Welcome back to the beginning of the new school year. We certainly hope you had a restful break and that your son/s have come back to school refreshed and ready. As a counselling team we are excited to welcome back Mr Alessandro Digiacomo, who was here in 2016-2018 before taking leave to live in Italy for 2 years. He certainly has some stories to share about living through COVID in Europe. Certainly has made us appreciate what we have here in Australia.
Now that there are 3 Counsellors on the team, the distribution for students has slightly changed. Please refer to the following chart to determine who your son is likely to be seeing. For any new students attending the school or any new referral, the following allocation applies. If your son was already seeing a counsellor, please enquire with the counsellor about who they will now be seeing.
Mr Alessandro Digiacomo: All of Years 5 – 7
Mrs Liz Di Chiara: Years 8 and 9 --> Gallagher, Kearney, Magee and Wynne
Years10, 11 & 12 --> Brady, Healy, O’Neill and Treacy
Ms Liza Adams Years 8 and 9 --> Brady, Healy, O’Neill and Treacy
Years 10, 11 & 12 --> Gallagher, Kearney, Magee and Wynne
We would also like to draw your attention to our School Counselling Website that is full of resources, strategies, web links and our very own blog. This will continue to be updated and ideas will be shared with you throughout the year.
Year 2021: Resilience and Wellbeing
In Years 5 and 6, we have launched an evidence-based program that provides students with practical strategies to help them develop their resilience and build their happiness. The main guiding principles of the program are gratitude, empathy and mindfulness with a strong focus throughout on emotional literacy.
It has been developed by professionals and has been delivered in many schools across Australia. Students will discuss a wide range of topics, including but not limited to, the following:
Positive vs negative thinking
Supporting my strengths
Regulating emotions
Positive self-talk
The program meets many Literacy and Personal Development/Health outcomes and will be embedded in the current curriculum.
For the Year 7 students, we have recently conducted a general wellbeing survey adapted from ReachOut.com as a way for us to gather information on how our new Year 7 students are coping. We will use this information to gain a better understanding of the cohort in general, plus giving us an opportunity to check in with individual students regarding any concerns raised.
Overall, the following results stood out the most:
They are generally quite positive about coming to school
They want to improve their time management skills
They are learning how to tackle exams, assignments and schoolwork
Getting good grades and their parents being proud of them are strong motivating factors to do well in school
Most students feel like they can talk to someone about their problems. We remind you that if your children need to talk to someone at school or if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the School Counsellors
They don’t like gossip, rumours or people talking behind their backs
Most students are using more than two forms of social media
We will now use this information to help your children tackle some of these issues. As with any transition, settling in and finding our comfort zone can take some time, however some of our students may need extra support in navigating high school, for example, managing their time, keeping up with assessments/homework, and making and maintaining respectful relationships.
We will be adding other programs in conjunction with the school’s Pastoral Care Program for Years 8 – 12 including tackling issues such as Screen Time, Drugs and Alcohol use, Resilience, Study Habits and overall Wellbeing, so make sure you keep checking the website and the school newsletter for updates and information.
Thank you for supporting us in helping your children improve their mental health and please don’t hesitate to contact us if you would like to discuss anything regarding your children’s wellbeing.
Until next time,
The Counselling Team