From the Leader of Wellbeing

Fostering Connections

Now that Year 7 have settled into the commencement of the school year, the Yr 10 Amica leaders have been preparing to facilitate their first Peer Support session with their small Year 7 groups. The program had commenced earlier this week (Wednesday 17th March) of which all participants interacted within a fun filled lunchtime session. These sessions are scheduled once per fortnight through Terms 1-4 and specifically target social and emotional skill development in our younger students. It also provides an opportunity to develop leadership capacity building for our older students as they lead into the final year of Stage 5 before senior school. 

Another initiative to help establish a strong sense of connection and belonging within our Year 7 cohort, is through a range of lunchtime activities three times per week. Our aim is to provide a variety of opportunities to foster fun, interactive outlets with their peers. 

Clubs & Societies Launch

As we navigate through this challenging times, there is certainly a significant amount of research that is confirming the need for schools to create a strong sense of identity, belonging and a positive school climate. Our Marist history certainly confirms the importance of establishing ‘sisterly’ connections and is equally evident as a key dimension in our compass for Life.

We will be launching a range of lunchtime initiatives that our dedicated teachers will volunteer to facilitate each week or fortnight (depending on the activity). Please ensure that you ask your daughter to read her emails and COMPASS alerts early next week so that they can register their interest. Some of these activities will include:

• Ping Pong
• Concert band
• College Choir
• Guitar ensemble
• Japanese Anime & Manga Club
• WSU – Woolwich Student Union
• Robotics
• Marist in Action
• Science Club

We look forward to launching our Clubs & Societies in Week 6 and seeing as many girls engaging in the range of activities and challenging themselves to try something new and unfamiliar. 

My Marist Compass Goals
10 March 2021 8.30am – 7pm by ZOOM

The upcoming ‘My Marist Compass Goals’ three way interviews is a flagship event in our College calendar as it enables active conversation between all each student, parent and her Tutor. Earlier this week, all parents had received the notification that interviews that will be taking place on Wednesday 10 March 2021. This is a crucial time for each student to consider their targeted goals within the four wellbeing pillars: Learning, Physical, Social & Emotional and Spiritual. 

To support this process, all Tutors in Community time had spent time with each of their students and began the important dialogue through reflection. If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to your daughters Tutor, House Coordinator or myself. 

There are many positive attributes to the benefits of the day. Most importantly that it:

• monitors the holistic growth of each student through a learning and wellbeing lens.
• builds a greater positive connection between the Tutor/student/parent relationship
• recognises the pivotal role of each Tutor as the student advocate. 

The Sleep Connection:

Improving the health, resilience and performance of your young person

Earlier this week, we launched our first Parent Forum via zoom. Given the current COVID-19 restrictions, we were unable to have parents onsite however this certainly did not refrain from forwarding through with such a valuable forum.

Thank you  to all the parents that logged in to listen to Lisa Maltman and her practical strategies to support parents in understanding some of the signs, symptoms and tips commonly seen in our young person. The Parent Forum recording is available by clicking here. I would strongly encourage as many parents to watch this with your adolescent as a timely reminder to establish good routines at home. This will also be reinforced at school as many of the year groups will continue to engage with The Sleep Connection throughout the year.