Approach to student wellbeing

Brisbane Catholic Education seeks to create quality learning opportunities for all students and to grow engagement, progress, achievement and wellbeing.

Student protection

Brisbane Catholic Education is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all students and the protection of students from harm and abuse. With a culture that student protection is everyone’s responsibility, our employees seek to prevent abuse and harm to students and respond appropriately to students who have been abused or harmed or are at risk of being abused or harmed.

In 2019, a review of Student Protection Processes and Guidelines was completed to assure appropriate responses are made when matters of student protection come to the attention of staff. These processes ensure that steps taken by Brisbane Catholic Education staff in schools and the office result in prompt, professional, sensitive and appropriate action.

Connection and belonging

In 2019, Brisbane Catholic Education partnered with external organisations to trial student mental health and wellbeing initiatives:

• The Youth Mental Health First Aid training course was developed for rollout in 2020. This course aims to build the capability of teachers and other staff to respond to the mental health needs of students, and promotes a whole of school approach with a continuum of supports. Staff are given the confidence and skills to identify mental health concerns in students and make appropriate referrals and adjustments in the classroom.
• In partnership with Griffith University, Brisbane Catholic Education trialled an evidenced-based online tool to measure the social and emotional wellbeing in primary school students. The program is an integrated system with a game app to engage students and a user management and administrator dashboard.
• SchoolTV is a world first and Australia’s leading innovative resource to address the key issues affecting young people today. Spearheaded by the youth psychologist, Dr Michael Carr Gregg, SchoolTV has addressed more than 30 mental health and wellbeing topics to date, including interviews with many leading specialists. SchoolTV is available to school communities and is designed to inform and empower schools and parents with independent and fact-based information.

Festival of ideas

The inaugural Festival of Ideas provided a platform for secondary students to discuss the issues that impacted their educational experience, including safety and belonging, curriculum, facilities and student voice. Students collaborated in action teams and pitched action plans to their peers, including the establishment of a Student Voice Team in 2020. The festival was successful in valuing and respecting the contributions of students to make schools safe, inclusive and student focused.