A Place to Flourish
At Westminster, we are committed to creating an environment where students thrive and flourish academically, physically, socially, and emotionally. As part of this, each week our students participate in the Wellbeing@Prep program. This program is based on positive psychology to continue to build student’s skills and knowledge around wellbeing and social and emotional growth. The Wellbeing@Prep program is evidence based, data driven, age-appropriate and developmentally sequenced to support our student’s needs.
Positive Education Enhanced Curriculum
The Positive Education Enhanced Curriculum is a research-based explicit Positive Education curriculum that has been developmentally sequenced from Early Learning through to Year 12. It is based on the PERMAH model, which stands for Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment, and Health. This framework, developed by world-renowned psychologist Martin Seligman, helps individuals live a fulfilling life.
PERMAH Model
Students learn about the following topics throughout the year.
Positive Relationships
Encompass empathy, compassion, forgiveness, kindness, leadership, teamwork and connections
Positive Emotions
Encompass emotional intelligence, gratitude, positivity and self-control
Positive Health
Encompasses creativity, physical wellbeing, self-knowledge and resilience
Positive Engagement
Encompasses creativity, curiosity, interest, flow and motivation
Positive Accomplishment
Encompasses goal orientation, grit, persistence and mindsets
Positive Purpose
Encompasses caregiving, character development, core values and sense of meaning
Wellbeing in the Classroom
Every morning, students are welcomed into the classroom by their class teacher at 8.30 am. This is a time to connect, ready for the day ahead, so it is important that each child arrives prior to the bell at 8.45 am. Each week, students work through a Wellbeing@Prep lesson where the focus can be on kindness and connections, self-control, growth mindset, or any of the topics as listed below. Class teachers implement this lesson based on multiple reasonings. It could be the start of the term so the focus is on relationships, or it could be the time of the term where students are setting goals, and the lessons will focus on goal setting. It may the case in some instances, that lessons are reactive to incidents that may happen in the yard or the classroom to support students in their learning, be it with friendships or academic belief. These lessons are based on the Positive Education Enhanced Curriculum as well as the Keeping Safe Child Protection Curriculum.
Grow Your Mind Program
The Grow Your Mind program in schools is an evidence-based, curriculum-aligned wellbeing initiative designed to enhance resilience and mental health among students, educators, and families. By using a playful animal analogy, the program links social and emotional education to brain development, fostering emotional regulation, growth mindset, and positive relationships. With engaging lessons and resources, Grow Your Mind supports the entire school community in nurturing a culture of wellbeing and resilience
The Grow Your Mind program is being explored and implemented across the prep school in classrooms and in our weekly assembly, where students have begun learning about the different animals and how these link with the emotions that they can encounter during the day.
Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum
The Keeping Safe: Child Protection Curriculum is a child safety and respectful relationships curriculum providing age and developmentally appropriate activities for children and young people from birth to year 12 developed by the SA Education Department.
It teaches children and young people to:
- understand they have the right to be safe
- recognise abuse and unsafe situations
- apply knowledge, skills and understanding to be safe
- seek support for themselves or others
To add to this, Westminster is a pilot school with the Australian Independent Schools of South Australia in 2025 to develop the statewide Consent and Respectful Relationships program for independent schools to address consent and respectful relationships on a state-wide scale.
Wellbeing@Prep Visitors
We are fortunate to be able to invite external presenters to Westminster to work with our students in a range of areas. Below is a snapshot of what is in store for 2025.
- Raising Happy, Resilient Kids with Michael Carr-Gregg - Parent Workshop
- Road Crossing Training - Year 6
- Life Education Van - ELC to Year 6
- Cyber Safety Workshops – Year 4 to Year 6
- LifeChanger Program - Year 5 and Year 6
Wellbeing Surveys
In Terms 2 and 3, students from Years 3-6 will participate in external wellbeing surveys to inform our direction and programs. These surveys are as follows:
- Term 2: SA Wellbeing and Engagement and Collection survey which provides us with student wellbeing data comparative to South Australia.
- Term 3: Resilience Youth Survey which provides us with student’s wellbeing data comparative to the whole of Australia.
Should you wish your child not to participate in the above surveys, please contact the prep front office or Anna Partridge, APartridge@westminster.sa.edu.au
Emotional Support
If your child needs extra support in the classroom we have a tiered support process. The first point of contact should be to your child’s class teacher. From here they will liaise with the wellbeing team to discuss their concerns and together they will work create a plan to support you and your child.
As part of our adventurous education, we are committed to continuing to develop resilience, confidence and emotional intelligence with our students as they progress through Westminster and we look forward to working in partnership with you to support student’s wellbeing.