WELLBEING

What is Wellbeing?

Wellbeing at St Joseph’s is about HEALTH

It is about the health of BODY, MIND & SPIRIT of each individual

It is about HEALTH of our Community

A healthy individual is able to operate at maximum capacity and a healthy community can support all its members to be their best.

Healthy Bodies

Our bodies are for life. It is vital that at an early age we learn about how they operate and how to best care for them. We need to know how to keep all our systems working in top gear by understanding what are good practices and what choices impede our body’s functioning.

How?

St Joseph’s is a “Go For Your Life” school. This means our practices are approved by government authorities and are among the best in the state.

Physical Fitness includes:

  • A fitness program 3 mornings a week. This may include walking/running around the school oval, skipping to music, aerobics, or yoga and meditation. Students, staff and parents are welcome to join in. We reward hard work in these sessions with a special excursion to a local activity such as swimming, a gym, a walk along the bike track, skating, etc., at the end of each term.
  • Year Level appropriate Physical Education Programs focusing on fitness, athletics, coordination, a variety of ball skills, game skills (e.g. basketball, football, tee-ball etc), as well as protocols around turn taking, team work, winning and losing.
  • School Twilight House Sports
  • Participation in Interschool Athletics and Major Games tournaments
  • A two week intensive swimming program in October offered to all students
  • Participation in Ride2School Day , Jump Rope for Heart and Run Melbourne each year
  • Drug Education Program
  • Encouraging as many students as possible to ride or walk at least part of the way to from school.
  • Table tennis offered as an alternative play activity
  • Provision of play equipment to keep kids active as well as a passive, shaded play area
  • Large open playgrounds and an oval, two netball/basketball courts, 2 table tennis tables available and tennis court.
  • Time allocated to work in the Kitchen Garden
  • The Healthy Eating Habits includes:
  • A choice of healthy food options available on order twice a week from our school canteen. All choices are approved by the Schools Canteen Association
  • Cooking lessons based on food harvested from our Kitchen Garden
  • Special Lunch Days where senior students make lunch for others based on good food choices
  • Wrapper Free playground
  • Sip and Crunch each morning at 10am when students can eat fruit and raw vegetables. They are allowed water on their desks at all times.

Healthy Minds

We can learn ways in which to manage our thinking. This helps us to learn to the best of our ability, to stay positive, and to think in different ways. This is important for the whole of our lives.
At St Joseph’s we believe that every child can have a healthy mind.
To help this happen, we focus on Social Emotional Learning through:

  • A Values Program – Healthy Relationships, and support the Australian government set of 9 Key Values
  • You Can Do It Resilience program involving specific lessons on Getting Along, Confidence, Organisation, Persistence and Resilience.
  • Kids Matter- Bully Busters anti-bullying program
  • A set of non-negotiable school rules that all students are familiar with creating a safe, predictable environment for all
  • Opportunities for students to be involved in decision making

Healthy Spirit

Our Religious Education Program To Know Worship & Love supports and underpins every thing we do. A healthy spirit underpins a healthy body and mind. To foster healthy spirit in our students we encourage involvement in the life of the school, engagement in learning, a relationship with significant adults, friends and a relationship with God.

We provide:

  • Rewards for following directions and developing self management skills
  • Opportunities for students to be involved in decision making processes
  • Partnerships with local Catholic Secondary College Lighthouse program for Boys Education
  • Opportunities for students to share experiences and learn about their own spirit through our Religious Education Program
  • Social skills programs
  • Seasons Loss and Grief Program
  • A counsellor available to work with students and staff
  • Involvement in Sacramental programs

Healthy Community

A healthy community is a sign of healthy individuals. To foster our unique and vibrant community the school has a number of ways for people to be involved and regular activities as well as special events to celebrate achievements or important occasions. We always look for ways to involve the broader community.
You will find many of these events on our school calendar.

Look out for:

  • Whole school assemblies twice a day EVERY day at the close of each break
  • Student run whole school assemblies every second Monday afternoon where awards, learning and achievements are shared and celebrated
  • Morning greeting for each family every morning
  • Six school leaders voted by the student population
  • 4 house captains for each of the four sports house colours Red, Blue, Green and Gold
  • A Student Environment Action Committee (SEAC)
  • A Student Council Action Team (SCAT)
  • Parents working in the school in a variety of volunteer roles including assistance with literacy, excursions, tuckshop, special events,
  • Many committees for parents and families to join
  • Regular working bees where families come together and share the workload, improving school grounds and celebrating at the end with a BBQ
  • Twilight Sports Meeting run as a community event
  • A Choir who perform for special events, local community groups and to assist with fundraising
  • Close liaison with our Parish Priest and parish pastoral care worker
  • Shared school/Parish Mass each month
  • Liturgical singing each week so students are familiar with Parish songs
  • Shared Reconciliation, Eucharist and Confirmation programs (with St Bernadette’s)
  • Shared Year 6 Camp in March each year where students attend a 5 day outdoor education and leadership camp with students from our sister school St Bernadette’s
  • Close liaison with Knox Council Youth support staff as well as council environment experts
  • Close working relationships with kindergartens and local catholic secondary colleges to assist with transition programs