By Derek Schlennstedt
Following years of hard work, Tecoma Primary School was finally recognised as a KidsMatter school when it received accreditation in late July.
One of only 18 schools in Victoria to receive the accreditation, the Tecoma primary is also the only school in the Dandenong Ranges to receive this recognition.
The school celebrated the accreditation on 25 August coinciding with Book Week.
KidsMatter co-ordinator and Grade 6 teacher, Lisa Hoskins-Faul, said the students enjoyed dressing up as their favourite book character, and that the day also involved various KidsMatter activities.
“It went really well, we had the majority of students dressed up as book characters for the day,” she said.
“It was all based around positive traits of book characters.”
“The most fun activity was playing human hungry hungry hippo, which we based on the book there’s a hippo on my roof eating cake … it encompassed working together and collaborating and the older students were able to take on leadership positions.”
KidsMatter is a mental health and wellbeing framework which primary schools adapt to their school.
Before joining KidsMatter in July, Tecoma Primary had been implementing various student wellbeing activities since 2012, and Lisa said she was overwhelmed when she heard they had received the accreditation.
“It’s all about having a positive school community and being resilient and looking after your friends, and knowing when they are not right, and how you can support them.”
“We’ve been doing it since 2012,” she said.
“It’s very satisfying to have come out the other end and have such a wonderful culmination of all the hard work we’ve put in – its really nice to receive that acknowledgement.”
