Merriwa Central School has been busily applying the philosophy of Visible Wellbeing in its classes, playgrounds and staffrooms. 

“As social beings we thrive on connections with others and the same can be said for the classroom,” principal Darren Noonan said.

“One of our strengths as a school is that we know each other quite well. 

“Our staff takes an interest in our students and each other.”

Head teacher and leader of the Wellbeing Team Rebecca Hopkins outlined further.

“Learning to build and foster relationships is learning a skill for life,” she said.

“Our small number of students already gives us the advantage of having closer student and teacher relationships - we know our kids and they know us. 

“As such we've established a Wellbeing Room to cater for the physical and emotional needs of our pupils.

“Additionally by implementing positive interventions at Staff Development days to develop relationships between primary and secondary staff has fostered a positive workplace; which is proven to produce happier, more effective teachers in the classroom.”

Gratitude has been a centrepiece for the relationship-building initiative as highlighted by school captain Tarnisha Winsor. 

“As an SRC we have made it a priority to build positive relationships among staff and students at our school,” she said.

“We have achieved this by running a positivity campaign where we write letters to our teachers and staff where we thank them for what they do, even the small things that they think go unnoticed.”

Year advisor and ROAR Program co-coordinator Amanda Johnston highlighted the importance of positive relationships. 

“People with close social relationships are often more optimistic about the future,” she said.

“We highlight quality of relationships rather than encouraging the superficial social media friending process.”

ROAR captain Nicholas Thorburn shared his views. 

“We are taught how to be a better person, how our actions affect others,” he said.

“It has made our relationships stronger with an all for one and one for all mentality. 

“We have great support from Staff who know us as people and want us to succeed.”

Wellbeing team member and classroom teacher Emma Garbellini added: “We start weekly staff meetings with character strength-based positive education activities and highlight recent positive achievements. 

“We also have a ‘shout out wall’ where we acknowledge the efforts of others and it is a real pick me up.”