Students receive explicit teaching on knowledge and skills to manage their health and wellbeing for the demands of study and life in general.
Helping students feel positive and regulate the demands of learning are an important part of any teacher’s toolkit and a foundation of strong student-teacher relationships. Students have one period set aside for dedicated Social Emotional Learning each week, which makes use of the Department’s Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships curriculum as well as targeted Respectful Relationships lessons in the Health and PE classes from years 7 to 10. This ensures students receive explicit teaching on knowledge and skills to manage their health and wellbeing for the demands of study and life in general.
You can find more information on this curriculum here: https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/Pages/respectfulrelationships.aspx
Rushworth P-12 College has also engaged all teaching staff with the Berry Street organisation to implement an education model with evidence-based strategies to support the wellbeing of young people, especially those who have experienced trauma.
The model incorporates five dimensions aimed at building different forms of wellbeing, regulation and emotional literacy. At Rushworth P-12 College, students will use a Ready to Learn Scale to indicate if they will need more or less support to be engaged and positive in class. Teachers also provide brain breaks that get students active and recharge their thinking during long periods of learning. Strategies like these are small additions to the regular teaching and learning model but the outcome of helping students understand how to monitor their state of mind and work well with others helps sustain a positive learning culture at the school.
You can find more information about the Berry Street Education Model here: https://learning.berrystreet.org.au/focus-areas/berry-street-education-model
