The Wynne Centre for Health and Wellbeing

In 2015, Christ Church Grammar School established The Wynne Centre for Health and Wellbeing. The Centre embraces the whole school, from Pre-Kindergarten to Year 12 and is focused on influencing and inspiring a new generation of boys to make informed decisions regarding holistic good health and wellbeing.

• Social and emotional competency is associated with greater wellbeing and better school performance (Eisenberg, 2006; Guerra and Bradshaw, 2008)
• Improvements in the school culture mediates almost all positive student outcomes (Solomon et al, 2000)
• Relationships and emotional processes affect how and why we learn (Elias et al 1997)

At Christ Church Grammar School, we define wellbeing as the combination of feeling good and functioning well (Huppert and So, 2013), striving to make a positive difference to the world around us. Our health and wellbeing strategy complements our existing pastoral care model and is delivered across the School by focusing on teaching proactive and preventative holistic health strategies throughout a boy’s experience at Christ Church.

We aim to introduce our young men to information, followed by wisdom to expand their paradigm or mission statements and introduce them to a life that includes a proactive and preventative approach to good health, holistic wellbeing, joy, and fulfilment.

The boys’ knowledge and skills will continue to be developed through the Health and Wellbeing program (HWB). Religious education is also an important aspect of the HWB program, with students introduced to the main features of different world religions and the opportunity to examine their personal values and also the Schools.

The Wynne Centre for Health and Wellbeing will view each boy/young man across the School from the holistic perspective – their physical, mental, emotional, spiritual health and well-being. This also includes a conscious awareness component.

Collaboration is a key enabler of the program. Through collaboration the School ensures the delivery of a consistent approach and messaging regarding all aspects of the program with its students, parents and the wider community.

Giving

Giving our time, treasure and talent can provide great self worth. The act of giving helps others while adding true value to our actions and life. We are at our best when we dedicate time to projects we believe to be worthy, projects we can see help others in the School, workplace or in a voluntary capacity.

We encourage boys to work within the greater community to help others. It is these experiences that build character and promote empathy, compassion and mutual respect.

Relationships

Strong, positive relationships add a great deal to our lives. By building on the relationships around us, with friends, colleagues or family, can make a significant difference to our health and wellbeing. Positive relationships are healthy and balanced and involve listening and sharing. They take time and effort and when developed appropriately can add great worth to others lives and our own.

We understand that relationships are critical to boys learning. Boys thrive in an educational environment where they first establish positive trusting relationships with teachers whose high standards and subject mastery our students value.

Engagement

When we truly engage in our life and work, we feel motivated and inspired. We look forward to completing a job successfully and showing others what we can do.

By having momentum and focus, we enter the state of being known as ‘flow’. Our ideas and thoughts ‘flow’ and we feel positively about our achievements, gain confidence in our knowledge and actions and strive to achieve our goals.

Achievement

We encourage every boy to explore the full range of their potential. They often discover they have talent on the field, the stage, the running track or in an orchestra. In pursuit of these skills, boys develop character and understand the need for a strong work ethic and perseverance.

Our boys set goals, keep them in sight and revisit them at certain times of the year. To achieve this focus on goals the boys receive encouragement and guidance from their tutors and teachers who also encourage celebrating achievement of goals.

Health

We are interested in developing the ‘whole’ boy. In addition to academic achievement we promote wellbeing, taking a holistic perspective and inspiring boys to make informed decisions regarding their mental, emotional and spiritual health.

Our boys are taught concrete ways of applying strategies in their daily lives to develop healthy ways of living. These include forming close bonds with peers and mentors, incorporating physical activity into their busy lives and considering mindfulness and other stress management techniques to deal with the demands of life.

Emotions

Emotions have an enormous impact on our day-to-day lives. When we are feeling positive, we look forward to the activities in our day, positive about the challenges ahead and hopeful for the future. Positive emotions help us perform to the best of our ability. They strengthen our relationships and boost our physical, mental and emotional health.

It is important to recognise what makes us happy – it maybe our friends, our work, the extra curricular activities in our lives or our families. When we identify the things in our lives that make us smile, it is important that we dedicate time to them.