Wellbeing

The St Anthony’s Mercy Keys are unique to our school and inspired by the Mercy Chrism and our patron the Venerable Catherine McAuley. The Mercy Keys of Justice, Responsibility, Loyalty, Hospitality, Compassion, Respect and Integrity are foundational and are embedded in our daily interactions and the overarching ethos of the school. 

At St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School, we believe each child will flourish in a nurturing community with a focus on building a sense of belonging and developing connections across the whole school community: the children, staff, families and wider community. St Anthony’s is a school where the dignity of each individual is embraced, and each child feels happy and safe in the school environment. 

School Counsellor

The St Anthony’s school counsellor works in partnership with students, teachers and parents/caregivers to support students’ social and emotional wellbeing. Counselling is child-focused and informed by the needs, goals and developmental level of the student. It is a voluntary process that takes place in a one-on-one setting at the school.

Our counsellor is committed to working respectfully and collaboratively with students, parents/caregivers and teachers in ways that build on students’ individual strengths, offering support and information on:

• Anxiety and depression
• Social skills
• Grief and loss
• Family issues

At St Anthony’s our R – 3 children engage in the Kimochis Program.  This program is a universal, school-based, social and emotional learning program designed to give children the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need to recognize and manage their emotions, care for others, establish positive relationships, make responsible decisions, and handle challenging situations constructively.

The Kimochi Program is a character based wellbeing program.  The characters in the Kimochi Program support children develop an understanding of  their emotions through puppetry and play in a fun and comfortable way, building self-esteem and confidence.

Kimochi lessons teach children to be:

• Respectful: Use a respectful voice, face, words and actions; listen to upset feelings
• Responsible: Speak up for self or others; admit and own mistakes
• Resilient: Work through emotion alone or with help; bounce back from difficult moments
• Compassionate and Kind: Have empathy or concern for others; look for moments to be kind to self and others

All student in Years 4 – 6  engage in the The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships wellbeing Program designed to develop students’ social, emotional and positive relationship skills.  

During the course of the year, The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships Program covers eight topics of Social and Emotional Learning including: Emotional Literacy; Personal Strengths; Positive Coping; Problem Solving; Stress Management; Help Seeking; Gender and Identity; and Positive Gender Relationships.

Our whole school approach for wellbeing is embedded in the Resilient IMPACT program. Resilient IMPACT is about empowering and building the capacity of staff and the school community to activate the wellbeing, learning and life potential of students.

Resilient IMPACT supports students to deal with the challenges of everyday life, achieve the educational and life goals and form healthy relationships with their peers, family and community.

Throughout the year there are opportunities for parents to learn more about Resilient IMPACT and to participate in wellbeing and resilience training.

At St Anthony’s children are provided the opportunity to participate in Social Groups,  designed to encourage and further develop student's social awareness, self-confidence and to build on self-esteem. Students work in small groups each week to engage and experience new social activities.