Kidsmatter

KidsMatter is a mental health promotion, prevention and early intervention initiative for primary schools and early childhood education services. 
 
KidsMatter is a framework that helps put evidence based strategies in place to support the mental health needs of our community. 
 
It was developed by experts in mental health, education and early childhood in response to troubling figures relating to children’s mental health and the growing national call for action.  
 
KidsMatter sits under Australia’s National Mental Health Plan, which promotes a population-level approach to mental health and emphasises the need for cross-sectoral linkages. KidsMatter seeks to partner with education, early childhood, and health and community sectors to optimise children’s mental health and wellbeing holistically and early in life.

 

Big brother big sister big futures

This year, Sherbrooke Community School has launched the Big Futures Program with the global organisation - Big Brothers, Big Sisters.

We have selected a diverse range of students to participate in the program,. They will be given the opportunity for one on one mentoring at school with community members. We know that a young person taking full advantage of the educational opportunities offered in a school setting has the greatest chance of unlocking their potential and leading a fulfilling life.  Consequently, during this time students and local mentors can build trusting relationships, discover their interests and increase their sense of belonging to the community.

Mentors are recruited from all sections of the community and undergo screening and training about how best to work with students. We plan to implement the program with four mentors and will build on this number until all students selected for this program have been paired with a mentor. In the meantime, students waiting for a mentor will participate in other activities led by the Big Futures program facilitator.

We are eager for mentors and students to now join our collaborative relationship with Big Brothers, Big Sisters and new opportunities for Sherbrooke Community School and its student, families, staff and organisations within it.

    

Martial Arts Therapy (MAt)

Sherbrooke Community School is very excited to begin the MAT program in term 3 and term 4!

 The MAT Life Skills program is an active therapeutic modality that combines the principles of psychosocial competence with traditional martial art training techniques in a form that engages young people to learn life skills and better manage challenges in their lives.

 Psychosocial competence is a person’s ability to deal with the challenges and demands of everyday life. It is the ability to maintain a state of mental wellbeing and to demonstrate this in adaptive and positive behavior while interacting with others, one’s culture and the environment.

 The MAT Life Skills Program it is NOT a self-defense program or a program that relies on sparring of any form amongst its participants. It is a values-based program that uses martial arts drills, games, metaphors and stories to communicate the particular set of life skills or values required by the school during the duration of the program.

 The MAT Life Skills program has been running in the State of Victoria since 2010 with support from the DEECD. In 2013 over 200 schools hosted a different array of MAT Program services impacting more than 16,000 students.

 Sherbrooke Communtiy School welcomes the MAT program with Guy Rynsburger to our school where he so passionately works to improve the quality of life for the educational community. He will begin term 3 by working with a cohort of years 9s to prepare them for the leadership program, in addition to offering three to five students individualized programs.  In term 4, Guy will commence the second part of the leadership program and begin our third program for our year 8 class regarding life skills.