Student Wellbeing
Find direction when you need it most.
The most valuable thing we can do for our students is provide them with a safe environment to express themselves, build meaningful relationships, and support their emotional growth. This is why Mac.Rob has made a strong commitment to mental health, and incorporates strategies for building positive student engagement and pastoral care into our Connect program, Year level activities, and community engagement initiatives.
Our Wellbeing team, led by Dr. Bridget McPherson, is uniquely attuned to the needs of high-ability students. Together with Year Level Coordinators, House Leaders, and Connect teachers, our students are provided with comprehensive pastoral care, and can easily find the resources and support they need to thrive.
Throughout their time at Mac.Rob, students are invovled in the Connect program, a whole-school initiative that helps students to create new friendships, build ties to their community, and support their mental health. Replacing the traditional “form” group, Connect provides students with real-world life skills and knowledge to prepare them for challenges in, around, and beyond the classroom.
Students are able to access our team of mental health practitioners throughout their time at Mac.Rob, and resources are provided to all families in the form of webinars, newsletters, and our dedicated Student Services portal to support their child’s development and wellbeing.
Welcome to the Connect Program.
What is the Connect Program?
The Connect program is an opportunity for your child to create new friendships, build ties to their community, and support their mental health.
Connect has been developed by the Mac.Rob Wellbeing team using the latest research into how young people learn and process information, as well as direct feedback from our students. The program is designed to provide your child with real-world life skills and knowledge to help them tackle challenges in, around, and beyond the classroom.
The Connect program is focused on four key components, each contributing to an area of your child’s personal development:
Establishing their foundations for good mental health.
Developing their emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills.
Building up their strategies for resilience.
Expanding their capacity for independence.
How do students Connect?
The Connect Program involves a series of structured workshops, personal development activities, and engagement opportunities with your child’s teachers, classmates, and the wider community. These activities will work towards developing a greater understanding of your child’s passions, their interests, and their relationship to the world around them.
The Connect program is closely aligned with our four school values of community, growth, responsibility, and compassion. These values form the foundation of everything we do at Mac.Rob, from the way we learn, teach, and interact, to the way we engage with co-curricular programs and the wider community.
How do families Connect?
Families are an essential element of the Connect program. The best way to help your child engage with Connect is to be open and curious about the program. Talk regularly to your child about Connect; “How did you connect today?” is an excellent conversation starter.
Ask your child about what they have focussed on, what activities they’ve participated in, and what they’ve been learning.Encourage your child to have a growth mindset; ask them how they feel about the different activity topics, and whether they’ve led to any changes, reflections, or insights. The more you talk about Connect, the stronger your child’s engagement will be!
"Connect is designed specifically for Mac.Robbians. Connect is interesting, nurturing, supportive, and fun! We are really excited to introduce this program to our school community, and we hope that our students benefit greatly from it."
- Bridget McPherson, Head of Wellbeing & Engagement
Little Lessons | Film & Podcast Series
Welcome to Little Lessons - a series of short films and an accompanying podcast created for parents, carers and family members of Mac.Rob students. Little Lessons has a specific focus on wellbeing, and the role wellbeing plays in student learning. Wellbeing and learning are inextricably linked - students can’t learn well if they don’t feel well, and they can’t feel well if they’re not learning well.
While this podcast is designed primarily for our students and families, it discusses ideas and concepts that are universal. Feel free to share the podcast with friends or family members, even if they’re not a direct part of our Mac.Rob community, if you think they may find it interesting or helpful.
Hosted Dr. Bridget McPherson, a psychologist who works specifically with children and young people. She is also the Head of Wellbeing and Engagement at Mac.Rob. Her role at our school is to lead our strategy for optimising our students’ mental health, and preventing them from experiencing mental health difficulties. In the Little Lessons learning resources, she’ll discuss some of the ways we do this, and explore approaches that may be useful to you in your life as a parent, carer, or educator of young people.