By Rachel Curry
St Simon Peter Catholic Primary School in Ocean Reef has been presented with an award for its leading role in looking after children’s mental health and well-being.
The school is the first primary school in the northern Perth metropolitan region, and one of only six schools in WA, to be recognised as a KidsMatter school.
KidsMatter is a national framework developed by the health and education sectors in response to the high rates of children with mental health difficulties and the problems they encounter in obtaining assistance.
Funded by the Australian Government and Beyond Blue, it takes a whole-school approach to mental health, focusing on four components: a positive school community, social and emotional learning, working with parents and carers, and helping students with mental health difficulties.
St Simon Peter Principal Shane Baker said the school had been involved with KidsMatter from the initiative’s inception, becoming a pilot school in 2007.
“It’s not so much a specific program, it’s more of a philosophical understanding that all of those areas are critical for the mental health and well-being of children,” he said.
“We’re now in the next phase, which is working with teachers and trying to make that framework underpin everything we do here.”
Mr Baker explained they signed up with KidsMatter after noticing an increase in students with difficulties such as anxiety, boundary and discipline issues, and a lack of resilience.
“The emerging issues in primary schools, for us, anyway, is not so much literacy and numeracy anymore but the mental health and well-being of students,” he said.
“We’ve been very conscious of that from our experiences with some students and families…That’s why the KidsMatter framework helps in recognising kids that need help.”
The school has a KidsMatter action team, led by social worker Laura Pope, which explores new ways to enhance whole school well-being and pastoral care.
One recent improvement is the introduction of a half-hour pastoral care session on Monday afternoons, where the students mix with different age groups and learn about values such as self-control.
Mr Baker said in a school as large as St Simon Peter, which has about 800 students, these sessions helped to break down barriers and make children feel welcomed and safe.
The school has also developed an award-winning program called Ignite, which attempts to re-engage students who don’t enjoy school.
“That’s had great success in terms of those kids thinking school is a great place and essentially realising that someone likes them at school, and they begin to like themselves a bit better as well,” he said.
In response to the pressing question about why so many children are presenting with mental health difficulties, Mr Baker said the reasons were complex.
However, he noted the trend did not seem to be going away, which is why initiatives such as KidsMatter were so important.
“I’ve been a principal for 30 years in schools and often I get asked the question, ‘Have kids changed?’ I don’t think they have,” he said.
“What has changed is what’s going on around them. Parenting has changed, technology’s changed, social media has changed, travel is easier and cheaper, so there are a lot of outside influences that do come into play in schools, but also in the home.”
For more information on KidsMatter, visit www.kidsmatter.edu.au.