International Schools Counselling Week

The Secondary Counselling Team showed the movie Ponyo during lunch for students from Year 7 to Year 11 in celebration of International Schools Counselling Week. The movie Ponyo has psychological interest as it shows a symbolic journey focusing on acceptance, devotion, harmony, happiness and love. These are all topics that we promote within the counselling department; self-acceptance and how to navigate a world that can sometimes feel big and scary. We teach students how to look after themselves, how to recognise their own feelings, which, in turn, helps them become independent, self-motivated learners, good friends, better able to care for themselves and better able to manage challenging times when they arise.

Although it is a film for all ages and feels very simplistic, there are also links to the environment (the balance between nature and humans) and to the human mind (balancing our conscious and subconscious).

Posters were put up around The Hub celebrating the superpowers used by the Secondary School Counselling team:

• Advocacy – we put the students at the heart of every decision.
• Allyship – We uphold diversity, inclusion, justice and hold safe spaces for students.
• Leadership – We lead by empowering, advocating, supporting and collaborating with students; helping them to manage for themselves and therefore promoting independence.
• Connection – We believe in the power of connection with others so that students feel safe, supported and heard.
• Modelling Self-Care – School Counsellors role model acts of self-care in order to look after themselves.
• Modelling Gratitude – We acknowledge things, experiences or people that bring us joy and meaning.
• Confidentiality – We value the privacy of students and their needs; only breaking this if there is a risk of harm.