Future challenges

For some students the first few weeks of transition can seem easy, with few stressors and worries. The excitement of a new environment, making new friends and having different responsibilities means that many students will thrive. However, it’s important to recognise that even these students may have worries as they face challenges throughout the year. It’s important that every student understands the support structures available within the school and develops strategies for seeking help.

Developing and normalising resiliency, social and emotional skills, and help-seeking behaviours are practical ways to build the wellbeing of these students. Developing a whole-school approach that involves parents/carers, students and staff is an effective way to support them. This can be done across the whole school community.

Top tips for supporting your students

• Show an interest in all your students. Model effective social and emotional skills during your interactions with students and other teachers by asking questions, demonstrating respect, celebrating diversity, and valuing relationships across the school community.
• Check in with students at different times throughout the year, not just at the beginning or end.
• Building resilience in young people is one of the most effective ways to help them cope with change and adversity. It can be helpful to have a private conversation with a student at different times, not just when you are concerned about them. This can make difficult conversations easier, as you have already formed a connection. This fact sheet has lots of tips for having quality conversations.
• Normalise self-care and help-seeking across your whole school community. ReachOut Schools has lots of helpful resources to support this process, including free collateral resources to share with your community.

Classroom activities

‘How are you going?’ quiz

Self-awareness is one of the most important skills for students to develop to help them manage stress. This survey will help students develop a sense of how they’re currently feeling, recognise times when they may require help, and examine practical ways to manage their emotions.

Bouncing back

‘Bouncing back’ is a term used to explain how a person responds after a difficult situation or event. By developing the skills to bounce back and respond positively, students will feel confident to face the pressures of secondary school.

Three good things

The 'three good things' activity encourages students to share with other students good things that have happened in their life, which can help build relationships and connections.

I can…

This activity gives students the opportunity to role play difficult conversations they may have with others. While nothing may be worrying them at the moment, this activity will help them to identify ways they can help those around them who may be struggling.

‘Mastery’ and ‘not yet’ tracking

This lesson is aimed at continuing to develop a growth mindset by encouraging students to think of their learning and achievement in terms of ‘mastery’ and ‘not yet’.

Resources for students

ReachOut works with young people across Australia to develop content. You could share some of these resources with your students.

7 tips for dealing with change

Dealing with change can sometimes be uncomfortable, stressful or even scary. Learn more about some things you can do to make coping with changes in your life a little easier.

How are you going?

Take a moment to check in with how you're feeling, with our simple online quiz. You'll get a good sense of how you're going, plus we'll give you some good help pathways should you need them.

3 steps to wellbeing

Learn more about staying calm, healthy and mindful in everyday life.

Mental fitness

Good mental health is about living life in a satisfying way, coping with life's challenges both big and small, managing the stress of school and work, and maintaining your own mental wellbeing. Learn more about ways to look after yourself, from eating well to developing good communication skills.

Resources for parents and carers

ReachOut works with parents across Australia to develop content that helps them to support their young person. You could share some of these resources with your parent community.

Transitioning to secondary school

The transition to secondary school can be scary for both parents and their children. Suddenly your child is the little fish in the big pond again and there are new rules and responsibilities for you both to learn. You can make the transition as smooth as possible by using our ‘Transition to High School’ checklist.

School, education and teenagers

Your child may feel under pressure to perform well in exams, maintain a healthy social life, and start making decisions about the rest of their life. It’s normal for teenagers to go through rough patches at school, but if you’re worried about your child, there are things that you can do to help.

Teach your teenager coping skills for wellbeing

You can do some simple things to teach your child coping skills and help them put these skills into action. It’s never too early or too late to learn how to do this. It’s a good skill for life.

Teach your teenager to be resilient

Setbacks, problems and failures are an inevitable part of life. As your teen matures and takes on more challenges, they will experience more setbacks. Teaching your teen resilience – the ability to recover, adapt and keep going – will help them to get more from school and adapt to new challenges.