Learning is not just about Maths and English, it’s about developing the whole child, which involves social and emotional learning.
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This important fact has been developed into a program at Murrurundi Public School, launched this year by the school’s principal Jayne Schmarr and key driver, teacher - librarian Kimberley Smith.
As part of the Kids Matter Program, the Bounce Back Program is a resilience initiative aimed to give children the skills to become resilient, focussing on the whole child as opposed to one aspect of the child.
The program was launched earlier this year following on from an anonymous survey conducted with students in years 4, 5 and 6 – ‘Tell Them From Me’ – which provided results to benchmark the program from.
Each class from kindergarten to year 6 spends two hours each week with Miss Smith learning about emotions, life changes, feelings and understanding why we do the things we do and skills to effectively cope with changes.
Miss Smith said being a Kids Matters School, Murrurundi Public School runs a personal development program each year with last year’s focus being on social skills.
She said it was pleasing to see the children embrace the program, as she has heard them quoting to others what she has said, which is what makes it all worthwhile.
“Kids Matters is all about us as a school, but us as a community too.
“It has been great to have a staff that is supportive of the program and what we are trying to achieve, and who are incorporating it into the classroom as well.”