At Mount Macedon Primary School we are guided by tools, resources and professional learning aimed at improving the skills and knowledge of our educators to support the mental health and wellbeing in children and young people in our care.
Mount Macedon Primary School has transitioned from a KidsMatter accredited school to Be You, to establish a whole learning community approach to mental health and wellbeing.
Be You is the national mental health in education initiative delivered by Beyond Blue, in collaboration with Early Childhood Australia and headspace.
Be You supports educators from early learning services and schools to develop a positive, inclusive and resilient learning community where every child, young person, educator and family can achieve their best possible mental health.
At Mount Macedon Primary school, we embed The Kimochis® Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Program school-wide. The Kimochis program helps our community build a strong, positive, communicative school culture and climate.
The Kimochis® aims to give children the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need to recognise and manage their emotions, demonstrate care and concern for others, establish positive relationships, make responsible decisions, and handle challenging situations constructively.
The Kimochis® consists of three components:
The Kimochis® characters: teach children how we are like each other, different to each other, and provides them with opportunities to practice tools that help to identify how to play and work with others, and with those who we find challenging to be around.
The Kimochis® Feelings: help to expand children’s daily operational vocabulary and understanding of a range of positive and negative feelings, and practise using tools to make these feelings bigger and smaller.
The Kimochis® Keys to Communication: help children explicitly practice good communication to facilitate conversations about big feelings.
To find out more about the inspiration behind the Kimochis Program, and additional resources available to parents, visit the Kimochis website here.
In 2016, Respectful Relationships education became a core component of the Victorian Curriculum from Foundation to Year 12 and is being taught in all Government and Catholic schools and many independent schools. A core element of this initiative is the Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) curriculum.
The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships learning materials have been designed for teachers in primary and secondary schools to develop students’ social, emotional and positive relationship skills.
The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) learning materials cover eight topics of Social and Emotional Learning across all levels of primary and secondary education: Emotional Literacy; Personal Strengths; Positive Coping; Problem Solving; Stress Management; Help Seeking; Gender and Identity; and Positive Gender Relationships.
At Mount Macedon Primary school we are lucky enough to have Rufus be part of our Wellbeing team. Rufus is a Border-Collie cross Beagle who is 8 years young. He spends a lot of time with the students receiving pats. Rufus loves chasing balls and coming to school everyday.
Moving on the Mount
Students at Mount Macedon Primary particpate in one six-minute physical activity break, four days per week. This in addition to their weekly Physical Education class.
We follow Active for Life, an evidence-based resource to help us better understand the challenges around children's physical activity, and inspire better practice to integrate more movement in children's daily lives.
Mount Macedon Primary School follow the 'Growth Mindset' research by psychologist, Carol Dweck. The Stanford University professor’s pioneering research, as well as her 2006 book, Mindset:The New Psychology of Success, popularised the concept of fixed and growth mindsets.
American University (2022) explore how a fixed and growth mindsets profoundly affect the way that individuals respond to failure. People with a fixed mindset view failure as a result of their lack of ability, while people with a growth mindset see the opportunity to expand their abilities and to work harder and smarter.
Thoughout the school week, Mount Macedon Primary School students will engage in a variety of forms of mindfulness. We used Smiling Mind across all year levels, as well as engaging in meditation and yoga which promote mindfulness.
James is a grade 6 leader at Mount Macedon Primary School and works with both students and staff to drive wellbeing initatives. James loves to play soccer and is both a play-maker and center-mid field player.
Olivia has a background is teaching within both the primary and secondary school settings with a focus on student wellbeing and inclusion. Olivia has consulted within the Non-Government sector in trauma informed curriculum development and supporting students with developmental challenges and disabilities. Olivia grew up in Woodend and is now raising her own family in the Macedon Ranges. Olivia has recently completed a Grad. Cert. in Specialist Inclusive Education and works two days at Mount Macedon Primary School.