Our Positive Education Journey

Given the alarming rise of mental illness in young people, schools need to be equally focussed on building well-rounded, self-reflective students as much as clever ones. This, however, is no easy task. School-based wellbeing programs are often disconnected from student experience, and participants are unlikely to adopt strategies that have been introduced through stand-alone lessons or brief training sessions.

Positive Psychology is an evidence-based paradigm that offers a unique approach toward wellbeing and the creation of a happy and fulfilling life. Where other psychological paradigms explore a person’s deficits, Positive Psychology focuses on what is right with a person. It provides strategies for navigating the challenges of life more effectively by engendering positive emotions, strengthening relationships, building resilience, and focusing on a person’s strengths.
Positive Education is a new and exciting approach to holistic education that integrates the fundamental principles of positive psychology into existing school curricula. This new education model has been applied to great success at other Australian schools like Geelong Grammar School in Victoria.

Positive Education is not just a lesson, but a culture – once embedded, this program will underpin everything at the College.

The College is firmly committed to integrating the Positive Education mantra – learn it, live it, teach it, embed it – throughout its entire P-12 campus. We have developed a five-year plan that will create a Positive Education culture within the College to help students thrive and flourish. The first two years of this plan focuses entirely on the indispensable core of our College – our teachers. All teaching staff have been encouraged to explore Positive Education for themselves within their professional and personal lives. The benefit of this is two-fold – we believe that the wellbeing of our teachers is just as important as our students, and teachers who have experienced positive outcomes are in turn authentic and enthusiastic proponents of the program. Since 2017, the College’s Positive Education Team has organised over 20 hours of professional development to facilitate the growth and uptake of the Positive Education program. Students will now start to get a taste of everything Positive Education has to offer.