At Covenant Christian School, our aim for students is to be equipped to live for God’s glory. We want students to develop an understanding of their identity in God and in his world. We want to help them know and understand their identity: as people made in the image of God, as people who have tragically sinned and as people who are welcomed back into relationship with God as they trust in Jesus Christ. We seek to help all our students understand how these realities shape every element of who they are as they live in God’s world and in community with other people. We believe God’s love for humanity shapes our understanding of wellbeing and drives us to seek a profound and holistic wellness for every student in our school.
God calls us to be joyful in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). This is something that requires a trust in God as he actively works in us to love and serve him. In 2023, our wellbeing programs from Prep to Year 12 are focused on mental fitness. These programs are designed to have a positive approach on building a resilience centred on God as our foundation with our minds set on things above (Colossians 3:2)
Mental fitness can be helpfully defined as the ability of an individual, family or community to manage everyday stressors and challenges. It might look like:
- Knowing who we are and who God has made us to be
- Giving our troubles over to God in prayer
- Actively seeking help from a brother or sister in Christ if we need it
- Using language centred around love and kindness
- Trusting in God’s plans
- Using positive self-talk for encouragement
- Having helpful strategies to manage difficult emotions
- Rearranging plans to work around an unexpected situation
- Using a trial-and-error approach
- Knowing when to stop trying if we decide the effort is not worthwhile.
At Covenant, we look at this through five research based domains: Meaning and Purpose, Social Connections, Mindfulness and Prayerfulness, Strengths, and Gratitude.
The Meaning and Purpose domain is permeated in all we do here at Covenant as outlined in the opening paragraphs above. We work through the other domains in various forms throughout the year, such as through the PDHPE curriculum, Knowing God content, Home Class program in Secondary, and assembly times to name a few. Like any fitness regime, actively practising is essential to building up ones’ fitness.
Dan Apin
Director of Student Wellbeing