In 2019 a team of interested staff members from across year levels, support staff and specialists who saw students' social emotional wellbeing as important to their overall development, formed a working group.
This team spent 12 months identifying what was believed to be essential for BMSS students' social and emotional wellbeing. A ready-made commercial program was not what we saw as meeting our needs. The PERKS Project draws from multidisciplinary fields and integrates findings from developmental and positive psychology, neuroscience, education and success research, mindfulness and change theory.
The project name evolved from a number of the core values and beliefs;
P- positivity
E- empathy
R- resilience
K- kindness
S- self
The word 'PERKS' is also positive and inspires confidence. The word 'Project' was preferred as it has connotations of being more fluid and ever evolving, whereas 'program' has the connotation of being more rigid and scheduled.
It was agreed that a PERKS common language and artefacts were essential to the effectiveness of the project and this became the focus for all of the lessons planned. Parent understanding was encouraged through regular newsletter articles with the subsequent goal being to embed the common language at home also.
The project includes the following:
- UNDERSTANDING SELF: Meeting my basic needs, Being grateful, Resilience, Positive self-talk and Growth Mindset
- UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONS & THE IMPACT ON MYSELF, OTHERS AND LEARNING: Brain Science, Self-regulation, Mindfulness, Coping Strategies
- UNDERSTANDING BEHAVIOUR & THE IMPACT ON SELF, OTHERS AND LEARNING: Behaviour Choices, Decision Making & Goal Setting
- DEVELOPING POSITIVE HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS: Making & Keeping friends, Bucket Filling, Supporting Others, Protective Behaviours
These topics will be the same in each year level across the school and delivered in an age appropriate context. Two focus areas are explicitly taught each term in weeks 3 and 7 with follow up lessons occurring in class, on parade and in the playground.
A collection of PERKS-related resources can be found in the school library and are housed within the PERKS couch. Students and parents are encouraged to borrow these.
A number of topic specific vignettes have been produced by a media company. These are valuable resources for school and home use. Our thanks go to the BMSS P&C for their generous funding of this project.