Gordon Parish, Principal at Robertson Public School in regional NSW, believes the Peer Support Program is an important part of their whole-of-school approach wellbeing initiatives. Assistant Principal Kristen Wilson tells us Peer Leaders are learning new skills that are particularly valuable for students in regional schools.
Gordon Parrish, Principal: My name’s Gordon Parrish. I’m a Principal at Robertson Public School. Robertson Public School is a small school. We’ve got about 150 kids this year. Situated about an hour and a half southwest of Sydney, in the southern highlands of New South Wales. Great community. We’ve got a strong parent community, awesome kids and just a great place to work, and a great place to come every day.
Well, the Peer Support Program works really well at our school. It fits right into our whole school approach to student wellbeing. We have a strong emphasis on student wellbeing at Robertson Public School. And with Peer Support, it’s then, the students then get a chance to take control and it’s more student centred. And it allows our school leaders, our student leaders, to take a bit of control and build their capacity as student leaders and work with all the other students.
Kristen Wilson, Assistant Principal: Running a Peer Support lesson, you’ve got to be really well organised. And I think, as they go into high school, they’re going to need those organisational skills on an everyday basis there. It gives an opportunity to learn to communicate with other people. And communication in a high school, especially for our students who come from a small rural school, to give them an opportunity to communicate with other people, so when they get to a high school, they have more confidence to talk to other teachers, the other students that are around them. So great for organisation – great for communicating, collaborating with other people. Teamwork with a variety of students from different ages and backgrounds.
Gordon Parrish, Principal: To those schools that are considering the Peer Support Program I would say yeah, really, have a go. Just have a have a good look into it. Get involved with it. We find it a really valuable asset at our school. It gives the chance for our students to become more student-centred and take control of a wellbeing aspect. Well I find it extremely beneficial and a really strong part of our student wellbeing program.
