Student Wellbeing

Mackellar Primary School’s beliefs about behaviour and learning are supported by our school Values which are aligned with School-wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS). Students are explicitly taught to strive to achieve their personal best, whilst demonstrating the values of:

Mackellar Primary School is excited to be a registered Be You school. Be You is a National Education initiative committed to building early learning and school capacity to promote positive mental health and wellbeing for children from the early years to 18 years. 

The Be You framework prevention and early intervention initiative recognises the important role that parents and carers play in the lives of their children.  To make a positive difference to the mental health and wellbeing of our students, Mackellar Primary School encourages effective working relationships between school staff, parents and carers, mental health services and the broader community. 

Mackellar Primary School is committed to:

• Promoting a positive school community where there is a strong sense of belonging and inclusion
• Providing social and emotional learning for students
• Supporting parents, carers and families to support their children’s learning and mental health and wellbeing, and
• Providing early intervention for students experiencing mental health difficulties.

There are five key components to the Be You Framework:

• Mentally Healthy Communities
• Family Partnerships
• Learning Resilience
• Responding Together
• Early Support

Mackellar Primary School is recognised by the Alannah and Madeline Foundation as a Better Buddies showcase school due to our successful integration of the Better Buddies Program. The program delivers positive anti-bullying and anti-violence messages and assists Mackellar Primary School in maintaining a caring culture where older students look after younger students. Our Wellbeing Team plan a Better Buddies yearly overview as a preventative program and whole school approach to promoting pro-social skills, positive student relationships and community connectedness.

Mackellar Primary School is committed to the eSmart Schools Program. An initiative by the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, eSmart is a whole-school approach designed to educate, track, monitor and prevent cybersafety and cyberbullying.

The eSmart Schools program assists us by providing:

• an effective road map to guide schools in developing a sustainable whole-school approach to cybersafety, cyberbullying and bullying
• direct web access to the best cybersafety resources from Australia and throughout the world
• a flexible system that our school can adapt for our own specific needs
• a comprehensive gap analysis tool acknowledging existing school cybersafety practices
• the framework to create a positive school culture and protect children from cyber-risks
• a record to track and record eSmart activities and progress
• resources, policies and guidelines are adapted for all states, territories and education systems – saving time and reducing duplication, and ongoing training and support.

Guides for Parents

These are the social media platforms that children are interested in. Please click on the icon to find out more information about each platform.

The following links provides further information about eSmart:

• https://www.esmart.org.au/esmart-schools/what-is-esmart-schools/
• Here are some links to useful information, activities and advice about cybersafety:
• https://esafety.gov.au
• https://www.cybersafekids.com.au

iParent – New eSafety guidance for parents

As a parent or carer, it can be difficult keeping up with young people and technology, or even knowing when to start the conversation about online safety in your household.

We’re here to help—check out our new eSafety guidance for parents of preschoolers that covers things like what to consider before giving your child their first smartphone, as well as offering practical tips on managing their first device.

• eSafety for Parents
• Cyberbullying
• Online Safety for Pre-School Children
• Your Child’s First Mobile Phone

Mackellar Primary School is proud to be a lead school in the Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships initiative. The purpose of the Respectful Relationships Education is to support schools in promoting and modelling respect, positive attitudes and behaviours, and to teach our young people how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence.

Everyone in our community deserves to be respected, valued and treated equally. We know that respectful attitudes and behaviours can be achieved when positive attitudes, behaviours and equality are embedded in our education settings. Respectful Relationships is about fostering a culture of respect and equality across our entire community, from our classrooms to staffrooms, sporting fields and social events. This whole school approach leads to positive impacts on student’s academic outcomes, their mental health, classroom behaviour, and relationships between teachers and students.

The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships (RRRR) learning materials cover eight topics of Social and Emotional Learning across all levels of primary and secondary education:

You may have heard your child talk about Mindfulness and the Smiling Mind App which is being used in many classrooms at Mackellar as part of our social and emotional learning program.