Student wellbeing
At Varsity College, we passionately believe that happy, confident young people grow into responsible, respectful and resilient adults who are well equipped to meaningfully contribute to society. As such, we are committed to the development of the whole-person. The wellbeing of our students and staff is the foundation of all our educational endeavours.
One in four young people will experience a mental illness in their adolescence. Many of these young people do not receive diagnosis or treatment. This reality requires schools to immediately respond by expanding their focus beyond academic learning to the explicit promotion of wellbeing.
With this in mind Varsity College tries to ensure we can provide our students with various support services from Guidance Officers to the school-based Youth Health Nurse to Bond University Psychologists.
Stymie at Varsity College
As part of our ongoing commitment to the wellbeing of all students, Varsity College has launched a new online reporting platform called Stymie. Through this notification interface, students will be able to send anonymous notifications to the school about a student who they believe is being bullied or harmed.
As an anonymous online platform, Stymie fosters a unique feeling of safety whereby students and parents can report concerns when they feel comfortable to do so. Students can upload evidence, such as screen shots of Facebook discussions, Snapchats, text messages or instant message conversations and an outline of the incident(s).
By targeting bystanders, Stymie empowers students to stand up for each other and for what is right. This enables students to act with integrity and courage, to display compassion and take an active role in creating a safe and happy school where bullying is not tolerated.
Stymie was built in consideration of the National Safe Schools Framework and the recommendations from the Australian Covert Bullying Prevalence Study.