Student Wellbeing.
Dandenong Primary School maintains a team of highly dedicated wellbeing staff to support the health and wellbeing of children and families.
Our wellbeing team works to:
Regularly assess, evaluate and update records of students who are at risk of or have confirmed health and wellbeing issues (such as mental health issues, placement in out-of-home care, homelessness, family violence or malnourishment)
Provide leadership around age-appropriate education about drugs, sexuality, respectful relationships, traffic safety, health promotion, hand hygiene and swimming and water safety
Provide individualised support for students with chronic or acute health and wellbeing needs to enable them to engage as fully as possible in school life
Recognise and celebrate healthy lifestyles and choices and promote positive health and wellbeing through prevention and strengths-based approaches
Promote the impact of positive health and wellbeing on learning
Reflect on the coherence and continuity of the school’s approach to health and wellbeing
Ensure health and wellbeing practices are built into the school’s pedagogical model.
Research evidence:
Higher levels of wellbeing are linked to higher academic achievement, school completion, and better overall mental and physical health (Australian Wellbeing Framework).
Wellbeing interventions focused on belonging and engagement are found to have the greatest impact on student academic achievement (Dix et al., 2020).
Social and emotional learning programs benefit students’ social skills, self-image, academic achievement and mental health and reduce antisocial behaviour and substance abuse (Evidence for Learning, 2019a).
Effective health and wellbeing initiatives focus on the quality of intervention programs, which is more important than the frequency or duration (Dilley, 2009).
School connections to social services which provide additional support for student health and wellbeing also contribute to improving student achievement (Moore et al., 2013).
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