R U OK? Day in the Primary School
R U OK? Day was celebrated in the Primary school last Thursday, dedicating this time to inspire and empower the girls to meaningfully connect and support them in asking the question “Are you OK?”. Relationships are at the core of the success of these effective conversations about wellbeing and support, so to celebrate this important day in our Wellbeing calendar we found as much opportunity to come together and have fun!
Learning how to support their peers and talk about how they feel is an essential life skill, and one embedded into many areas of our Wellbeing and Pastoral Care Programs here at SCEGGS. The concepts and strategies explored on R U OK? Day are ones the girls regularly engage with during Form Time activities and in other explicit and imbedded areas of learning.
The girls in Years K-2 use the Kimochi program during Form Times each week to discuss elements of emotional literacy and various social skills and tools. These conversations continued on R U OK Day, where the girls began the morning exploring friendships from popular movies and tv shows, identifying some famous friends including Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story, Wilbur and Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web and Elsa and Anna from Frozen. The girls identified qualities that these characters possess and ones they share, in line with being a good friend and reflecting on different ways they can be or have been a good friend to someone. Kindergarten and Year 1 made friendship hands, filling these with beautiful sentiments about who they are as friends. In Year 2, the girls created Wanted Posters with the purpose of searching for a good friend, with the reward section, highlighting the impact of good friends or what they will offer in return. For example: ‘A good friend in return’, ‘someone who will help them when they need it’, ‘someone to talk to’.
In Years 3-5 the girls explored the four conversation steps provided by R U OK? which support students and adults alike, in checking in and supporting a friend. Through video, song and games, the girls were presented with the ALEC 4 step process: Ask, Listen, Encourage Action and Check In. These steps were broken down, allowing girls to brainstorm, discuss and role play various elements of these, to feel confident and ready to use the steps, if and when they need to. Classes created conversation Speech Bubbles and Action Footsteps to encourage the understanding of helpful and unhelpful ways to engage in these conversations and support of their friends.
On the cusp of great change and their transition to high school, Year 6 spent time considering and checking in on how they were feeling. Discussing the fact that it’s normal not to always feel ok, the girls looked at various rating scales and what circumstances could make them feel certain ways. The girls were open and vulnerable with each other, supporting meaningful and significant conversation, with reminders about there always having teachers and friends here to help and that these feelings pass. The girls also shared strategies they found helpful and unhelpful in moments of stress or challenge.
Teachers continued to integrate the concepts and focuses of the day throughout many aspects of learning, sharing picture books in lessons, adapting activities to support cross class groupings, and a personal favourite, the Feel-Good Lunch with music and a photo booth.
In recognition of this significant day and as we partner to support your daughter’s wellbeing, we wanted to provide three tools you might find helpful.
- To help you move beyond answers such as “fine” and “nothing” when asking about your daughter’s day, we have put together 10 questions to ask after school. Whether it be in the car after school pick up or around the dinner table these will help you to connect and engage in meaningful conversation about your daughter’s day.
- From learning about emotions to helping your daughter manage anxious feelings – when it comes to primary school children, Beyond Blue have a range of useful tools and ideas on their website for kids aged 6-12 years.
- Raising Learners is a new podcast, presented by net.au and developed in conjunction with the Department of Education and Training Victoria. Each episode features experts sharing practical advice and ideas for supporting children’s health, wellbeing to help your daughter learn and thrive at school and at home.
The girls are incredibly resilient and have faced ongoing challenge and change over the last few years. Should you ever have concerns regarding your daughter’s wellbeing or would like to discuss ways in which you can boost wellbeing, please don’t hesitate to contact either your daughter’s class teacher or myself.
Rebecca Woodcock
Acting Head of Student Wellbeing K-6
