St Joseph’s Primary School, Merriwa, Aberdeen Public, St Mary's Primary School, Scone and St James' Primary School, Muswellbrook, will all benefit from a partnership between the Institute for Positive Pyschology at the Australian Catholic University and the Where there’s a Will foundation that will provide funding and support for:
all staff to participate in a development day offering instruction on how they can help children bounce back and how to embed resilience into the curriculum
each school’s ‘wellbeing’ team to receive training on how to support school staff during the implementation of Bounceback
a ‘coach’ to work with all schools in an ongoing capacity to ensure successful delivery of the programme.
resources for classrooms to assist in the promotion of wellbeing.
Importantly, the Institute of Positive Pyschology will evaluate potential increases in student, teacher and whole school wellbeing.
Principal of St Joseph’s Primary School, Merriwa, Mrs Helen Whale said news of the partnership has given a real boost to the school community.
“We know learning improves when children’s sense of self wellbeing is maximised. We’ve always known this and we’ve tried to maximise this but we just haven’t had access to the research or assessment of what we’re doing to know that it works,” Mrs Whale said.
“This partnership with Where there’s a Will and the Institute of Positive Psychology will enable us to learn about the Bounceback programme, train us in its delivery and most importantly, measure its effectiveness.
“Having four schools involved in this particular project will allow us to network and support each other as we implement the programme.
“So we are excited!
“There’s been a great response from the school community, I’ve had parents say to me: ‘we’re worried about our kids’ wellbeing and it’s good to see the school doing something proactively’.”
Founder of Where there’s a Will Pauline Carrigan says they are very keen to support other schools volunteering to implement Bounce Back into their curriculum.
“I think the Upper Hunter community has been very strong in expressing a desire to improve the wellbeing of our children and we’re looking forward to working with many more schools to assist in the delivery of positive education and giving students every opportunity to thrive,” Mrs Carrigan said.