Thursday, 9 March 2023

St Helena Secondary College

Vicki WARD (Eltham) (10:02): Congratulations to St Helena Secondary College and their amazing staff and students on the success of their new wellness hub. The hub was created to give St Helena students a place where they can feel welcomed, valued and relaxed. Students who have struggled to engage with supports and services have become involved in helping to get the hub up and running, volunteering to put furniture together, contributing to discussions and engaging with staff and other students. Having a school wellbeing hub like this is important, as is acknowledging the fantastic work our schools are doing to support their students’ wellbeing.

There are a lot of positive stories in our schools, and I want to share with this place terrific stories about St Helena, like their breakfast program and food bank; like their Wellbeing Wednesdays, where community groups share their experiences and run activities; and like Dogs Connect, a biweekly activity where students can have pats and chats with dogs, encouraging students to practice their numeracy and literacy skills. One particular ASD student, at a pats and chats session, lay on the floor with Frankie, the beautiful black lab, who lay on top of him with her nose on his shoulder for about 20 minutes, visibly relaxing the student. I want to thank the unwavering principal of St Helena Karen Terry, and the fantastic teaching and support staff behind the wellbeing hub: Vittora Saliba, Rachel Weiss, Lycas Williams, Costa Gatsios, Kara Chambers, Stephanie Villani and Sarah Ryan.