Hello from Wellbeing xox
Well, it has been another busy few weeks and as you are about to see, we have not stopped!!!
Firstly, we would like to say a warm thank you to Annika Pracy. Annika has been working just beautifully as a youth worker alongside our wellbeing team while completing her 500 hours practical placement. Annika has had a lovely impact on our students and staff while supporting the Sphere. She has now completed her placement with us, and we will miss her however we hope she can come back and join our team next year.
Two weeks ago, the Wellbeing and Student Leadership teams supported Beanies for Brain cancer day– Mark Hughes foundation. As always at MVHS we are very good at raising money to help support charities close to our hearts. On this day we had a gold coin donation if you wore a beanie to school and a sausage sizzle was held. We managed to raise $531.47 to donate to the MHF.
Last week the school dentist was on sight. The Australian Dental clinic is a free service, and they can do anything from a clean to a filling all while a student is at school. This year we had over 60 students request this service. This is a fabulous and convenient free service and we are certain parents also appreciate the convenience.
The Wellbeing and Student Leadership teams also supported Jeans for Genes Day last Friday. If you wore a pair of jeans then a gold coin donation was expected. On this day, we also had another sausage sizzle and managed to raise $427.05 in donations for the Jeans for Genes foundation. As you can see by the picture we had a very busy day.
In Week 9, Wellbeing and Art worked side by side with Kate and Rob from Headspace to create this beautiful mural.
10 Art 1 was lucky enough to spend a day learning from Kate while creating this artwork about students learning @ MVHS while surrounded by our gorgeous school grounds.
One month ago, the wellbeing team and the student leaders organised a shave for a cure day.
Those brave enough sat in front of the entire school assembly for either a shave or haircut, raising money for Shave for a cure – Leukaemia Foundation.
This year once again, MVHS did our school and community proud by raising $1300.
Thank you so much to the following students who had a shave or hair cut on the day : Emma Hodgins, Hayden Allison, Kiara Walters, Lars Zilic Anderson, Sebastion Bailey, Vaya Jones and Cooper Bailey.
So far this year the wellbeing team, along with the student leadership team and school community have raised the following amount of money for foundations close to all of our hearts...
Dollys Day $346.70
Shave for a cure $1300
Beanies for brain cancer $531.47
Jeans for Genes day $427.05
Total amount donated so far to foundations $2605.22
Well done MVHS and our community xox
Chaplain's Report
Powerful Words Matter
The most powerful words you will ever hear are the ones you say to yourself.
I have had the privilege of working with some amazing students this term and decided it was time to teach them the most powerful revelation I have had for my own journey. Creating my own personal affirmation above gave me something solid to anchor myself on when things become overwhelming and my mind gets crazy busy with worry and self-doubt.
I truly believe that the mind is where our battles play out and have been teaching students about how powerful it is to recognise that we are in control of what gets through the mental door; that what others say about us and how society treats us are things that only get access to our self-perception if we give them access.
Part of this has been giving students activities such as creating an I AM statement and building their own set of affirmation cards. The I AM statement provided scope for students to reflect on how they feel about themselves as well as share their perceptions of their friends and encourage each other. It was a challenging activity but a lot of self-confidence has come from it.
My hope is that as we, as adults, encourage our kids to think differently about themselves and the world around them we will see more students standing up for themselves using healthy language, setting stronger boundaries and becoming young adults who value themselves and each other.
The bottom line is that when we begin to shift our thinking, just like building a physical muscle, we become stronger and more resilient, our ability to make decisions and show our best selves to the world increases and from personal experience, this simple statement has a profound and long-lasting impact.
I encourage you to use this statement for yourself as well as encourage your young people to build it into their self-talk. We get to model the future mindset our kids have - what a privilege this is - and my hope is that you, too, will gain much from adding this simple affirmation to your life.
Cheers for now,
Miriam Miles
School Chaplain
