Geraldton Grammar School
(08) 9965 7800

Wellbeing

At Geraldton Grammar School, our wellbeing program teaches the skills and attitudes that enhance mental health, support learning, and cultivate wellbeing. Our approach to wellbeing focuses on prevention and early intervention. To ensure that mental health concerns are responded to effectively and promptly, key staff are trained in youth mental health first aid. The School has a Student Wellbeing Officer and a Student Wellbeing Committee to support individual students.

Wellbeing is achieved through our House Program and INSPIRE Programs in primary school and through our House and Personal Development Program (PDP) in secondary school.

House


The House system is an integral part of Pastoral Care at Geraldton Grammar School.

It adds a new dimension by vertically grouping students from all years into four Houses—Chapman, Irwin, Greenough, and Murchison. With approximately 150 students in each House, they belong to a bigger group within the school.


The objectives of the House system are:

  • To increase the beneficial influence of the school on students’ characters
  • to help students fulfil their potential in academic and co-curricular areas
  • To develop a sense of community and an ability to socialise freely across various ages and sexes
  • To provide opportunities for healthy competition in sports and co-curricular areas
  • To try to help each student to live a whole life by involving the student in the life of the school


The House system allows students to identify with something larger than themselves—their team, their group, their House, or their school.

House activities include a range of sporting challenges, from swimming to athletics and a variety of team sports, as well as socials, inter-house quizzes and festivals.

Each House has a primary and secondary school House Coordinator, a year 12 House Captain and School House Captains.


INSPIRE

Nuture

Support

Persevere

Include

Respect & Responsibility

Engage

INSPIRE is Geraldton Grammar School’s universal approach to social-emotional learning and development. Social-emotional learning refers to the skills needed to successfully manage life tasks such as learning, forming relationships, communicating effectively, being sensitive to the needs of others, and getting along with people.

INSPIRE is about building a whole school culture in which principles associated with positive social, emotional, and civic behaviours are embedded across all disciplines.

An INSPIRE Classroom encompasses:

  • A positive classroom ethos involves building a strong, psychologically safe classroom environment.

  • A classroom structure in which collaboration, mutual respect, active decision making, responsible leadership and high expectations for all are clearly apparent.

  • Daily community building routines during which time the development of strong relationships and the dispositions associated with positive social emotional wellbeing and academic skills are prioritised.

  • A strong focus is on developing student’s understanding and management of emotions and self-awareness.

  • Using a common language provides a means by which children can verbalise and manage their emotions and assists staff in guiding children’s development of co and self-regulation strategies.

  • An explicit data driven social emotional education responsive curriculum.


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INSPIRE
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Personal Development Program

The Personal Development Program (PDP) runs from years 7-10 and is instrumental in providing our students with thinking, organisational and study skills. It also covers aspects of the Protective Behaviours curriculum that is not taught in health classes, primarily aspects relating to mental health and developing coping strategies.

In addition to theory, students are also involved in practical service-based activities which allow them to give something back to the greater Geraldton community.

Year 7 program:

  • School success and personal organisation – successful transition into Secondary school
  • Relationships and friendships unit # Friends
  • Camp preparation for Nukara
  • Keeping Safe Child Protection Curriculum Recognising and reporting abuse / Family and Domestic violence unit
  • P.R.I.D.E. (Perseverance, Respect, Integrity, Determination, Excellence)
  • Community Service – Foodbank appeal
  • Reflection on year 7 and transition to Year 8
  • STEPIN program (4 days a year) As part of the STEPIN days there will an opportunity for the student to work in gender groupings or across the hub with the well-being officer to further develop their social, emotional and age-appropriate resilience skills

Year 8 program:

  • School success and personal organisation – successful transition to year 8
  • Community Service – Biggest Morning tea
  • Keeping Safe Child Protection Curriculum – Domestic and family violence unit
  • Camp preparation for Lynton Station
  • Keeping Safe Child Protection Curriculum – Recognising and reporting abuse unit
  • Resilience, rights and respectful relationships
  • Love bites program – stereotypes and gender
  • Reflection on year 8 and transition to year 9
  • STEPIN program (2 days a year) As part of the STEPIN days there will an opportunity for the students to work in gender groupings or across the hub with the well-being officer to further develop their social, emotional and age-appropriate resilience skills.

Year 9 program:

  • School success and personal organisation -successful transition to year 9
  • Keeping Safe Child Protection Curriculum Recognising and reporting abuse unit
  • Camp preparation – Galena mine site – organising food, sleeping in bivvies, building Trangia stoves, being resilient and independent
  • Keeping Safe Child Protection Curriculum Recognising and reporting abuse / Family and Domestic violence unit
  • Outward Bound – Developing resilience, collaboration, team building
  • Relationships unit - Relationships, Love and Control
  • Reflection on year 9 and transition to year 10

Year 10 program:

  • Work Experience
  • Careers
  • Study Skills
  • Subject Selection for Year 11
  • Employment Skills
  • Protection Strategies
  • Keeping Safe - Child Protection Curriculum, Domestic & Family Violence and Recognising & reporting Abuse

Co-Curricular

Our co-curricular program is designed to introduce students to a variety of challenges, encouraging them to move out of their comfort zone. When this happens, students become open to new experiences and are more willing to see things from a different perspective. A range of optional co-curricular activities are offered at Geraldton Grammar School. These include activities from the sporting, music and academic streams.