Student Well-Being

Wellbeing refers to students’ physical, social and emotional wellbeing and development. Evidence suggests that these elements are integral rather than incidental to learning.

St Paul’s Primary School is committed to the physical and mental wellbeing of our students. Every student from Transition to Year 6 participates in regular social and emotional learning programs as part of the Curriculum. These programs are designed to improve social skills, enhance mental health and prevent bullying. The main framework used to at St Paul’s in regards to mental health and wellbeing is Kidsmatter.

Through KidsMatter Primary, the staff at St Paul’s plan and take action to be a positive community; one that is founded on respectful relationships and a sense of belonging and inclusion,which promotes:

• social and emotional learning (including evidence-based social and emotional learning programs)

• working authentically with parents, carers and families

• support for students who may be experiencing mental health difficulties.

Within the Kidsmatter framework, St Paul’s have introduced a range of programs to support children’s mental health and wellbeing.

At St Paul’s we are committed to creating a positive, safe and supportive school climate in which all students can learn and develop.  Our school has adopted an evidence based framework called ‘School Wide Positive Behaviour Support’ which has been implemented to support the behaviour of all students across all of our school settings. We have built our framework around the positive expectations of:

Respect 
Safety
Responsibility.

We believe that behaviour should be taught.  The teaching staff at St Paul’s actively teach all students about our positive expectations and encourage students to live these out in their daily interactions.  Reminders of our positive expectations are visible on flags and signs all around our school.  Students are positively acknowledged each week for enacting our school wide expectations, through the school newsletter and at assembly.​

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We believe eveyone can be a leader.

St Paul’s has a number of leadership programs to engage students and foster leadership at all age groups.  These leadership programs include:

• School Captains
• House Captains
• Student Representative Council

The Buddies Program at St Paul’s is a cross-age mentoring program, whereby the younger students are matched with upper and middle primary students for support and guidance.  Big Buddies provide Little Buddies with positive role models, make them feel valued and help them to develop a sense of belonging to the school.  Other benefits from the Buddy Program, is the increase motivation for school performance. Together students participate in activities that promote the development of social skills and fostering a love of learning.  

 
We have worked very hard to create as many spaces as possible for students to play,   explore or just relax during lunch time. These areas include the back oval for upper primary, front oval for all students, the library as a space where students can relax and play board games or read, and the courtyard area which is a calm zone for students. Throughout the year we also run lunchtime programs including: caring for our chickens and chess club.

Our school counsellor, offers a free counselling service to any students who has been referred by their parent or caregiver. Families can also attend free counselling sessions provided by Catholic Care.  

The Rainbows program provides a healthy path towards healing for those grieving a significant loss or life-altering crisis such as death, divorce, separation, adoption. The core of the program is centered on trust, acceptance and sharing. Through a culture of openness, Rainbows programs help enable participants to better understand their feelings and to begin to move towards resolving their grief.