College Counsellors Terese Killin and Marcus Missio-Spiteri What a strange, unsettled year it has been. Term 3 and part of Term 4 in lockdown, tested students and families. Our counselling team, were kept busy speaking to parents and students about the impact school closure was having on everyone in the community, with many parents juggling work commitments and encouraging school engagement. Feedback from families suggested the experience was often difficult, stressful, frustrating, and at times strangely enjoyable or liberating – the whole spectrum was covered. But everyone agreed that it was undoubtedly challenging! For us as School Counsellors we could not wait to get back to school to start seeing students and families face to face again, and it was wonderful to see the excitement of the students as they returned to school for the final part of the year. Although we lost a term with lockdown restrictions, the first part of the year proved to be a busy time for the Counselling service. This year saw the introduction of the Fathering Project, and Marcus coordinated the Inaugural Fathering Project get-together, which was held in Term 2. The Fathering Project is an evidence-based Australian organisation that aims to promote positive fathering behaviours and father engagement with their children. The purpose of this group is to invite fathers, father figures and significant male role models from the community into the College to work with our students and become positive mentors to their own child, and others as well. There is significant research that shows initiatives like this, recognise the importance of school partnerships with families. The research indicates that by specifically targeting fathers and male role models, “schools will see significant additional benefits for the children and for the school as a whole” and the connection between fathers and their children inevitably becomes stronger. We had the privilege of running an event for our Year 7 students and their fathers, father figures and significant male role models in May this year. It was a very successful event with sixty fathers present. After a talk from Barry Costello (event coordinator) and a BBQ, the fathers played basketball and table tennis with their sons as a way of connection. Great conversation ensued that sparked a lot of interest in making this a regular event and way of connecting with other families in the community. As this project is new to the College, we focused on Year 7 families, however we will look to expanding the project to the older year groups in the future. Thank you to all who contributed to make this a success, Mr Mark Bonnici, Mr Jay Sutton, Mr Paul English, Mr Paul Sullivan, Mr Jay Brown, Mr Richard Ellis, Ms Terase Killin, Ms Anthea Pearson, Mr Jackson English, Mr Michael Gentle, Mr Michael Lord and Tim Moore So we now look forward to a more settled 2022, with the continuation of the Fathering Project and other wellbeing initiatives within the school. If this year has taught us anything, it is our capacity to persevere in difficult times, and support one another – both wonderful qualities to take with us onward in life. 174 I
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