All our staff across Baden Powell College are committed to supporting students with their personal wellbeing, whether it be physical, emotional, social or academic. We are committed to building a secure learning environment where all students feel culturally, emotionally and physically safe.

For more targeted support we have a team to assist students to address their individual needs. 

The wellbeing team meets with parents, talks to students individually and in small restorative groups, works with students who have learning difficulties and liaises with outside agencies and community services who are supporting the students and families who attend Baden Powell College.

The Wellbeing Team is led by Julie Mason, Assistant Principal and consists of Emma Stratton, Sarah Hamilton, Rebecca Christy and Matthew Upcott – Bayes.

Along with Julie, Emma and Sarah co-ordinate the Program for Students with Disabilities. Julie and Emma work predominately with the Prep to year 5 students and Sarah with the year 6-9 students. They all work closely with Education Support Officers who support these students daily in the classroom. Julie, Emma and Sarah also manage student attendance and are re-establishing the focus on School Wide Positive Behaviours across the college.

Rebecca Christy is our Occupational Therapist and Mental Health Practitioner. She works with individual students and small groups in both of these roles to support with the development of their fine and gross motor skills, ability to regulate emotions and develop strategies that support their health and wellbeing.

Matthew Upcott - Bayes, our Student Counsellor provides support to individual students with their mental health and wellbeing and can support families with links and referrals to agencies that can further assist our students.

Individual work includes career planning, counselling, anger management, social skills, conflict resolution, physical and mental health support, school attendance and linkage to community services.

Group Programs include social skills groups, conflict resolution, anger management, grief and loss, and teenage specific programs. There are numerous services in our community that are available to assist families, many free or low cost. The Student Wellbeing team at Baden Powell College is a good starting point. Through parent consultations; allied health professionals can be accessed such as doctors, pediatricians, psychologists, occupational therapists, behavioral optometrists, counsellors, and specialised educational services.

Additional supports also include mental health services, family support services, parenting assistance, financial assistance, legal information and advocacy, and disability services. The Social Worker at Baden Powell College is a free service and information provided is kept private and confidential.

In addition, through our school student wellbeing team, students and families at Baden Powell College can access additional support for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families, or families from an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island Background. Please contact your class teacher or a member of leadership or wellbeing, for additional information.

Occupational Therapy at BPC

Occupational Therapist, Rebecca Christy runs our occupational therapy program across both campuses. The program aims to promote optimal wellbeing, facilitate performance and participation at school and supports student’s educational goals. Programs are aimed at developing student’s fine and gross motor skills that are required for school activities such as prewriting skills, holding a pencil appropriately, and using scissors, copying from the board and handwriting as well as sensory needs, attention, concentration and organisation skills.

Our Occupational Therapist works with students of all ages and abilities however mainly focuses on early intervention with our prep-two students. In our prep grade, the Occupational Therapist runs a weekly program that starts with ‘Mat Man’ which focusses on body awareness, pre-writing skill and sequencing. The program than moves on to handwriting and utilises a multi-sensory approach which is fun and engaging for students. The students really enjoy using the “try, wet, dry” method when using blackboards to learn about letters, letter formation and the introduction of dotted thirds using “sky, grass and dirt” to assist students with correct letter placement and size. They also enjoyed starting our sessions with singing our favourite songs “Where do you start you letters? At the top!” and “The Sentence Song”. This approach kept the students engaged whilst learning handwriting and developing their fine and gross motor skills.

The grade one/two program has worked towards developing student’s handwriting skills through fun and engaging activities. These have included ‘Sentence Surgery’ which has been working on correct spacing between words, letter placement, writing on the baseline, capitals and punctuation. As well as “Rocket Writing” which has worked on increasing student’s fluency and speed whilst still focusing on neatness correct letter formation, placement and sizing. Recently we have introduced ‘OT Tubs’ in to the classroom which provides students with fun and engaging fine motor activities to help develop these skill and get their hands ready for handwriting. The occupational therapist also works with some students in small groups once a week to further support their fine and gross motor development.

Each year we also run a handwriting competition for our grade prep – two students. The competition is a great opportunity for students to show how hard they have worked over the year and display their amazing handwriting skills.
The Zones of Regulation program has been rolled out as a whole school approach to help students gain skills in self-regulation. Self-regulation can go by many names, such as self-control, self-management and impulse control. It is defined as the best state of alertness of both the body and emotions for the specific situation. For example, when a student plays on the playground or in a competitive game, it is beneficial to have a higher state of alertness. However, that same state would not be appropriate in the library. The sessions are designed to help students recognise when they are in these different “zones” as well as strategies to change or stay in the zone they are in.

The occupational therapist also works collaboratively with classroom teachers and other allied health professionals to support student’s educational goals and meet their specific needs. Classroom consultation and recommendations are also provided for materials, tools and classroom modifications to enhance student’s independence, facilitate learning and help students to function to the best of their ability.