At Yarra Primary School we take a proactive approach to wellbeing for all – students, staff and parents. To achieve a safe, supportive and engaging environment we cultivate a positive school culture. This is based on science that shows focusing on our personal and collective strengths is known to improve and sustain learning outcomes, engagement, prosocial behaviour and sense of belonging at school.

One of the key drivers of our positive school culture at Yarra is ‘Character Strengths’. In 2004, Chris Peterson and Martin Seligman introduced a classification of human strengths and virtues. Over the decades, the link between using these character strengths and increased wellbeing/life satisfaction is well established. For more information go to: https://www.viacharacter.org/

Learning ‘Growth mindset’ theory also underpins development of students’ meta-cognitive strategies to strengthen resilience. The term ‘growth mindset’ was coined by Dr Carol Dweck over 30 years ago to describe the underlying beliefs people have about learning and intelligence. When people believe they can improve, they understand that effort makes them stronger. For more information go to: https://www.mindsetworks.com/science/