DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

STUDENT WELLBEING - BELONGING PANEL

KNOWING ME PROJECT
 
Contact reception@wsc.edu.au or phone 02 6885 6144.
The Belonging Knowing Me Project:

Knowing Me enables young people to identify the positive things that a strong sense of belonging can bring to their lives.
They participate in four 2.5-hour workshops over two days followed by two further workshops, six weeks later.

Workshops are highly interactive and engaging, focusing on building connections, self-awareness, self-confidence, and coping strategies, and understanding emotions.

Participants improve social and emotional skills to recognise and appropriately respond to situations. They identify the groups they belong to and the feelings that come from belonging to those groups. They understand the dynamics of groups, determine their contribution to groups, and the work and skills required to become, or remain, valued members of groups. They earn that the act of rejection/exclusion can make people feel unwanted, unvalued and alone.

The main objectives of Knowing Me are:
  • Define a sense of belonging, understand what it provides, key features, and how important it is in life.
  • Recognise how strong an own sense of belonging is and the capacity to enhance it.
  • Understand that thoughts about events – not the events themselves – affect feelings and behaviours.
  • Practise and apply the understanding and new knowledge of a sense of belonging.
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Students will:
  • Identify the positive things that a strong sense of belonging can bring to their lives.
  • Understand that feelings of isolation and rejection can be harmful.
  • Ascertain the groups they do or might belong to and the feelings that come from belonging to those groups.
  • Understand the dynamics of groups.
  • Determine what they, as individuals, might bring to a group and the work and skills required to become, or remain, valued members of groups.
  • Learn that the act of rejection/exclusion can make people feel unwanted, unvalued and alone.
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Unit Focus Areas
  1. Where Do I Belong
    • Belonging maps – school, immediate family, extended family, community, the world
    • Me and my group – roles, interconnections
    • Values and rules
    • Outsiders & our need to belong
    • Relying on others
    • Individual strengths
    • Effects of belongingness
  2. Communication
    • Helpful self-talk
    • Cooperation
    • Positive thoughts and feelings
    • Teamwork and cohesion
    • Mental health awareness
  3. Leaders and Followers
    • Qualities of a good leader
    • Leadership skills
    • Diverse groups
    • Animals vs humankind
  4. Group Dynamics
    • Competitors and conflict resolution
    • Joining a new group
    • Self-interest vs the greater good
    • Rules and decision-making
Contact reception@wsc.edu.au or phone 02 6885 6144.