As you may be aware, Foxwell State Secondary College's pastoral care program ‘Anchor’ is an important part of your student’s holistic development.

Daily Anchor class

Each morning, students are to attend their daily Anchor session between 8.45am and 8.55am. Anchor is an absolutely critical link for our Mariners as a safe, consistent place to 'set sail' every morning. Here, they will see the same teacher every day, and this staff member is an important person with whom they can connect and build a relationship. During this session, students will have their uniform checked, check daily notices and emails, and do some team building activities with their Anchor class.

Weekly Anchor lesson

In addition, Tuesday Period 1 is a full Anchor lesson. The Heads of Year have been developing a full school program with age appropriate resources and concepts to be delivered during this time, as well as whole school or cohort assemblies. We have several priorities to address during this time: Respectful Relationships Education, Ponder career program, guest speakers and auxilliary program delivery.

• Respect program

As part of these Anchor lessons, we will be implementing aspects of the Respectful Relationships Education program, with an aim to give our students opportunities for social and emotional learning (such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationships, ethics, values, social norms, stereotypes, human rights, risk and responsible decision-making). The Queensland Department of Education has developed this P-12 program based on evidence-based research and best-practice educational approaches with a focus on:

• • gender equality and equity
  • domestic and family violence
  • consent education
  • help seeking and reporting strategies

The program has been developed in consultation with a wide range of experts in the field and school communities. It is a compulsory part of the Queensland curriculum and delivers age-appropriate resources and strategies to help students work through sensitive and complex issues as they navigate respectful and ethical relationships.

The program also has advice and resources for families, which you can access here.

• Ponder program

Another key aspect of Anchor is designed to help students to consider, in an age appropriate way, their future pathways. Ponder is designed as short, 5-10 minute snapshot activities to start students get to know their skills, strengths, values and support systems in order to begin to plan 'where to next'.

If you have any queries about our Anchor program, contact the relevant Head of Year.