The focus on students’ wellbeing was at the forefront on my mind when I applied to the P&F Association for the funding needed to create a student wellness room. They enthusiastically embraced the project, and so the vision to create a calm space for students to relax and have ‘time out’ started.
The room is situated towards the end of Year 9 area and has an internal door to both Secondary School counselling rooms. The Year 9 and 12 Leadership Teams have added their input into the finishing touches such as fairy lights and lava lamps and I am confident the room will continue to evolve as students use the space in coming weeks and years.
The large wall space outside the Wellness and Counselling rooms has been given a new lease of life by Brooke Lamb (Alumni, 2019) who took my idea of a tree and created a beautiful artwork that is a credit to Brooke’s artistic talent. The idea of a tree came from ‘Advice from a Tree’, which I thought was appropriate for adolescents.
Brooke’s artist statement from the artwork is as follows:
The piece represents growth and the idea that "everything is going to be ok". The inspiration for this came from the area that the mural is painted in, being a space of wellness and healing. I thought for this piece that it would be nice to include a small child watering something much greater than himself, symbolizing that something or someone small is capable of great things, and I thought this was a lovely message to spread to students. The piece includes leaves that are the colours of the School Houses, so that all students can relate to the piece. The birds around the tree are a symbol of hope, again in keeping with the wellness area. I am hoping this piece will bring calm and happiness to students that use the space.