Pastoral Care
Pastoral Care Program Rationale
The St Patrick’s College pastoral care program encompasses an inclusive community, where the dignity of each person is nurtured as a child formed in the image of God, where students develop and foster right relationships and are committed to the common good. (taken from EREA Charter)
The pastoral care program is designed to develop the whole person. Students have the opportunity to enhance their social and emotional wellbeing through gaining skills in self-awareness, emotional intelligence, self-regulation and resilience. (taken from DEECD Principles for Wellbeing)
The pastoral care program provides a sequenced curriculum from year 7 to 12, focused on developing the whole person, with the broad objective of developing and enhancing student work ethic, behaviour, resilience, and academic results. The program centers around the model of social and emotional learning (SEL). SEL curriculum is designed to assist students in building resilience, making good decisions, coping skills, managing conflict and emotions. As a sub-set of the core SEL curricula, students will also gain an understanding in building and maintaining respectful relationships, cyber safety, child protection, and mindfulness.
Whole School Pastoral Care Program – Smiling Mind
Mindfulness meditation is a core element of the broader pastoral care program, allowing students the time and space to focus on improving their wellbeing and happiness, as well as decreasing any stress or anxiety related to school study and daily college life. The Smiling Mind package is specifically designed for school students, where 13,000 education providers use the program in classrooms. The Headspace (UK) program is an award winning mindfulness package.
Link: http://smilingmind.com.au/our-programs/
Link: https://www.headspace.com/
Our Pastoral Care program will contain the following:
Year 7 Pastoral Care Program
Term 1: Building Resilience
Building Resilience is a Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) program that has been developed by the Youth Research Centre at the Graduate School of Education at The University of Melbourne. SEL programs include curricula used to explicitly teach emotional literacy, coping and problem-solving skills. SEL involves the processes through which children and adults develop, extend and enhance the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to understand, manage and communicate about their own emotions, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, set and work towards positive goals, draw on a repertoire of positive coping strategies, think critically about the influences on their choices, and make responsible decisions.
Building Resilience is designed to build students’ resilience through the development of their personal and social capabilities. Resilience is the ability to cope and thrive in the face of negative events, challenges or adversity. Key attributes of resilience at an individual level include social competence; a sense of agency or responsibility; optimism and a sense of purpose or hope for the future; attachment to family, to school and to learning; problem-solving skills; effective coping style; pro-social values; a sense of self-efficacy; and positive self-regard. Year 7 students will specifically focus on developing emotional literacy, personal strengths and positive coping skills.
Term 2: Keeping Safe 
In the junior school, students will learn about rights and responsibilities in relationships, power in relationships, abuse in electronic media, and bullying as an abuse of power
Term 3: Let’s Stop Bullying
Let’s Stop Bullying is an educational package that provides junior secondary students with the tools to deal with bullying, or recognise the bully in themselves is the first step in overcoming instances of bullying. Students will learn to recognise the signs of bullying, understand its impacts and learn what they can do about it. The package includes fifteen activity worksheets, covering five capabilities, which align with AusVELS. These include critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability, intercultural understanding, and ethical understanding.
Link: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/special-features/news-in-education/bullying-all-new-education-resource-from-the-herald-suns-education-team/news-story/392fad53d4592736e3225e7f62aaedec
Term 4: Cybersafety
During the Year 7 Pastoral Care program unit on cyberbullying, students will utilise the Commonsense Media curriculum, which is an educational package that navigates digital concepts such as cyberbullying, privacy, safety, copyright, strategic searching, and other digital dilemmas which enable students to learn positive behaviours surrounding the use of digital devices and digital media. Students will also utilise the Keeping Safe curriculum, where students will learn about electronic media abuse, with regards to both the internet and digital devices.
