Holy Cross Catholic Primary School in Kincumber has established a KidsMatter team to further support the mental health of students.
KidsMatter is an Australian mental health and wellbeing initiative set in primary schools and early childhood education and care services. It focuses on the promotion of wellbeing, the prevention of mental disorders and aims to achieve greater support for students with mental health problems and their families. The Holy Cross Catholic Primary School KidsMatter team comprises principal Gerard McGilvray, Chris Franklin, Emily Bayliss, Karen Thompson and Alison Drury. The staff at Holy Cross will receive training in KidsMatter across two staff meetings which will provide them with an understanding of what constitutes a positive school community.
KidsMatter is funded by the Australian Government and Beyondblue and is a partnership between education and health sectors. KidsMatter Primary was developed by the Australian Government Department of Health, Beyondblue, the Australian Psychological Society, and the Principals Australia Institute in response to the high rates of school-age children with mental health difficulties. KidsMatter has been adopted in around 1,500 Australian primary schools. Research from Flinders University shows that KidsMatter has signifi cantly improved the mental health and wellbeing of students, the quality of school work and the ability of parents, carers and teachers to help children deal with problems.
Newsletter, 16 Jul 2014
Gerard McGilvray, Holy
Cross Catholic Primary
School Kincumber