Here at Holy Cross we have many initiatives that help support our students’ wellbeing.
Buddy Bench
At Holy Cross we understand that there are times when students may feel lonely or are not sure what to do during break times. For this reason, we have a buddy bench positioned in the playground.
The purpose of the buddy bench is to allow a place for students to go when they need assistance with joining in games and friendship groups during their play time. Students at Holy Cross understand the purpose of the buddy bench and support each other by offering help to find friends to play with while on the playground.
Kindness Ambassadors
Each term, 2 students from each class are selected to be on the ‘Kindness Ambassador’ Team. Their role is to assist students on the playground and encourage positive play and connections with peers. These students are presented with a yellow hat at the start of the term to wear where they can be easily identified on the playground.
Wellbeing Week Activities
At Holy Cross, we believe that the wellbeing of all our community is important. Each term we have set a week aside to focus on ourselves and our connection with others. During this week we focus on students, staff and parents. Students will participate in fun activities that are designed to develop their understanding of what wellbeing means. This may be in a physical , mental or social form. Staff and parent wellbeing are also considered a high priority at our school.
Our school recognises Wellbeing Week as a celebration of the teaching and learning environments we create as a community that enable students, parents, teachers and staff to be happy, healthy, engaged and be successful. We are focussed on providing opportunities for students to build relationships, engage in physical activity, reflect, learn and give.
Mindfulness
Each well being week a trained mindfulness/ meditation teacher spends time with each class teaching them the importance of being mindful and using this to improve their concentration and self-regulation. This teacher uses a variety of different techniques, age appropriate, to explicitly teach the students to use when faced with a difficult situation.
Oasis Room
Here at Holy Cross students have access to our ‘Oasis Room’. This room has been set up to allow students to take a moment off the busy playground if they are feeling overwhelmed or if they just need some time to self-regulate. The room contains many calming elements such as: quiet soothing music, soft lighting, bean bags, mindfulness activities, drawing equipment, cushions and soft toys, story books etc. This room is supervised by staff where they can keep a watchful eye on the students that might need some extra support.
Zones of Regulation
The Zones of Regulation is a complete social-emotional learning curriculum, created to teach children self-regulation and emotional control. All the different ways children feel as a result of an event are categorised into four coloured zones. These zones help students to understand the level of their emotions and strategies are taught to support students in managing their emotions if needed. Children who are well regulated are able to be in the appropriate zone which is needed to maximise learning.
Here at Holy Cross, all classrooms support this initiative through regular class conversations to build emotional literacy, visual displays, explicit teaching of SEL skills and reinforcing a nurturing, inclusive and supportive classroom environment.
Rock & Water Program
At our school, we have teachers who are trained to implement the Rock & Water program. The Rock & Water program engages students with a focus on body awareness, emotional awareness and self-awareness. The concepts ‘Rock’ and ‘Water’ are used as metaphors throughout the program for students to help develop their understanding of their ability to regulate and regain control through their strengths (rock), as well as their connection with others (water). A progression of lessons are taught in sequence to build upon these concepts. As a result, students feel confident in their own strength and ability as well as making positive connections with their peers.
