The wellbeing of students is a priority at Christ the King School. Our staff are dedicated to establishing genuine and positive relationships with all our students to enable them to feel safe, to seek help and to feel a sense of worth and belonging.
At the start of each school year we begin with a focus on “CTK Matters”. We spend these first weeks getting to know the children in our class, their different strengths and interests, personalities and learning styles. We focus on the school community, promoting mental health and wellbeing, respectful relationships, belonging and inclusion. Students look at ways to recognise and manage their emotions and practice strategies to self-calm and achieve mindfulness.
At Christ the King we utilise a variety of programs, resources and initiatives to support students needs and development. This is to ensure they are equipped with the tools they need to be positive, successful and engaged members of society.
These include:
Child Protection Curriculum
The Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum is a child safety program for children and is taught explicitly across all year levels at CTK. They explore relationships and emotions and understand ways of keeping themselves safe in a variety of situations. This also incorporates teaching and advice on the safe use of technologies and social media.
Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum information for parents
What’s the Buzz
What’s the Buzz (Mark Le Messurier and Madhavi Nawana Parker) is a social skills enrichment programme designed to explicitly teach children how to think and relate socially. We teach this program across all year levels starting in the junior years with the Early Learners Program, Years 3-5 access the Primary edition and the Year 6 students access the Teen edition of the program. Students are involved in practicing social skills through role-play, games, stories and explicit modelling of strategies.
Wellbeing
At Christ the King we have a wellbeing coordinator whose role is to implement, maintain, review and share information and initiatives with the staff, students and student community. We run a termly Wellbeing Pulse Check-in survey through CESA and review these results along with the Wellbeing and Engagement Collection survey. We promote mindfulness activities in all classes and explore ways for students to manage their emotions. We have an annual Wellbeing Week which focuses on developing the social and emotional proficiencies of the child and positive mental health.
Bully Busters Day
Annually we run a Bully Busters Day in which students learn to understand ‘bullying’ and how to respond to bullying behaviours and seek help. These skills are revisited and explored throughout the school year.
Buddy Classes
Each student at CTK is assigned a buddy from another class in the school to assist them in fostering relationships and building a support network. Buddy classes help support the academic and social emotional capabilities across the year levels.
Circle Time
At CTK we use Circle Time as a tool to teach students to interact successfully with one another and respect each other’s opinions.
Play
We believe that play is a vital tool in developing children’s minds and bodies. It allows them to develop skills in being socially successful and develop emotional resilience. Play allows children to experiment, try new things, and develop their thinking and learning skills. In the R/1 classes “purposeful play” opportunities are incorporated into each school day.
Parent Support
We also provide support to parents and carers, to give them advice and tools to nurture happy and balanced children. Friday coffee mornings also allow parents an opportunity to touch base with one another, staff and the wider community.
We also suggest students and families consider engaging the services of further organisations for support:
Headspace: www.headspace.com.au 1800 063 267
Kids Helpline www.kidshelpline.com.au 1800 551 800
Student Wellbeing Hub https://studentwellbeinghub.edu.au/