In 2017 we began our first Action Team for KidsMatter. Using the results of the first round of surveys the team mapped out a course of action, bringing about changes which strove to connect, support and recognise all members of our community.

Our original list included the ten actions below. Some worked as planned; some were adapted; some are still to be completed. All have had an impact on the wellbeing of our community.

Recommendations:

1. Implement a communications strategy to alleviate some administration on school staff and to aid communication to parents.
2. Better utilisation of parent and community resources. Idea - Term happenings published prior to the beginning of the term for community to forward plan.
3. Better use of parent reps. Ideas - Create a parent handbook to define the role for both parent and teacher; School seen to be supporting the parish sacramental program. Idea - cards to candidates.
4. Acknowledge the achievement of the whole child by including outside of school achievements. Idea - ‘achievement wall’.
5. Streamline communication between staff and parents/carers. Idea - school to produce and publish a flow chart of ‘who to contact and when’ scenario.
6. Look at ways to celebrate diversity. Ideas - Multicultural days, use the vegie garden to celebrate cultural food.
7. Invite feedback from parent and staff after events. Idea - continue what has already started with the surveys.
8. Update school policies to build whole school consistency and community awareness. Publish in public forum for parents. Eg: on webpage.

a. ICT Agreement to advise of school & parent facebook accounts/communication accounts, purposes, usage guidelines.

b. Update the discipline policy. Note differentiation for individual student needs.

      9. Continue the great community events that have been implemented since Term  4 2016.

We wish to thank the dedicated members of our first Action Team. While some have moved on from SHPS and others have come and gone as circumstances have changed, we wish to acknowledge two parents, Stef and Anne, who have been the driving force behind the team from the beginning. We hope they can continue with the team.

Now in 2019, KidsMatters has been brought under the umbrella of Beyond Blue and it has been renamed as BeYou. The purpose of the framework is similar:

Be You aims to transform Australia’s approach to supporting children’s and young people’s mental health in early learning services and schools. Our vision is that every learning community is positive, inclusive and resilient – a place where every child, young person, educator and family can achieve their best possible mental health.

Be You promotes mental health and wellbeing, from the early years to 18, and offers educators and learning communities evidence-based online professional learning, complemented by a range of tools and resources to turn learning into action. Be You empowers educators, helping them to develop valuable mental health skills and knowledge, while also providing an effective model for implementing a whole-learning community approach to mental health and wellbeing.  https://beyou.edu.au/

We recently asked our community to complete the second round of surveys. The link to the surveys was unfortunately not able to be used on some tablets and phones, but does work well on computers. We have left the survey open for a few more days to gather as many responses as we can.

Invitation to join the Action Team and attend the open meeting.

The next step is to invite members of our community to become part of a new BeYou Action Team. We will begin by analysing the data, sharing our experiences and hopes and then creating an action plan to move our school into the next phase. We are hoping to form a diverse team, representing all parts members of our community. We meet each term in the Italian room at 6.30pm on Wednesday of Week 5. Our next meeting is on the 21^st August.

If you are able to join us for this open meeting please rsvp via email to office.shps@cg.catholic.edu.au   If you would like further information please talk to Kerry Wode, Brendan Mitchell, Anne G or Stef L.

Be You Action Team