Wellbeing

Our school environment welcomes and respects people from all backgrounds.

Student wellbeing encompasses everything that the school community does to meet the personal and social needs of students. It involves recognising, valuing, developing and supporting each student to maximise their potential.

The school provides a strong wellbeing network based upon caring and guidance.

The Cherrybrook Technology High School wellbeing system is evaluated and strengthened with weekly meetings for the Wellbeing team members and ongoing monitoring of the students identified by the team. Our counsellors play an important role in the mental health and well-being of our students.

A key responsibility of the Wellbeing and Learning Support Teams is to provide support for our funded students and to manage integration programs for our students with disabilities. Cherrybrook Technology High School’s Learning Support Team manage the support of students with a variety of support needs, including those with cerebral palsy, Autism Spectrum Disorder and specific learning disabilities. In addition, those students identified by the Learning Support Team (LST) as having high learning, literacy and social needs receive specific support. These students are supported by the Learning and Support Teacher (LaST) and School Learning Support Officers (SLSOs) through classroom mentoring, lunchtime homework and wellbeing clubs, programs targeting specific identified needs, elective classes to help students prepare for the transition into the HSC, and the differentiation of the curriculum in consultation with classroom teachers and the LST.

Anti-bullying

Anti-bullying (including cyber-bullying) strategies are clearly communicated to all students to ensure that the school is a safe environment. Performances by outside presenters such as Class Act Theatre’s ‘Bully Buster’ and Bamboo Theatre’s ‘Cyber Shorts’ highlight a number of issues that are relevant to defining bullying and its impact on individuals. The Anti-Bullying ‘Other Interest Group’ has now become a Wellbeing Initiatives group that assesses the existing programs in order to meet the changing needs of students. The Rock and Water group has successfully implemented their resilience activities and teaching into the existing program. The Wellbeing Initiatives group is looking to extend the process of communicating strategies for dealing with bullying to students and teachers.

Camps are held for Stages 4, 5 and 6 to focus on setting challenges and goals appropriate to the age of the students and to build on the programs established at Cherrybrook Technology High School.

Our Peer Support Leaders have embraced the Rock and Water initiative work with the program leaders at the Year 7 camp. Our Leaders are taught to lead by example and to support our trained Rock and Water staff during the Resilience Program.