All students at Mentone Park can thrive in a safe and supportive environment with consistent wellbeing practices embedded across the school. We teach social and emotional skills using the ‘Bounce Back’ and ‘Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships’ philosophies of behavioural education.

Bounce Back! Provides practical strategies to improve student wellbeing and help students (and teachers) cope with the complexity of their everyday lives. It teaches them how to ‘bounce back’ when they experience sadness, difficulties, frustrations and challenging times. Bounce Back! Is an evidence -informed program built on Positive Psychology, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Social and Emotional learning principles.

The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) learning materials have been designed for teachers to develop students’ social, emotional and positive relationship skills. Efforts to promote social and emotional skills and positive gender norms in children and young people has been shown to improve health related outcomes and subjective wellbeing.

The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships learning materials cover 8 topics of Social and Emotional Learning across all levels of primary and secondary education: Emotional Literacy; Personal Strengths; Positive Coping; Problem Solving; Stress Management; Help Seeking; Gender and Identity; and Positive Gender Relationships.

Strong relationships are developed between peers, teachers, and the broader community through participation in many activities throughout the year which highlight the school’s TIER values (Teamwork, Integrity, Excellence, Respect), build resilience and develop empathy.

To support our comprehensive wellbeing practices, we also use, participate in or support the following additional programs and initiatives to further enhance our students’ opportunities for social and emotional development. These include:

• The National Day of Action against Bullying – Bullying. No Way!
• Harmony Day
• Life Education Van
• The Daniel Morcombe Foundation - Australia’s Biggest Child Safety Lesson
• Health initiatives – school nurse (Foundation), school dentist