At Essendon North Primary School, we place a strong emphasis on the social, emotional, and academic wellbeing of our students and staff. We understand the essential role schools play in providing a secure and nurturing environment where everyone can develop their social and emotional awareness, along with the skills and strategies necessary for maintaining overall wellbeing. This page provides an overview of our key Wellbeing programs at Essendon North Primary School.
The Respectful Relationships program teaches students respect, resilience, and confidence through promoting positive attitudes and behaviours.
It is taught throughout the school, with greater emphasis in Year One, Year Three, and Year Five, focusing on fostering healthy relationships and empowering students at different developmental stages. The Respectful Relationships learning materials cover eight topics of Social and Emotional Learning across all levels of primary and including: Emotional Literacy, Personal Strengths, Positive Coping, Problem Solving, Stress Management, Help Seeking, Gender and Identity and Positive Gender Relationships.
The program contributes to our positive and respectful school culture by providing students with essential social and emotional skills. Additionally, our Year Six students will explore the topics of Gender and Identity and Positive Gender Relationships, further enriching their understanding and fostering inclusivity within our school community.
The Resilience Project promotes positive mental health and wellbeing in students by teaching essential principles connected to positive emotions and mental health. The program emphasises three key principles: Gratitude, Empathy, and Mindfulness (GEM).
Integrated into our school curriculum, The Resilience Project is taught in Year Two, Year Four, and Year Six, providing a structured approach to fostering these principles at different stages of our students' educational journey.
The School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS) program is designed to create a positive school environment. An integral part of this initiative involves introducing, modelling, and reinforcing positive social behaviour.
Our school community has collaboratively created a behaviour matrix based on our three core values: Safe, Respectful and Kind. These values will consistently be integrated into our daily learning experiences, explicitly taught, and promoted throughout all areas of the school.
Each week, students participate in Health and Wellbeing specialist classes, gaining valuable insights into healthy eating, active living, and mental wellbeing. These classes not only cover the Health curriculum but also encourage connections among students through engaging games and activities. This fosters the development of social and emotional skills and boosts confidence, essential for building positive relationships.
A component of these classes also includes BluEarth teaching and learning experiences which develop the skills and behaviours required for students to maintain active living habits.
Through programs such as Respectful Relationships, The Resilience Project, School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support, and our Health and Wellbeing Specialist Classes, we're committed to providing our students with the tools and knowledge they need to be mentally healthy.
Essendon North Primary has a no tolerance to bullying approach. We adopt a whole school approach when responding to issues and continually review our Student Wellbeing and Engagement Policy, Essential Agreements and Bullying Prevention Policy so that our school delivers a safe, secure and stimulating learning environment for all students. We follow the guidelines and policies of the Victorian Department of Education and Training. Refer to the Bullying. No Way! website for further information. We promote the establishment and maintenance of healthy relationships, managing conflict with kindness and increased gratitude, empathy and mindfulness, through The Resilience Project's Education Program.
At the beginning of a new school year each home group develops an Essential Agreement, which enables students and teachers to develop a clear understanding of the agreed actions and behaviours of every member of the school community, beginning within their own home group.
Essential Agreements are co-constructed with students and agreed to by all participants. These set the tone for collaboration and teamwork and clearly outline the shared norms and expectations. Essential Agreements are also developed to provide guidelines for a range of school activities. These are inclusive of, but not limited to; specialist programs, playground behaviours, digital citizenship behaviours and staff and team expectations.
At the beginning of the year all Foundation students are allocated a Year Five student as a ‘buddy’. The buddy system operates to support children to feel comfortable and secure in their new environment and provide a familiar face out in the playground.