Nurturing
Wellbeing
Vision of Wellbeing
Our School Vision is to create a safe and respectful environment which fosters a growth mindset in all stakeholders to achieve excellence.
Melton South Primary School is a progressive community who lead the way. Together we create motivated, respectful learners who achieve excellence.
For Kids
Kids Helpline is Australia’s only free (even from a mobile), confidential 24/7 online and phone counselling service for young people aged 5 to 25. Call 1800 55 1800
You can help children and teenagers sleep better with bedtime routines, regular bedtimes, healthy sleep associations, comfortable sleep environments and healthy daytime habits. Try our tips here.
For adults
Mirabel has been helping vulnerable children and carers for 25 years.
Mirabel assists children who have been orphaned or abandoned due to parental illicit drug use and are now in the care of extended family (kinship care).
Established by our founder Jane Rowe, Mirabel is run by a small, dedicated team. We are passionate about giving Mirabel children and their carers the support they need to live their best possible lives. Check it out here.
Berry Street exists to help those experiencing poverty, violence and abuse, and to help families stay together in safe and healthy homes so they can create the future they imagine for themselves.
Lifeline is a national charity providing all Australians experiencing emotional distress with access to 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevention services. We exist so that no person in Australia has to face their darkest moments alone. Call 13 11 14 for 24 hour crisis support
‘Peaceful Parents’ is a Mindfulness and Positive Psychology based parenting program to increase resilience in both parents and their children. ‘Peaceful Parents’ is a strength-based parenting workshop that is engaging, practical and supportive for parents. Parents learn strategies to lessen stress, enjoy parenting more as well as learning practical strategies to build resilience in their children. Link here
Smiling Mind is Australia’s leading digital-led, prevention focussed mental health not-for-profit. Smiling Mind has been helping minds thrive for over 10 years and are the innovators behind Australia’s most trusted mental wellbeing app. Our evidence-based tools support people to learn the skills to maintain their mental health in fun and interactive ways. Link here
Wellbeing Information
Building Strong Foundations
for Student Wellbeing
The Victorian Curriculum supports teaching skills that provide strong foundations for the mental health and wellbeing of all students in schools.
Personal and Social Capability involves students:
Learning to recognise and regulate emotions.
Developing empathy for others and understanding relationships.
Establishing and building a framework for positive relationships.
Working effectively in teams and developing leadership skills.
Handling challenging situations constructively.
Students spend a large amount of time at school and in class. A teacher may be the first person to notice that a student needs extra support. They might notice signs of an emerging mental health concern, and students often trust their teacher to help them.
Teachers and wellbeing staff can:
Form positive relationships with their students.
Promote student voice and agency.
Hold high expectations of all students.
Create a safe, welcoming, and inclusive classroom.
Teachers also support students to develop social and emotional skills. They can help students develop a positive attitude about self, school, and civic engagement. These skills and attitudes support academic engagement.
eSmart Schools
The eSmart Schools framework helps school communities prepare for and respond to cyber risks and cyber bullying issues so students feel safe and well supported at school.
After implementing any changes in operational practices to achieve eSmart status, schools become eSmart Members, which provides them with additional expert support and resources to continue reviewing and improving their cyber safety policies and processes.
Visit:
esafety.gov.au
esafety.gov.au/kids/be-an-esafe-kid
esafety.gov.au/young-people
Wellbeing
The Victorian Curriculum supports teaching skills that provide strong foundations for mental health and wellbeing of all students in schools. Personal and Social Capability involves students:
- learning to recognise and regulate emotions.
- developing empathy for others and understanding relationships.
- establishing and building a framework for positive relationships.
- working effectively in teams and developing leadership skills.
- handling challenging situations constructively.
Teachers & Wellbeing staff can:
- form positive relationships with their students.
- promote student voice and agency.
- hold high expectations of all students.
- create a safe, welcoming and inclusive classroom.
eSmart Kids
eSmart Schools
The eSmart Schools framework helps school communities prepare for and respond to cyber risks and cyber bullying issues so students feel safe and well supported at school.
After implementing any changes in operational practices to achieve eSmart status, schools become eSmart Members, which provides them with additional expert support and resources to continue reviewing and improving their cyber safety policies and processes.
Visit:
esafety.gov.au
esafety.gov.au/kids/be-an-esafe-kid
esafety.gov.au/young-people
Mindfulness for Students
Cananeuralnetworklearntorecognizedoodling? Help teach it by adding your drawings to the world’s largest doodling data set, shared publicly to help with machine learning research.
