Bounce Back Buddies

Our Bounce Back Buddies in the upper school help to develop the programme throughout the school with a specific role in mentoring the infants in developing their well being and resilience – particularly in the school yard.

The Bounce Back programme is an Australian, literacy based resilience programme for children that we run from Primary 1 to 7.  It is grounded in solid educational and psychological research and theory and can be linked with other key learning areas including maths, science, religion and more.

This programme offers practical strategies to help all young people cope with the complexity of their everyday lives and learn to bounce back when they experience sadness, difficulties, frustrations and hard times.

This programme covers a range of topics related to student well being and resilience such as:

• developing positive values

• understanding the elasticity

• developing the skills and strategies for bouncing back

• developing courage

• looking on the bright side

• managing emotions

• relationship skills

• humour as a coping tool

• dealing with bullying

• being successful  

The programme aims to develop environments that promote resilience and children who have developed a range of coping skills to manage the inevitable challenges and difficulties of everyday life.  Bounce Back uses an acronym to teach 10 key coping statements which foster and build resilience.

B ad times don’t last. Things always get better.

O ther people can help if you talk to them. Get a reality check.

U nhelpful thinking makes you feel more upset.

N obody is perfect – not you and not others.

C oncentrate on the positives (no matter how small) and use laughter.

E veryone experiences sadness, hurt, failure, rejection and setbacks sometimes, not just  you.  They are a normal part of life.  Try not to personalise them.

B lame fairly. How much of what happened was due to you, to others and to bad luck or  circumstances?

A ccept what can’t be changed (but try to change what you can change first).

C atastrophising exaggerates your worries. Don’t believe the worst possible picture.

K eep things in perspective. It’s only part of your life.

There is a simplified version for the infant years. Bounce.

B ad feelings always go away again.

O ther people can help you to feel better if you talk to them.

U nhelpful thinking makes you feel more upset.

N obody is perfect. Mistakes help you learn.

C oncentrate on the good things and have a laugh.

E verybody feels sad and worried sometimes, not just you.

St Benedict’s school community is committed to the development of environments that promote resilience and to the development of coping skills in children who attend this school.  The programme is run from P1 through to P7 across the school year. It is run on a 3 year cycle so that each of the 10 units can be taught thoroughly.  The first unit Core Values is repeated in Term 1 of each year to reset and establish a common language and set of values for the year.

This whole school approach is a significant strength and allows consistency of language and concepts functionally and developmentally within the life of St Benedict’s school community.