College guides growth

The sessions provide a safe and happy environment for children to learn, play and develop language communication among various other skills.

Playgroup co-ordinator, and current Foundation teacher, Peta Bibby said the program also gave upcoming students of St Augustine’s an opportunity to build friendships with one another, making a scary transition into school a positive change for young children.

“When they feel comfortable around us, and when they come in with some of their Kinder friends, it makes it easier for kids if they are familiar with the environment,” Ms Bibby said.

This week’s theme of playgroup, which changes every session, was ‘Mud, Dirt, and Rock’, where children could have a hands-on and involved experience.

“We had mud painting, little diggers set up in the sand, playdough with rocks, and some gumboot colouring,” Ms Bibby said.

“They were engaged the whole time, and they were really happy and having fun,” she said.

Now, skip 10 years or so, and you will find yourself sitting in front of Michelle Downie and Brad Downie, the senior school coordinators in charge of Years 9 to 12.

Michelle Downie takes charge of the wellbeing of the students, while Brad Downie handles the students’ learning.

Michelle Downie emphasised the importance of the wellbeing of the students and said that they had implemented programs, such as ‘The Resilience Project’, to begin the students’ day and set them off on the right foot.

‘The Resilience Project’ is a program that provides evidence-based mental health strategies to build students’ resilience and happiness.

“It’s a really good program to help with emotional literacy, as well as set the students up with the language they can use when they are not feeling great,” Mrs Downie said.

“We survey our students every year through the Resilient Youth Survey, and our longitude data is really healthy.

“What we’ve found is that it’s something that the kids value, and the data has shown us that there has been an improvement with the program in place,” she said.

St Augustine’s College provides education opportunities that allows students to pursue varied pathways including, VCE, VET and VCE-Vocational Major.

When setting up senior students for the future, Brad Downie said there was no shortage of opportunities.

One recent success story was a student who graduated with a VCE and decided to move into the armed forces after school.

“He wasn’t necessarily a high achiever academically, but he was someone who was just a genuine kid who just tried his guts out,” Mr Downie said.

“He came back to visit after graduation, and we were able to ask him to act as a bit of a mentor ... he just took the time to sit down and talk with the students.

“It was really lovely to see him,” he said.

Mr Downie said St Augustine’s encouraged students to try out subjects or VET courses they are interested in, whether that be hairdressing or engineering.

“Our holistic approach to education provides them with an enormous amount of opportunity to set themselves up for what life looks like after school, depending upon their chosen pathway,” Mr Downie said.

Visit the St Augustine’s College website for more information.

The playgroup runs every Wednesday from 9:15 am to 10:30 am; parents are encouraged to register interest by emailing Peta Bibby.