The Power of Human Connection

Friendships give us the sense of belonging, build self-esteem and develop our social skills. Forming and maintaining friendships increases our overall happiness and sense of belonging. They improve self-confidence and self-worth and help young people to develop important life skills. 30 July was the International Day of Friendship, proclaimed in 2011 by the UN General Assembly with the idea that friendship between peoples, countries, cultures and individuals can inspire peace efforts and build bridges between communities. 

Throughout this week, Kilbreda students were provided with opportunities to form connections with others by sharing time with friends enjoying a cup of hot chocolate at recess, attending the Community Action breakfast in the Kildare Centre before school and working together to create friendship bracelets for a friend during lunchtime.

Connection with our Student body and the Community

Our Leadership Program provides another avenue to drive human connection.  Our Student Leadership groups consist of two students from each year level led by the Year 12 Leaders.  These groups meet every Friday morning at 8:10am to discuss how to provide a welcoming, safe, engaging and inclusive environment for each valued member of the Kilbreda.  Below is an update from each leadership group.

Living Justice 

We have been keeping busy as part of the Living Justice Group, having already achieved this year a successful Easter raffle to raise money for Caritas, celebrations for NAIDOC Week and an Assembly for Refugee Week. Currently, we are supporting and collecting goods for BASP and look forward to launching the ‘Happy Box’ project later in the term. We want to thank everyone in the College community for supporting all of our initiatives and we can’t wait to see what else we do as a part of this year! 

Ella Bater and Mietta Pooley
Year 12

Student Representative Council

The SRC team meets every Friday morning to discuss issues and concerns around the school, as well as ways to contribute to the wider community. We have implemented an initiative to raise money for the Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project, which is selling hot chocolate for $1, in a reusable cup that students bring as an alliance with helping to promote sustainable practices. This will occur most Thursdays in the Meeting Room at recess, and we look forward to the contributions of our peers towards a good cause, all whilst enjoying a hot chocolate away from the cold weather! 

We are currently in the process of planning our much awaited Brigidine Day. This is our most exciting event to plan. We cannot wait to see what our SRC group comes up with to make this Brigidine Day an enjoyable one.

Erin Carroll and Madi Gatt
Year 12

Community Action

The Community Action team has been hard at work coming up with ideas for ways to strengthen the sense of belonging for everyone at school. Our amazing team members have been brainstorming ways to bring the whole school together during our meetings held on Friday mornings. We are excited to announce the return of our breakfasts that occur on a Wednesday morning and are open to every year level coming and having some food to fuel up for the day, which is so important to do, but of course, is easy to forget when rushing out the door for buses and trains.

We have recently been having discussions on safety and wellbeing at the school, which we hope to look at further. The team has also supported the activities that have been running for Friendship Week, such as friendship bracelet making. In our upcoming meetings we will be planning our next initiatives, so keep an eye on SIMON for fun things to come!

Shannen Carty and Amy Goodchild
Year 12

Health and Wellbeing

Our Health and Wellbeing team has been focusing on how we can make Kilbreda an even more accepting and inclusive place. We have started to establish a diversity group at Kilbreda for all to feel safe and have a sense of belonging. We are doing a fundraiser for MND with a goal to reach, then we’ll do the ‘Ice Bucket’ challenge.

We will be painting a fun colourful leaf path to the Wellbeing Centre, so that people know where they can find support and that it’s not something to be scared or ashamed of. We are currently circulating daily affirmation cards made by students around the school and will be taking part in a ‘Wear Purple’ day later this August. We are privileged with what our team has been able to achieve and are excited to see how the rest of the year travels 😊

Kate Girvan and Holly McDonald
Year 12

Sustainability

Lots has been going on in the world of Sustainability during the past couple of weeks, and there are some super exciting things coming up really soon, too!  Sustainability ‘Power Rangers’ have been on the loose since Week 2, cracking down on electricity usage from the heaters and lights in classrooms. Prizes have been awarded to the most sustainable classrooms, but there is still until the end of Week 5 to win a prize.   After months of planning, our ‘Great Kilbreda Clothes Swap’ is finally happening! This Friday August 5th is the big event, and we can’t wait to see all of our plans finally come to fruition.

Sarah Donlon and Alex Bonsall
Year 12

Connection – We Belong Together

Uniform

Our school uniform gives students a sense of belonging.  Wearing a uniform shows unity and identity. In much the same way that sport followers wear their team colours, a uniform builds a sense of community.

Recently, on the Year 9 BRIDGES to City excursion, students reported that they were easily accepted by members of the community because of their uniform. Year 9 students are currently in the City of Melbourne exploring and researching our connection with the city.  

All students are required to wear the full winter uniform at all times, except when they have scheduled PE or other activity classes.  We have been working with students to demonstrate that sense of belonging by wearing their academic uniform to classes and only wearing their PE uniform on the days when they have timetabled active classes.

We look forward to your support as together we build this sense of community.

Suzanne Grima
Student Wellbeing Leader: Years 7 to 9
Jane Delahunty
Student Wellbeing Leader: Years 10 to 12
Acting Assistant Principals: Wellbeing and Engagement