Thursday September 8 was R U OK Day? Our national day of action is the day when Australians are reminded that every day is the day to ask, ‘are you OK?’ and start a meaningful conversation whenever they notice that someone they care about might be struggling with life. In our extended Pastoral Lesson on Tuesday September 6, the boys had the opportunity to learn how to;

• Ask R U Ok?
• Listen with an open mind
• Encourage action and
• Check in.

As a community, we held a week of wellbeing activities at lunch time to encourage connection and promote wellbeing.

• Monday we had a game of Table Tennis in the ERC Foyer, the sense of joy and fun across the year groups was palpable and was a great way to kick off the week.
• Tuesday we offered a Yoga Class led by Mr Griffiths in the ERC.
• Wednesday mindful colouring was on offer in the Narandha Learning Centre.
• Thursday we offered the boys to use their creativity to decorate a cupcake in a friendly house competition.
• Friday we had a special prayer for mental health and wellbeing in the College Chapel.
• Staff came together for morning tea on Thursday reminding us of the importance of making time to look after one another as well as the students in our care.

Congratulations and thanks to Ms Natalie Potter, Mr Tim Rowe and our newly appointed Wellbeing Prefect Will Papakosmas, who played an integral role in the creation of the video which formed the basis of this lesson. Many thanks to all the boys who played an important role in the development of the script and the filming of this great video, Louis Villella, Marcus Meogrossi, Morgan Woolnough, Joseph Gveric, Nahni Meafou, Christian Yeo, Jake Potter, Owen Turner, Stirling Roper, Francisco Martin, Jackson Farland, Jacob Hughes, Isaac Ayers, Tzar Harb, Will Davidson, Matthew Armitage and Marcus Stevanovski.

The month of October is Mental Health Month, our term begins with a Professional Development Day for staff where the focus will be on the school’s commitment to promoting positive Mental Health through a Strengths Based Approach. The My Strengths Team will lead staff through the identification of their strengths and explore the way in which these strengths can be best utilised within faculties. The day will also allow staff to hear of the latest findings, trends and strategies for understanding and helping adolescents. More specifically, staff will explore;

• The “anxiety” statistics we cannot ignore
• How mental health affects learning & performance
• The trends around screens and social media (and what we should do).

On Tuesday October 11, the focus of our whole school assembly will be the promotion of positive mental health. The theme for Mental Health Month in 2022 is “Tune in” and throughout the month we will reminding the boys to;

• Tune into themselves
• Tune into others
• Tune into your communities
• Tune into Stigma.

I wish you all a happy and restful holiday and look forward to sharing with you many of the great activities we have planned for Term 4.
This Friday we will have a mufti-day to celebrate the UCI cycling event in Wollongong, a fun way to end the term. Students are encouraged to wear a T-Shirt in the colour of the country they would like to support. Students are asked to bring a gold coin donation to support Green Connect.

Mrs Hughes
Director of Pastoral Care & Wellbeing