Tailoring health and wellbeing approaches at your school

Tailoring health and wellbeing approaches at your school is a suite of evidence-based resources that:

  • identify and promote the enablers of successful health and wellbeing approaches
  • draw together relevant department policy and new and existing health and wellbeing resources
  • address the complex health and wellbeing challenges that schools identified during a 2020 research discovery.
The students are sitting on a bright blue mat with white stripes, the floor in the background is beige.  A young female primary school student is in the foreground and takes up most of the photo. The student is looking forward and she appears engaged and happy, with her hands raised in the air, slightly to the side of her. The right hand of the student is blurred as it is very close to the camera. She is wearing a maroon and light blue school shirt and has a long brown platted ponytail with red and blue elastics in her hair. Only a glimpse of one leg is in the photo. Sitting to the left of the girl is another student, slightly out of focus. You can see the person is wearing a school shirt and her right hand is raised. She is also wearing dark blue shorts and tights. Her knees are raised and the soles of her pink and white joggers are together. Behind the student in the foreground, is another student. You can only see the bottom of their leg and blurred black, white and pink shoes. The students are sitting on a bright blue mat with white stripes, the floor in the background is beige.  A young female primary school student is in the foreground and takes up most of the photo. The student is looking forward and she appears engaged and happy, with her hands raised in the air, slightly to the side of her. The right hand of the student is blurred as it is very close to the camera. She is wearing a maroon and light blue school shirt and has a long brown platted ponytail with red and blue elastics in her hair. Only a glimpse of one leg is in the photo. Sitting to the left of the girl is another student, slightly out of focus. You can see the person is wearing a school shirt and her right hand is raised. She is also wearing dark blue shorts and tights. Her knees are raised and the soles of her pink and white joggers are together. Behind the student in the foreground, is another student. You can only see the bottom of their leg and blurred black, white and pink shoes.
Image: Picture of students in a primary school classroom

Research discovery insights

Schools understand the value of effective health and wellbeing approaches and the connection for improving learning and life outcomes.

A research discovery undertaken in 2020 with schools, and the staff that support them, informed how school communities can be further supported in tailoring their health and wellbeing approaches in their local context.

Three key interconnected themes emerged from the research discovery report (staff only)

  1. One size does not fit all
  2. 10 key principles underpin all successful health and wellbeing approaches
  3. Problem + context = approach.
This is a photo of six high school students. The students are standing in front of a mural which is red, black and yellow with some fine brown lines that look like branches of a tree. The yellow forms a circle in the centre, and the black appears to be large block letters. You cannot make out the words. The students appear from their hips up. Five students are wearing a light blue shirt which has a white stripe down the right side, and the right sleeve and the collar are both dark blue. One female student is wearing a dark blue, green and white rugby jumper and holding a basketball. This student is standing to the front left of the photo and a male student with his hands on his hips is on her right. Behind these students from left to right are a male student with his arms crossed, a female student with her hands on her hips, a male student with his arms crossed and a male student with his arms behind his back. All the students are laughing and are shown to be engaging with each other. This is a photo of six high school students. The students are standing in front of a mural which is red, black and yellow with some fine brown lines that look like branches of a tree. The yellow forms a circle in the centre, and the black appears to be large block letters. You cannot make out the words. The students appear from their hips up. Five students are wearing a light blue shirt which has a white stripe down the right side, and the right sleeve and the collar are both dark blue. One female student is wearing a dark blue, green and white rugby jumper and holding a basketball. This student is standing to the front left of the photo and a male student with his hands on his hips is on her right. Behind these students from left to right are a male student with his arms crossed, a female student with her hands on her hips, a male student with his arms crossed and a male student with his arms behind his back. All the students are laughing and are shown to be engaging with each other.
Image: A picture of six high school students

Support with evaluating health and wellbeing approaches

Schools with successful health and wellbeing approaches:

  • gain a picture of need, impacts and potential improvements by overlaying relevant department and publically available data sets; they challenge assumptions
  • gather only the information that is needed for evaluation, including baseline data
  • identify the best possible ways for gathering the required information
  • provide a clear and reasonable timeline for evaluation
  • carefully consider the ethics of involving children and young people in evaluation, Schools have clear protocols in place to ensure the follow-up of support for students where required.

Departmental resources available to support schools with evaluation include:

Publically available data sets commonly used by schools include:

Other resources:

Departmental resources available to support schools with planning include:

  • Situational Analysis:  resources that support an authentic and rigorous assessment of a school’s current state. Used to inform a school’s improvement journey in learning, teaching and leading
  • Strategic Improvement Plan: (SIP) process which ensure continuous improvement, reflecting where a school is at and how it will further improve learning, teaching and leading
  • School Excellence Framework: identifies quality practice across the three key domains of education – learning, teaching and leading to help schools plan and monitor strategies for ongoing improvement. Schools that excel in the Learning Domain of the SEF develop whole school wellbeing approaches that support students to enhance their learning, health and wellbeing and life outcomes.
  • The Wellbeing Framework for Schools: supports schools to create teaching and learning environments that enable students to be healthy, happy, engaged and successful. Wellbeing in our schools is driven by the themes of Connect, Succeed and Thrive.

Resources for schools

These resources help schools tailor their health and wellbeing approaches.

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