Wellbeing

Wellbeing contacts

Contact Leadership

Please phone the front office to either speak to Leadership or make an appointment. Miss Jess (Wellbeing), Mrs Thuy (Deputy), or Mrs Pounendis (Principal) will make contact, to discuss/meet with you about your concerns and advise on next steps. Here at VPS, we work together with our families to ensure every child feels safe at school.

Contact the classroom teacher

Depending on the nature of the wellbeing concern, classroom teachers are a great point of contact to discuss the wellbeing of your child. Classroom teachers can be contacted via Dojo message or by calling our front office and leaving a message.

How we support student wellbeing

In the wellbeing office

Students can request to speak with Miss Jess or Mrs Thuy in the front office about any wellbeing matter, whether it be related to friendships, big feelings or worries, family challenges and much more. Miss Jess has a wellbeing office equipped with social and emotional tools, toys and charts to support children with their emotional communication, self-regulation and problem-solving skills.

In the classroom

– Curriculum

We embed wellbeing in our learning and curriculum. Throughout the school year, students learn about social and emotional skills, children’s rights, and child protective skills with a range of learning resources including ‘What’s the buzz’, ‘Daniel Morcombe’, and ‘interoception learning’, to name a few.

– Classroom calm corners

Junior primary teachers create mindful classroom spaces which support students when overstimulated or in need for some self-regulation and calm time. Each classroom’s style and theme is unique and offers something special to suit.

– Mindfulness

We embed mindfulness into our everyday routine. After lunch breaks, students transition from play to learning with mindfulness practices. We understand that the success of soothing mindful practice is unique to the individual. We engage students in a range of core mindfulness practices including sound-based, activity-based and body relaxations.

Whole school wellbeing

Bullying audits and yard surveys

How we treat each other at VPS is of utmost importance. We regularly encourage students to follow our school values and champion positive relationships. We do not tolerate bullying or harassment at VPS and believe all students have the right to feel safe in their learning environment. Our bullying audit and yard surveys are an embedded routine practice to support the wellbeing of our students.

Each term, classes complete both the bullying audit and the yard survey. The audit and survey include a series of questions and reflection prompts to help students report any bullying and harassment experiences both within the classroom and in the yard. We encourage our students to be brave and report any poor behaviours to help keep our school a safe and happy place to learn and play. 

Teachers and Leadership review the audits and follow up accordingly. We chat with students of concern and carry out the necessary actions and consequences to resolve reported problems. Parents and caregivers are also engaged in the follow up process where required. We communicate regularly with our families regarding the wellbeing and behaviour of our students.

Student voice and reporting

Beyond our written audits, students are regularly encouraged to use their voice to report to any safe adult at school when they either experience or witness poor or unsafe behaviours. We are proud to promote a positive school culture which empowers students to speak up and take action against bullying and harassment.

Wellbeing events

Throughout the year we celebrate and promote various wellbeing initiatives to create whole school awareness and inclusivity around the importance of different aspects of wellbeing. Whole school events are important to us not only for the causes they promote but also for building a sense of school belonging and connecting as a whole school.