Our school plays a vital role in supporting the health and wellbeing of students, staff and the wider school community. There are many opportunities in the school environment for students, staff and the school community to be active, develop a sense of belonging and add meaning and purpose to their lives. These all contribute to a positive healthy state.
This year, Bibra Lake Primary School held its first Walliabup Wellness Day. It was an opportunity for the whole school and broader community to celebrate our school and encourage people to take action to improve and protect their health and wellbeing. It aimed to promote good healthy strategies at the individual and community level and encouraged the creation of and involvement with supportive environments for positive mental, physical and social health.
At the heart of the day was the Act Belong Commit (ABC) health promotion message that encourages individuals to take action to protect and promote their wellbeing by focusing on three key elements. The ABC message for a positive healthy lifestyle provides a simple approach that anyone can adopt to become healthier:
- Act - Keeping mentally, physically, socially and spiritually active.
- Belong - Join a club, take a class or go along to community events.
- Commit - Take up a cause, help a neighbour or volunteer.
We held mental and physical wellbeing activities during the morning session to demonstrate to students how we can cope with the stressors of our daily lives, participate in positive relationships, contribute to our community, and work towards our goals. In the afternoon, we held a Community Expo to raise student and parent awareness of the organisations within the wider Bibra Lake area, that help individuals to protect and promote their health and wellbeing.
Due to the cajoling sweet-talking efforts of staff and committed parents of the School Board and P&C we had 17 exhibitors agree to volunteer their time for four hours in the afternoon. We had representatives from a wide range of sporting teams, local organisations including church groups, environment and recreation centres, national mental health care organisations, physiotherapy services and state emergency volunteering groups. There was a broad range of community groups that gave up their time and held activities for the students, made themselves available to parents to chat about volunteering/joining and wanted to investigate partnership opportunities with the school.
At a time when we were all exhausted and ready for a break, we held a major event that could have gone pear shaped very easily. The hard work by staff and parents and the community organisations made this a memorable day. Just the smiles on student and staff faces throughout the afternoon made it all worth it.