.

Every student at our school is expected to play a part in service and social justice advocacy. Our discussions are well researched and give our students another avenue to have their say. Each podcast ends with steps to take to nurture healthy children.

Recognising the importance of having the right structures and systems in place, Pastoral Care lessons have been introduced into our curriculum. We are fortunate to have an expert Pastoral Team and this year we have expanded it to include both a Director and Dean of Pastoral Care, Heads of House and their Assistants, Psychologists, Nurses, Counsellors and a vertical House System that brings students of all year levels together every morning and during weekly Community Time. The Pastoral Team is trained to work with students, they are able to triage and work with students themselves, counselling or mediating friendship issues for example. For more targeted and specialist intervention, in the case of suicidal ideation or depression, students are referred to external medical and allied health professionals by our school psychologists. Our pastoral team is trained in Mental Health First Aid and continues to upskill at every opportunity. While their primary job is building community connections and supporting students to feel valued, they are also critical in being a first point of contact for parents concerning social and emotional issues.

Our Student Leaders and Student Representative Councils play a role in giving students voice and a new leadership structure was created to ensure students elected would be responsible for a particular portfolio.

The creation of a new prefect role responsible for Wellbeing was also initiated to give priority to activities that promote good health. A newly established group, the Principal’s Advisory Board also invites students in Years 10 and 11 to meet with the Principal twice a term and gives students another avenue to voice matters that are of concern to them and then action is taken to address their concerns. Recognising the

importance of physical activity for good mental and physical health as well as the importance of good relationships with peers, one of their first initiatives was implementing Fitness Fridays where girls wear their sports uniform to school and a whole range of fun and physical activities are on offer to get students moving, including Just Dance, teacher versus students sports games, Yoga classes to name a few. On these days the school bell is substituted by a pop song of the students’ choosing to create a more relaxed atmosphere.

Building a safe community where students feel they belong and can talk to a trusted adult or friend is paramount. In 2021, the College introduced a wellbeing dog. Casper has been coming to school since he was 10 weeks old and he is situated with me, the College Principal. His presence has made me far more approachable for our students who visit him and chat to me at lunch times about their lives but who also see me around the grounds with him and come running over to pat the dog and have a chat making me far more accessible. This is important in a large and complex school environment where a principal is unfortunately more removed from students in the daily life of the school than they might like. I have an open door policy with students, staff and families and encourage them to always feel comfortable to see me, email me or reach out if there is anything they need, big or small.

Naturally we have all of the expected policies and procedures in place to support wellbeing and safety and we employ a restorative justice approach in dealing with students who display behaviours that cause harm. In 2020 we

worked with Dr Joanne Orlando, Digital Wellbeing Specialist, to develop a Mobile Phone Policy and students, parents and staff were all consulted in this process. As a consequence, all year groups from Year 7 are able to have access to their devices for learning with teacher permission. Students from Years 10 onwards can access phones at recess and lunch on a needs basis only to check or send essential messages. We encourage our students to speak with each other face to face during recess rather than be on phones. We do not believe the constant distraction of social media ‘likes’ throughout the day is conducive to learning.

We teach our students how to be in control of their phone rather than being at the mercy of their device and wish for them to learn to use technology wisely and sensibly to minimise harm. Being aware of the correlation between technology use and mental health concerns, we encourage and create opportunities for our students to play sports, learn musical instruments, read and engage in non tech activities.

Finally, we are fortunate to own our own 97 hectare outdoor education centre, Tallong, in the Southern Highlands. Acknowledging that exposure to the natural environment promotes good health, we have identified new ways to use this space to enhance our students’ wellbeing. While it is our base for camps and retreats, we have also initiated a Health and Harmony retreat for mothers and daughters from Years 6-8 this year which will be about enhancing connections through shared activities. We have engaged adolescent health researcher and author Madonna King to speak with mothers and daughters together about issues

that matter to them. It is likely that this will become a biannual program. Alongside this retreat is the Parent Child Outdoor Adventure Weekend, which allows parents and their children to engage in a more extreme and outdoors adventure program again to strengthen relationships and take healthy risks. For our youngest children we have introduced St Dominic the Adventurer Award Program which is a outdoor adventure program for boys and girls in Years 3 and 4 which culminates in a weekend at Tallong where they put their newly learnt skills to use, hosting their parents as they build a campfire, cook the meals and take on other intrepid expeditions.

I have only touched on some of what we have put into place at Santa Sabina over the last few years to build an inclusive, healthy community. As a faith based school, our relationship with Jesus is nurtured and we promote the gospel values of faith, hope and love. Our Catholic Dominican tradition of ‘disputatio’ guides us in developing relationships with one another as we are called to listen to another’s position and respond, to understand other perspectives with respect. Not to pretend there are no differences, but to build unity.

Creating opportunities to strengthen relationships with parents, teachers and friends, while building a connected, safe and secure environment is all part of ensuring we are doing everything to create optimum conditions for good health.

We are committed to building a place where students can learn and where everyone is able to develop healthy habits for a long and happy life.

References Australian Student Wellbeing Framework (2023) https://studentwellbeinghub.edu.au/educators/framework/ Cross, Donna (2022) Promoting Healthy Technology, Mental Health Forum, Baha’i Centre of Learning Perth, Western Australia, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yilBnfY0Umo Cross, Donna (2022), Independent Schools Australia National Education Forum, Canberra Kay & Shipman (2018) The Confidence Code, Harper Collins Further Reading King, Madonna (2021) Ten-Ager, Hachette King, Madonna (2022) L-Platers, Hachette Lester, Leanne & Cross, Donna (2015) The Relationship Between School Climate and Mental and Emotional Wellbeing Over the Transition from Primary to Secondary School, article in Psychology of Well-Being Theory Research and Practice