The ‘Peaceful Kids’ program is a Mindfulness and Positive Psychology based program to lessen anxiety and stress and increase resilience in children. This program helps children to build their emotional resilience so they are better equipped to deal with the day to day stresses that life brings them. The Peaceful Kids program can be run in schools, organisations, hospitals and in private practice by teachers, wellbeing leaders, counsellors, psychologists, school nurses, chaplains, social workers and wellbeing practitioners.
The original Kids Meditation app, DreamyKid! In just minutes every day, help your kids live healthier and happier lives with DreamyKid, The Kids Meditation App.
Kids have fun & get fit learning yoga moves from animated characters right out of a cartoon, storybook, app, and flashcards. Go start to finish or pick your pose – over 75 combinations. Our mission is to bring health, mindfulness practices, and play to children through yoga fitness.
Learn More
Rainy Mood
Resilience Project
The Resilience Project at Melton South Primary School
A program by teachers for teachers, our School Partnership Program aims to INSPIRE and ENGAGE the whole school community – students, staff, parents & carers – through the evidence-based GEM (Gratitude, Empathy & Mindfulness) principles. We embed GEM through a combination of accessible resources, engaging lesson plans and inspiring digital presentations.
What The Resilience Project delivers:
These statistics drive our commitment to teach positive strategies to help people build happiness and resilience. Through presentations, student curriculum, teacher resources and digital content, The Resilience Project’s Education Programs support mental health in the classroom, staffroom and family home.
Child Safe Standards
Statement of Commitment to Child Safety and Child Safety Principles
A culture of child safety at Melton South Primary School (MSPS) ensures that the school prioritises the safety of the children in our care and has a zero-tolerance approach to child abuse. At MSPS, child safety is part of everyone’s everyday thinking and practice and an ongoing, dedicated process of improvement. This culture is achieved through proactive leadership demonstrating appropriate values, attitudes and behaviours.
The Victorian Government is committed to the safety and well-being of all children and young people. As part of the Victorian Government’s commitment to implementing the recommendations of the Betrayal of Trust report, which found that more must be done to prevent and respond to child abuse in our community, there is a new regulatory landscape surrounding child safety, underpinned by the new PROTECT Child Safe Standards.
The Child Safe Standards are compulsory minimum standards for all Victorian early childhood services and schools, to ensure they are well prepared to protect children from abuse and neglect.
The new Child Safe standards encourage everyone to connect with our school to help children be safe, the standards apply to school staff, contractors, volunteers, visitors and students’ family members. Please see our policies for more detail.
Wellbeing Staff
Natalie
Sadler
Assistant Principal for Wellbeing
Sue
Miles
Disability Inclusion
Lisa
Coughlan
Program for Students with Disabilities
Nicole
Jowett
Mental Health & Wellbeing (MHWL)
Tina
Matana
School Councillor
FAQ
A room is provided for use at break times for students to withdraw to, or be sent to, from the playground. It is not a place for punishment but to reflect on their behaviour choices. With teacher support, they complete templates to reflect on what words or actions they chose to do this time and what other choices they might use if faced with a similar situation. The idea is for the student to have a calm and quiet place to contemplate on how they responded and to build their capacity.
Teachers support students with these sorts of discussion points:
Why were you sent/ or chose to come to reflection?
How did your behaviour affect others?
If you had behaved in a more positive way, what would have been a better thing to do in the situation that you were in?
My plan of action next time is…
A supervised space is provided for students who need closer supervision in less regulated spaces. Students are allocated to this space where they socialise and play with other students along with the support of adults. Sometimes students use this space who are recovering from injuries or who are especially vulnerable. It is not a punishment but a supportive environment usually accessed for a short time for a designated reason. Sometimes friends may be invited to join in.
Breakfast Club enables students at school to enjoy a nutritious breakfast, allowing them to engage and participate fully in all the educational and social opportunities that school offers. It is held on a Wednesday from 8.30am – 8.50am in the school gym area entering through gate 5 & 6. While we do encourage all students to eat breakfast before they come to school. This program is to supplement families that may not be in the position to provide breakfast on that day. Food provided will include, SPC diced fruit cups, toast with margarine and vegemite, full cream milk and fruits (apple/pears/oranges). Parents are required to notify staff of any food allergies on the day. Parents can accompany younger students if required, but please note food is provided for school students only.
Students in Grade 6 are allocated a Prep Buddy. In the early days of school the students meet and get to know each other by reading stories and playing games. When the Prep students go to play in the yard their Gr 6 buddy is a ‘go to’ person to help them settle into school. This relationship is fostered during the year with weekly shared learning activities and get togethers thus building a bond which often lasts beyond the school year.
Buddy Benches were invented to combat loneliness and bullying in schools. Sometimes called a friendship bench, these benches are provided on school playgrounds as a way for students to signal to other students and teachers that they are feeling lonely and isolated and need a friend to play with or someone to talk to. There are 2 benches at MSPS.