Student Wellbeing
Student Wellbeing and Pastoral Care
Our school provides a safe, nurturing and happy environment in which students and staff alike, demonstrate care, compassion, courtesy and respect for others.
Chaplaincy
Our chaplains provide pastoral care support to students, staff and school families. The Chaplaincy team actively coordinates and supports social and emotional well-being programs and provides opportunities for students, staff and the wider school community to engage in various faith development activities.
KAS Wellbeing Team
Our team of qualified wellbeing workers and professionals work in partnership with teachers, parents and carers to provide support and guidance to our students. We are committed to ensuring that every student feels safe, enjoys coming to school, and can achieve their best within an inclusive environment. Our staff work with students to build the confidence, capacity and skills to help students manage their emotions, deal with adversity and empower them to take care of their mental health and build positive relationship with their peers.
Pastoral Care
At Kempsey Adventist School (KAS), we believe that every child is a child of God and needs and deserves individual care. We endeavour to lead our students to know their God, themselves and their place in society. Pastoral care embraces a total caring for each child and influences all teacher/student relationships.
KAS is committed to the spiritual wellbeing of our entire school community. We employ three chaplains to cater for the pastoral care needs of KAS students and their families. The chaplains are available to all members of our school community by appointment. Protocols apply to students who want to visit a chaplain during class time.
KAS chaplains are active in the life of the school in areas such as: class worships, Values teaching, chapel services, The WELL, BIG HOUSE, WELL Connect, WELL Alive, school camps, mentorship, Bible studies, home visitations and so on.
The particular approaches to the provision of pastoral care depend upon the age of students. In the primary school, the individual classroom teacher assumes great importance in knowing and understanding each child in his or her care. In addition, our chaplains play an important role in the pastoral care of our primary students.
In the secondary school, the pastoral care program works towards developing a sense of community and belonging. The school community provides a safe, nurturing and happy environment in which students and staff alike, demonstrate care, compassion, courtesy and respect for others. Religious Studies classes, weekly chapel periods, class devotions, school camps and excursions all play an integral role in building positive relationships and in teaching students to accept responsibility for their own behaviour and achievements.
KAS has a strong commitment to ensuring that every student feels safe, enjoys coming to school, and can achieve their best in a classroom learning environment that is enthusiastic, challenging and well-managed.
We strive to know each child in a way that means we can support them on a day to day basis, being able to identify when they need extra support.
The following Pastoral Care initiatives that have been implemented into the KAS Program:
Values Education in the Primary School (Bible Based)
Values education is a NSW Educational Standards Authority (NESA) requirement. Students are taught one value per week for each week of school in the year.
Chapel Programs
Primary and secondary school chapel programs are organised by the school chaplain. These programs take place on a weekly basis and are designed to give students the opportunity to develop spiritually through involvement with worship music and hearing from a variety of inspirational speakers.
Week of Worship (WOW)
Each semester, KAS students are involved in a special week of spiritual focus which promotes spiritual growth in students. An inspiring guest speaker encourages students in their spiritual journey. This high energy week provides further opportunities for students to lead in worship through music, drama, public speaking and other creative, community building activities. Students are given opportunities to strengthen their relationship with Jesus. Many students choose to get involved in Bible study groups with the school chaplain at the conclusion of the WOW. Chaplains are also happy to assist in arranging these with the students’ own church community.
School Camps/Excursions
A chaplain is present on almost all school camps and excursions and plays an active role in supporting staff and students.
Bible Studies
Primary and secondary students (with parental permission) participate in Bible studies led by the Pastoral Care Team.
Teachers
Our staff are trained to nurture young people through each day, proactively using strategies to enable young people to develop skills to cope with the complex world in which they live.
Student Management
The KAS Student Management Policy is built on the foundation of students taking responsibility for their own actions, in an environment where respect between all members of the school community is valued. Responsible thinking includes:
Students being responsible for their own behaviour and learning
Teachers being responsible for teaching
Students being responsible for their choices
The teacher having a right to teach; the student having a right to learn
The aim of the KAS Student Management Policy is to encourage the acceptance of its citizenship standards by each student, at the same time providing them with acceptance, encouragement, cooperation and correction. Effective student management is based on both kindness and firmness, and utilises the principles of consistency, clarity and fairness, with the ultimate focus being on self-discipline. The distinctiveness found at KAS is not the absence of problems, but rather the manner in which they are resolved. When a student shows, by conscious choices, little or no desire for these standards in his/her life, their ongoing enrolment at the school will be re-evaluated.
1 Thessalonians 5:11-15 contains much of the essence of the KAS Student Management Policy. It is a focus on the pro-active rather than the re-active. It is based on respect rather than power. It is a model of encouragement and redemption rather than criticism and punishment. It is a challenge to raise standards and elevate character rather than lower expectations in order to remain ‘in control’.
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, and be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.”
1 Thessalonians 5:11-15
The KAS Student Management Guidelines is available here.
Policies & Reports
A wealth of helpful resources and useful links. Access to KAS’s annual reports, school policies and other important documents to stay updated with the school’s operations.