Year 8 Pastoral Care Program
Term 1: Building Resilience
Building Resilience is a Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) program that has been developed by the Youth Research Centre at the Graduate School of Education at The University of Melbourne. SEL programs include curricula used to explicitly teach emotional literacy, coping and problem-solving skills. SEL involves the processes through which children and adults develop, extend and enhance the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to understand, manage and communicate about their own emotions, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, set and work towards positive goals, draw on a repertoire of positive coping strategies, think critically about the influences on their choices, and make responsible decisions. Building Resilience is designed to build students’ resilience through the development of their personal and social capabilities. Resilience is the ability to cope and thrive in the face of negative events, challenges or adversity. Key attributes of resilience at an individual level include social competence; a sense of agency or responsibility; optimism and a sense of purpose or hope for the future; attachment to family, to school and to learning; problem-solving skills; effective coping style; pro-social values; a sense of self-efficacy; and positive self-regard. Year 8 students will specifically focus on developing skills in problem solving, stress management and help-seeking.
Term 2 and 3: Keeping Safe
In the junior school, students will learn about rights and responsibilities in relationships, power in relationships, abuse in electronic media, and bullying as an abuse of power
Term 4: Cybersafety
During the Year 7 Pastoral Care program unit on cyberbullying, students will utilise the Commonsense Media curriculum, which is an educational package that navigates digital concepts such as cyberbullying, cyber-scams and schemes, online personas and digital footprints, which will enable students to learn positive behaviours surrounding the use of digital devices and digital media. Students will also utilise the Keeping Safe curriculum, where students will learn about electronic media abuse, with regards to concepts such as sexting and legal implications.
Year 9 Pastoral Care Program
Whole Year: The Rite Journey
The Rite Journey is a unique educational program designed to support the development of self-aware, vital, responsible, respectful, and resilient adults. The program is focused on the important transition from childhood to adulthood, which typically occurs in the middle years of secondary schooling. This year-long program uses a Rite of Passage framework to deepen the students’ experience of this important life transition. Throughout the school year, students engage in this program through six key concepts; consciousness, connection, communication, celebration, and challenge. Each of these concepts are explored within term length topics: Relationship with self, Relationship with others, Relationship with spirit, and Relationship with the world.
Link: http://theritejourney.com
Year 10 Pastoral Care Program
Whole Year: The Resilience Project
The Resilience Project is an evidence based educational program which utilises practical strategies to promote positive mental health. Students will initially attend a whole-day workshop, led by staff from The Resilience Project and Pastoral Care Tutors, which will be followed by lessons over the course of the academic year with the students’ Pastoral Care Tutor. These lessons are focused on concepts such as character strengths, empathy, gratitude, mindfulness and emotional literacy, which are explored under personal and social capabilities, such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and social management.
Link: http://theresilienceproject.com.au
Year 11 Pastoral Care Program
Whole Year: Men of Honour
Men of Honour is educational package created by Glen Gerreyn, which focuses on the concept that being born a male doesn’t entitle you to automatically call yourself a man, that being a man is a choice. Being a good man is defined through the choices young men make. This program will commence with an all-day workshop. This workshop will include A Day of Hope, which is based on building a hope-filled future through contextualising the effects of external influences as well as encouraging critically thinking to counteract negativity, which will lead to students making healthy, informed choices. The workshop will also include Men of Honour, which focuses on boys negotiating a very complex landscape of masculinity and determine how to become a good man, with regards to the portrayal of men in the media and the subsequent affects on male identity, as well as discussions surrounding exercise, nutrition, money and sex. This workshop will be followed by lessons with the students’ pastoral care tutor throughout the school year.
Link: http://thehopefullinstitute.com
Year 12 Pastoral Care Program
Building Resilience is a Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) program that has been developed by the Youth Research Centre at the Graduate School of Education at The University of Melbourne. SEL programs include curricula used to explicitly teach emotional literacy, coping and problem-solving skills. SEL involves the processes through which children and adults develop, extend and enhance the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to understand, manage and communicate about their own emotions, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, set and work towards positive goals, draw on a repertoire of positive coping strategies, think critically about the influences on their choices, and make responsible decisions. Building Resilience is designed to build students’ resilience through the development of their personal and social capabilities. Resilience is the ability to cope and thrive in the face of negative events, challenges or adversity. Key attributes of resilience at an individual level include social competence; a sense of agency or responsibility; optimism and a sense of purpose or hope for the future; attachment to family, to school and to learning; problem-solving skills; effective coping style; pro-social values; a sense of self-efficacy; and positive self-regard.
Year 12 students will specifically focus on contextualising the emotional landscape in their final year of schooling, developing study strengths, coping strategies and stress management, and utlising relaxation techniques.
