Wellbeing

Joanne Alford                                                 Deputy Principal – Wellbeing

St Francis Xavier College believes that wellbeing and academic achievement are inextricably linked and central to learning. Our focus is to teach wellbeing skills so that students are better able to manage their emotions when they are faced with challenges in learning, relationships and life in general.  Cultivating positive emotions, teaching students to notice their thinking and identify helpful and unhelpful thoughts to their learning journey through mindfulness practice are just some strategies that students learn. We encourage a growth mindset to ensure students embrace failure as a learning opportunity. The focus is strength based, drawing on each individual’s strengths and values to enable them to set goals and be future focused. This is achieved through explicitly taught wellbeing lessons and implicitly through the culture of the College.  The wellbeing initiatives are proactive and evidence based in developing the skills of wellbeing for both students and staff so that we may grow into the best version of ourselves whose purpose is to serve others.

Students experience community and connection through the House system and vertical care groups. The Care Group provides a supportive environment to connect and mentor in a mixed age setting with each other and their teachers. Building and maintaining positive learning partnerships with teachers and peers is integral to the process of teaching and learning. Care group offers a platform where students develop these skills together with the skills and understanding of mindfulness, self –regulation and resilience.

As a Catholic learning community we are restorative, that means when things go wrong we restore relationships and we focus on the strengths of the individuals to bring about the changes needed to foster positive relationships. Equally when students get stuck in an emotion and need assistance identifying their thinking traps, we have an excellent wellbeing team of counsellors and psychologist to help students identify their feelings and put in place strategies to manage their wellbeing.

We are committed to nurturing wellbeing across the St Francis Xavier community.

Please click on the link for Family Support information.