A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
As a Health & Physical Education teacher from waaaay back, I’ve always had a passion for PE and seen it as being a vital part of any well-balanced school curriculum. However, it seems to be common practice for schools to reduce the amount of time kids spend doing physical activity as soon as it is [...]
Leaders aren’t born – they become leaders through experience and opportunity. Young people need genuine opportunities to test drive what it feels like to be in the leader’s seat. Right now – there’s a great opportunity for primary and secondary students around the country to get a practical lesson in leadership that they won’t forget! [...]
It is a website renowned for vicious and offensive postings with guaranteed anonymity, and yet teenagers are flocking to Ask.fm. Welcome to the new ground zero of cyberbullying for high school students. "Nothing surpasses Ask.fm at the moment for nastiness among students. Nothing," cyber safety expert Susan McLean said. - Cosima Marriner via Seeking answers on [...]
You know that NAPLAN is just around the corner each year when the media start trotting out the same old stories about kids being stressed by the tests, teachers teaching to the tests or worse – teachers and students colluding to cheat the tests! This year it will be different ACARA says. Schools [...]
The Mental Stillness program is a simple strategy that is aimed at providing students with a secular, meditation-based skill to enhance resilience and wellbeing. The technique has undergone extensive scientific evaluation in Australia as part of the Meditation Research Programme (previously at the UNSW but now at Sydney University). We have now begun exploring formats [...]
Teaching young women how to face their fears is succeeding in reducing anxiety and depression among Sydney schoolgirls. Macquarie University is tracking 2000 teenage girls for four years to identify which genetic, environmental and cognitive factors influence the development of anxiety and depression, and what works to prevent these conditions. Anxiety and depression are the [...]
It’s widely accepted that it is a fundamental requirement for student to feel safe and supported at school. In order to help schools to address this, The National Safe Schools Framework was developed and furthermore the Safe Schools Hub is a really useful website that has been developed to support schools in with stage-appropriate advice [...]
Last week an article on the Generation Next Blog discussed how schools are struggling to deal with the perceived rise in teenage “binge drinking.” Having been a high school teacher my whole professional life I have seen first hand how schools are expected to take an increasing responsibility in teaching students about these kids [...]
Principals reported that student use of alcohol outside of school time was the third most important student issue they had to deal with – only depression and cyber bullying were more significant. This demonstrates that alcohol remains a big problem for school students even when their overall rates of drinking are in decline. Alcohol problems [...]
Teachers are spending a significant amount of class time dealing with problems related to weekend alcohol and drug abuse, according to the results of a national survey. The report by the National Council on Drugs reveals an education system where teachers are battling to get students to pay attention in class after weekends of partying. [...]
