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If you’d like to know more about how to implement a whole school-wellbeing approach, read on to see how you can bring Visible Wellbeing to your school, fully funded by DET Victoria….
All-Staff Visible Wellbeing Program
- As Featured on the Victorian DET School Mental Health Fund Menu
Visible Wellbeing has been independently reviewed and is listed in the Be You Programs Directory. It meets the minimum evidence requirements set by Be You and has been awarded a rating for evidence and implementation.
“Visible Wellbeing has given our students a vocabulary and assisted them in developing the tools to cope and flourish.
We took the program on in recognition of the importance wellbeing has in engaging our students in learning...Visible Wellbeing provides the backbone of our ‘Values Lessons’ the whole school does three times every term. Our students develop and grow their understanding and use of the SEARCH framework to better manage their emotions and themselves. Visible Wellbeing is embedded in our Individual Education Plans for every student. Lea and the team have expertly guided and supported us through this journey.”
- Graeme Forrester, Executive Principal – Chaffey Secondary College, Mildura
A Whole-School Approach to Positive Education
Visible Wellbeing is a whole-school, evidence-based program tailored specifically for Victorian Government Schools as part of the Department of Education and Training’s Schools Mental Health Fund Menu.
Based on the science of Positive Psychology, Visible Wellbeing aligns with FISO 2.0 to provide both staff and students with a toolkit of strategies to support wellbeing and buffer against mental illness.
VWB creates a unified and consistent approach to wellbeing across the whole school. The program trains all school staff (teaching and non-teaching) in a suite of mental health strategies that builds their capacity to implement wellbeing practices into daily life at school so as to:
Foster student agency.
Provide students and staff with coping mechanisms to deal with the strains and stressors of life.
Help students and staff manage emotions.
Strengthen relationships and enhance communication skills.
Build literacy about strengths, gratitude and mindfulness
Create a common language around wellbeing, integrating practices across all areas of the school.
Your school will gain an evidence-based framework, tools to measure the wellbeing of students and staff, resources to print and use with students, 250+ activities tailored to all age groups from K-12, wellbeing guides for periods of remote learning including 120+ wellbeing activities that can delivered in virtual classrooms, newsletter excerpts and education for parents, a teaching rubric and on-demand orientation modules for new staff.
Visible Wellbeing has proudly been working with Victorian State schools since 2015.
Research Evidence for Visible Wellbeing
Visible Wellbeing has been evaluated and published in peer reviewed research journals since 2015. Outcomes of Visible Wellbeing include:
Stress recovery
Student resilience during COVID-19
Staff wellbeing
Emotional regulation
Culture of wellbeing
Wellbeing literacy
Enhancement of strengths
Positive classroom behaviour
Academic motivation
If you’d like to know more about Lea’s research click here.
VWB and FISO 2.0
VWB has been used in DET schools since 2016 and was developed to support FISO and FISO 2.0. Each of the 5 key elements of FISO 2.0 are actioned through the VWB teacher training, student resources, assessment, rubric, coaching and family communication tools.
How does the VWB Program work?
The VWB training consists of a combination of webinars and on-demand, asynchronous coursework for all your staff, alongside one-on-one coaching for your VWB Lead.
Join together as a cluster with other schools to learn from our team of facilitators in the webinars.
Staff then take a deep dive into the SEARCH pathways to wellbeing in the accompanying on-demand course.
The VWB Program takes approximately 18 months to complete.
“Armed with ample resources and engaging presentations, our school found practical and accessible ways to bring wellbeing to life.
Putting the SEARCH Framework at the centre of key decisions and innovations supported our school community to discover alternative ways of thriving, that will continue to support better educational outcomes long after we’ve returned to a ‘Covid normal’ school life.”
- Simon McIntosh, Assistant Principal,
Yarra Primary School, Melbourne
FAQs
How does our school join the VWB Program?
Download our info pack to learn more about the VWB approach.
Conduct the required DET planning, choose VWB and submit your paperwork to DET.
Receive notification that your funding is approved.
Confirm your place in the VWB program.
How much staff release time is required?
The program consists of All-Staff Training, in addition to dedicated coaching and training for your school’s VWB Leader.
You will appoint your own VWB Leader, this is best suited to a person in a position of leadership and/or with links to wellbeing/pastoral care of your school community.
ALL-STAFF Training Release Requirements
3 hours in Term 1 - Zoom workshop (plus allow for a 20 minute break)
3 hours in Term 2 - Zoom workshop (plus allow for a 20 minute break)
13 hours over the course of 18mths - ON-DEMAND, online modules
90 minute Showcase - LIVE at your school (run internally)
VWB Leader Release Requirements
3 hours coaching - 1 hour in Term 1 , Term 3 and Term 2 (the following year) - virtual meetings
3 hour Sustaining Change Workshop - Zoom workshop, towards end of the training (plus allow for a 20 minute break)
Do all our staff, teaching and non-teaching, really need to be at the live all-staff training sessions? What if they can’t make it?
Yes, the aim of the Visible Wellbeing approach to to create a common language and culture of wellbeing across all areas of your school, in the classroom, staff room, co-curricular areas, administration teams and beyond. We up-skill all adults in your school community with the tools to support their own wellbeing first, and for this reason we highly encourage all your staff to attend the two live, virtual modules.
We also acknowledge that things don’t always go according to plan, so if some staff are unable to make it on the day, there are orientation modules within the on-demand modules to help them catch-up on the training. These can also be used as orientation for new staff who come on board later.
What dates are the All-Staff training modules? Are there multiple options?
There are 2 cohorts available per year.
Cohort 1:
The first all-staff module is the first staff day of Term 1 (Victorian school dates).
The second all-staff module is first day of Term 2 (Victorian school dates).
Cohort 2:
The first all-staff module is first day of Term 3 (Victorian school dates).
The second all-staff module is first day of Term 4 (Victorian school dates).
If none of the above dates are viable options for your team, let us know and we will keep you on a waitlist should new dates be released.
