Over 220 staff members from public schools around the region came together to participate in a school development day at Lithgow High School on Monday, July 22.
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Teachers from Capertee, Cooerwull, Cullen Bullen, Hampton, Lithgow, Wallerawang and Zig Zag Public, as well as Portland Central School and Lithgow High were in attendance.
The morning started with key note speaker Amanda Horton, who spoke about students' brain development. Lithgow High principal Ann Caro said this was the first big school development day in five years.
"It's been a long time since we held one, and methods of teaching change," she said.
"Since Lithgow High is the biggest school we thought we would hold it here."
There were 16 different workshops for the teachers to participate in over the course of the day, including trauma informed practice, effective classroom practices, understanding function based support and the ERASE model.
Wallerawang Public School assistant principal Katrina Foster and stage one classroom teacher Kelly Gurney gave a presentation on mathematics teaching for kindergarten to year four teachers.
Other presentations included building engagement with reading and writing, the stages of moral development, complex case management, police partnerships and other strategies.
A year six to 7 transition program workshop, as well as a program on how to meet students' wellbeing needs in the classroom was offered to teachers.
Youth care co-ordinator and headspace provisional psychologist Bonita Bassett gave a talk about the importance of 'connections'.
Ms Caro said Lithgow High had been working on a project that focuses on students wellbeing, and the day played a big part in that.
"We want to focus on helping children around the region to develop their own skills, and to teach them to be more resilient, teach them conflict resolution, how to work in teams, and just have a proactive strategy in place," she said.
"If we can make happier, more connected children, living fulfilling lives then that's the goal."
Ms Caro said that social media was playing a big part in students' mental health, which was why they invited health practitioners to the development day.
"We have the Nepean Blue Mountains Health District sessions, which show us how to assist kids with parents who have a mental health disorder," she said.
"They are also doing emotion coaching, and we have headspace here so a lot of outlying services have become involved, which is great."
According to Ms Caro, staff from around the region were also giving presentations, including Matt Quirk from Lithgow High.
"He is giving an introduction to our Second Step program and how it works to embed social and emotional curriculum across all stages."
Portland Central principal Murray Borham said the day was about strengthening the Lithgow school community networks.
"It's a great day to be able to work cohesively together and make these connections, not just inside our schools but with the public," he said.
"Being able to bring these services together here is such a great opportunity for everyone to learn."
Mr Borham said he had been into headspace a few times but had never heard from them first hand about what they did.
"To be able to sit and listen to them, it has really opened a lot of us up to what we can do for our students," he said.
Mr Borham said learning more about implementing the Second Step program had been helpful.
"We have been slowly implementing it," he said.
