This year the Junior School have begun using The Resilience Project to further develop our Character Education program. The Resilience Project is a company based out of Melbourne which aims to teach positive mental health strategies and build our capacity to deal with adversity.

The Resilience Project was developed by a man named Hugh Van Cuylenburg for two main reasons;

- His sister suffered from a mental illness.
- He visited India and met a boy call Stanzin.

Whilst he was in India, he learnt that Stanzin was one of the happiest people he had ever met. Because of this, Hugh has based his program on three key principles which are designed to build resilience and make us happy.

Gratitude – Paying attention to what we have and not what we don’t have.
One activity we did was the ‘DIS’ challenge. Whenever we were doing something we loved like playing sport or an instrument or having dinner with our family, we would stop and say DIS. The idea is that we are saying "how good is this” and being grateful for what we have in our lives.

Empathy – Understand how others feel.
During our focus on Empathy were asked to perform random acts of kindness around the school and in our home. We learnt that we felt happier when we were able to help others.

Mindfulness – Being calm and present in any given moment.
An activity we did, which was challenging, was sitting still for 2 minutes, and focusing on what we could hear. By doing this it made us be present and calm as we are trying hard to not think of anything else.

We like the program because it has allowed us to be more grateful for what we have. We also like the lessons because it is a chance to relax during the school day and not feel overwhelmed with our school work or lives.

Lincoln and Max
Junior School Students