Category Archives: Career and School Counselling
It’s all good because of you!
H.I.S. Affirmation Station
Walking past the H.I.S. Affirmation Station will leave you feel lifted up and loved. Stop bye and surf the wave of happiness!
Many thanks to our Whole School Counsellor.
Child Protection Workshop
H.I.S. welcomed regional resource counsellor Zoe Spranger, to a Child Protection parent workshop this week.
Our policies and procedures on Child Protection are a culmination of extensive training that has worked to remind us all of the important role we play in a disclosure situation.
Zoe helped us to get a deeper understanding of:
- Child protection measures at H.I.S.
- How H.I.S. works with regional services
- Which assistance families are offered
You can find all of the information from the workshop and more in the H.I.S. Child Protection Handbook located in the internal section of our website. Thank you to all who participated and contributed to this valuable discussion.
LF
Nutrition Workshop
Our latest parent workshop provided by the Student Support Team focused on the power of the food we eat and the impact of nutrition throughout our lives.
Caroline Ackermann, a regional, nutritional expert and consultant provided a deeper understanding of the important building blocks within our diets that promote greater physical and mental well-being.
She was able to answer many questions that motivated all of us to be mindful of the food we eat and to continue to work within our families to develop healthy food choices.
If you would like see more about the resources Ms. Ackermann presented last Friday, you can find it here .
LF
Healthy Relationships
For Valentine’s Day this year, Grade 11 students wrote 10 signs of a healthy relationship on the windows of our school.
As Valentine’s Day is a time when new relationships may spark, the students were reminded of what makes a healthy relationship. The focus of these 10 points were mutual respect, loyalty, trust, comfort and fun. Although this was mainly targeted at our students, these signs are necessary reminders for anyone, as healthy and happy relationships lead to a healthy and happy life.
This action was a CAS activity carried out by Grade 11 supported by the H.I.S. Whole School Counsellor.
We have heard from numerous students that they appreciated this display and thought it was a good reminder for anyone in school. Hopefully, our students have been able to read these messages and absorb them and slowly apply them in their own lives.
-Elsa, Grade 11
Resilience Throughout Child Development
Workshop with special guest
On Friday, 14th October, Dr. Schmidt held a workshop on “Resilience Throughout Child Development”. Dr. Schmidt is a child- and youth psychiatrist and psychotherapist in Heidelberg. She has many years of experience and was able to share her knowledge with us in a very informative and interactive workshop.
Resilience is the ability to bounce back quickly from a difficult life event. Since parents play a big role in a child’s ability to recover quickly after a stressful moment, Dr. Schmidt gave some ideas of how to help children to build up resilience.
One of those ideas was “loving kindness”. A parent should fully concentrate on their child for 5-10 minutes each day. By observing and addressing what a parent sees and observes, you connect with your child, which leads into building up a feeling of warmth, trust and love. You can do this by playing a round of UNO with your child or when you pick up your child from school. It is important that you spend those 5-10 minutes daily and that your child is the centre of attention.
Thanks to everyone who attended the workshop and many thanks to our Whole School Counsellor, for organising this event.
SH
Reading Literacy
October 5th is recognised by the UN as Teacher Day. This year the focus is around teachers in education recovery.
In spirit of wonderful teachers around the globe and at H.I.S., our parents were treated to a small talk around reading literacy from Anna Roscoe.
Anna is an H.I.S. parent, the literacy lead for the school and has lead efforts with staff and students to facilitate literacy skills across the developmental spectrum.
Parents reviewed approaches to reading with children, young and older as well as guided discussion around what works for them as they approach reading at home.
Next week on Friday, October 14th, at 8:45, our Student Support Team will continue the discussion with special local guest and therapeutic resource, Dr. Katharina Schmidt who will share her insight on “Resilience across the Developmental Ages.”
So spread the word, come and join us and bring a new or returning member of our community with you.
LF
Transitions Workshop
Workshop Invitation
How to declutter and organise your house
Equality, Inclusion & Relationships Workshop
Guest Speaker: Susie March
At the Heidelberg Tankturm, our Grade 11 students participated in a social-emotional counselling workshop facilitated by Susie March. The workshop allowed the large class to explore equality for persons; over a spectrum of gender, sexual orientation, race and with a disability.
They explored what can negatively affect inclusion by defining stereotypes and their origins coupled with the kinds of damage prejudices can cause across culture and experience. With this foundation, the class worked together to construct a healthy, trusting relationship between two persons. Then the groups discussed principles that sustain intimate relationships and allow deeper connections to thrive. This gave us a strong, useful foundation in order to better see some of the unhealthy signs that can lead to discord, abuse and imbalance.
So what truly make our current and future relationships healthy?
Trust, communication, mutual appreciation and a loving awareness of the needs of our partners and friends.
Thank you future H.I.S. Class of 2023 for a lovely morning of discussion.
LF