Every school aims for excellence in Wellbeing, but why do some schools do this successfully and others struggle to deliver on this critical domain? As a school leader, executive member, teacher or parent, it is understood that every school community has its challenges, beliefs and knowledge to contribute towards ensuring each and every student is known, cared for and valued.

Measuring student wellbeing and social and emotional learning has been all but impossible - until now. There are many wonderful programs that support student wellbeing but do not capture data or provide real time response to issues students are facing every day. Life Skills Group has, through extensive research and working with schools around Australia, developed a wellbeing solution that is tailored to each school and their students. With the Life Skills GO blended online learning program each school is able to now measure effectively how their school is performing in meeting excelling benchmarks from the School Excellence Framework. The data recorded from the student check-ins is another effective tool that can triangulate your school data and prove that the school is excelling in Wellbeing and meeting the needs of the students and their families.

The benchmark for all schools is to achieve the following statement: NSW School Excellence Framework – Learning Domain – Wellbeing¹.

In schools that excel, there is a strategic and planned approach to develop whole school wellbeing processes that support the wellbeing of all students so they can connect, thrive and learn.

Let’s explain the reasons why Life Skills GO is successful and works in conjunction with the School Excellence Framework.

Life Skills GO is not a stand alone wellbeing program. It is recommended to be used as a whole school wellbeing solution in line with excelling statements of the School Excellence Framework. Research indicates that whole school planning and approaches are the best way to support students on their social and emotional learning journey². It is widely recognised that high levels of wellbeing are more likely to have higher academic achievement, better mental health and a responsible and lawful lifestyle³.

• Daily Emotion Check-in
  - Each student has the ability to check in and let the teacher know how they are feeling which is then tracked over time.
• Flexible Lesson Delivery
  - In the program we have 50+ interactive and curriculum aligned programs for immediate use on the interactive whiteboard, individually or set for each student at home.
  - 200+ lessons available to suit all schools no matter what Wellbeing programs they are running. This will sit side by side with all school programs and enhance Wellbeing.
• The ability to push out ILP and PLP to individuals or groups of students.
  - Individual learning plans can be set by teachers or learning support teams to meet the needs of every child who is experiencing issues at any time.
• Executive Reporting
  - Leaders in the school can see at a glance how classes are travelling and have data aligned to every child for school and parent discussions.
  - Potential game changer for school leaders who can now identify students at risk and provide assistance before the potential for behaviour issues, social or emotional issues begin to arise.

Using the table below you can see how every school can use Life Skills GO to work towards achieving school excellence in Wellbeing. This will assist all schools in preparation for External Validation and securing valuable data sets that can be included to show where you are at currently. Using Life Skills GO data, analysing and evaluating this, is concrete and factual evidence for you to use that is available all year round. Schools will not have to go searching for data in this element of Wellbeing. You will be able to support your judgements using the Life Skills GO executive reporting function.

Table 1. How Life Skills GO can help your school achieve excelling.

Life Skills Group and the School Excellence Framework are aligned with the same vision for students and schools. We need to prepare our young people for rewarding lives in an increasingly complex world. Life Skills GO can now measure students’ social and emotional wellbeing in every school, in every week, in every month and in every year in the pursuit of excellence and that every child is known, cared for and valued.

In our current times with pandemics, domestic violence, family breakdowns, communication and social issues it is of vital importance that our focus is on every child at every school. Life Skills Group has a  commitment to reach every child so that they are excelling in life. In providing an evidence informed program, every child and now school has the potential to reach excellence in all they do. Life Skills Go and The School Excellence Framework work in partnership as do schools and students to make the difference in providing the right social and emotional support.

Consult an Education Advisor

Want to learn more about how to book Professional Development Programs for your school? Check out our website for more information!

Additional Resources

• 2 Minute Video: How Guildford West uses Life Skills GO Weather Report to track student wellbeing
• Teaching and Measuring Whole-School Wellbeing Guide
• NSW - Guildford West Case Study in using Life Skills GO
• VIC - Oakleigh South Case Study in using Life Skills GO

References

1. School Excellence Framework NSW Department of Education
2. Student Wellbeing Literature Review – CESE Report Summary
3. Australian Catholic University and Erbus International 2008 Scoping study into approaches to student wellbeing: Literature review.