Wellbeing for Future Focused Schools Conference

9:00am

Welcome by our MC

9:10 – 9:40am

Amy Green, Founder, The Wellness Strategy

Creating the Conditions to Thrive: Rethinking How We Work in Schools

This workshop is about reimagining what it takes for educators and staff to truly thrive at work. Together, we’ll explore how the right conditions, clarity, structure, alignment, and support, create the foundation for wellbeing, performance, and sustainable success.

Through practical reflection and strategy, participants will identify what helps (and hinders) thriving in their context, uncover the invisible barriers built into everyday systems, and learn how to intentionally design a culture where people can do their best work and feel their best doing it.

9:40 – 10:10am

Dr Phil Cummins FRSA FACEL FIML RAA, Hooke Family Professor of Practice in Educational Leadership, University of Sydney

Character Education: The Who Is Our Why

What is good character and how is it formed? How should we educate people to build the character they need for lives that are both worthwhile and well-lived? How might we lead for and with the character required to thrive in our world? Now, perhaps more than ever, we need the influence of strong, positive character.

This presentation explores how we can put the "Who?" at the forefront of a school's educational purpose and practice in pursuit of future focused graduate outcomes. Drawing on over 15 years of research by CIRCLE Education that has led to the establishment of the Sydney Character Initiative at the University of Sydney, Prof Phil Cummins will share a story of character and the formation of the whole child in communities of inquiry and practice that that are responding to the compelling call for the values and value proposition of an education for character, competency and wellness.

10:10 – 10:30am

Q&A Panel with above presenters

10:30 – 11:00am

Morning Tea

11:00 – 11:30am

Session TBC

11:30 – 12:00pm

Sam Wright, Vice Principal – Students, Padua College

Cultivating mental health literacy through data informed approaches

In today's educational landscape, fostering a culture of respect and wellbeing is paramount for the holistic development of students and educators alike. Our session aims to explore how the integration of social and emotional literacy, a wellbeing framework and data-informed strategies can cultivate environments where respect for the environment, oneself, and the community thrives. We will delve into two key themes: Cultivating Respect Through Social and Emotional Literacy; and Data-Informed Strategies for Developing Flourishing Learners.

The session is designed for educators, administrators, and policymakers eager to implement evidence-based practices that promote respect, positive mental health, and flourishing among students and staff alike. Join us as we explore transformative strategies that empower individuals to become their best selves while nurturing thriving educational communities.

12:00 – 12:30pm

Simi Rayat, Global Business Psychologist, The Global Joy Mission

The Global Joy Mission: Empowering Educators and Students to Thrive, Not Just Survive

What if joy wasn’t a reward at the end of a busy school term, but a daily strategy for wellbeing and performance?

In this inspiring and science-backed session, Organisational Psychologist and author of Productivity Joy, Simi Rayat, shares the Global Joy Mission, a movement to equip 5 million people including Educators and students with the tools to thrive by 2030.

Discover the 5Qs Formula, a simple, evidence-based, science-backed daily practice to build emotional regulation, focus and resilience in just five minutes a day. Learn how schools across Australia are embedding these tools into classrooms and how your school can join the national pilot programme to make wellbeing a daily mental fitness habit, not an occasional lesson.

You’ll walk away inspired, equipped and ready to create a culture of calm, confidence and connection in your school community.

12:30 – 1:30pm

Lunch

1:30 – 2:00pm

Q&A Panel with above presenters

2:00 – 2:30pm

Andrew King, School Principal | President New Zealand Rural Schools Association, Oropi School

Leadership for whole school and teacher wellbeing - rural contexts, the perfect setting!

Ensuring collective well-being across the whole school for teachers, students, and parent community is not rocket science. It is about ensuring we all work together through a collaborative approach identifying our core philosophy to inform our priorities as an educational institution. This is informed by our local community connections and environmental context.

Andrew will draw on his experience leading Ōropi School, where the local context and environment has been utilised to ensure our children are motivated to come to school and immersed in real life experiences to motivate them in their learning, on a daily basis. He will outline how this has brought staff and parents together for the wellbeing of our community, while also optimising the mental health of our children. It is relatively simply; connecting kids to the real world and natural environment, which does wonders. Links will be made to the work of the New Zealand Rural Schools Association, where an important element of our work is to highlight the strengths and opportunities a rural context can provide.

2:30 – 3:10pm

Andrew Murray, Director (former Secondary Principal) Lumina Wellbeing Strategy

The Anti 5am Club

The Anti 5am Club challenges the myths that tie success to early starts, perfect mornings, and relentless output. Instead, it equips teachers with practical tools they can use to protect their energy, design days that work for them, and model sustainable wellbeing.

The workshop is grounded in lived experience and research, offering realistic strategies to help educators and school leaders flourish across the whole day. We will also explore "Moral Trauma" something that many teachers have but do not know they have. I will help them deal with this.

3:10 – 3:30pm

Q&A Panel with above presenters

3:30 – 3:45pm

Ask the Audience: Delegates share the one idea that they will work on next week

4.00 – 5.30pm

Summit Social - a networking event for exhibitors, speakers and delegates.

9:00am

Welcome by our MC

9:10 – 9:40am

Matt O’Connor, Clinical and School Psychologist, ConnectEd Counselling

Boundaries That Protect: Sustainable Strategies for Teacher Wellbeing

The demands of teaching can make it hard to switch off, protect time, and manage the emotional load that comes with supporting students every day. Without intentional strategies, stress and fatigue can quickly accumulate, leaving educators vulnerable to burnout.

This session provides teachers with practical, evidence-based tools to manage workload, set healthy boundaries, and sustain their own wellbeing. Participants will explore ways to streamline workflow, protect time for recovery, and use simple reflective practices to reduce emotional fatigue. The session also highlights how to communicate and uphold boundaries in ways that strengthen relationships with colleagues, students, and families. Teachers will leave with a personalised toolkit for sustainable practice — strategies that help them protect their energy, manage stress proactively, and stay well so they can continue to do their best work with students.

9:40 – 10:10am

Andrew Oberthur, Executive Coach, Creative Collaborative Solutions

High Performing Teams Improve Staff Well-Being, which improves performance

Andrew will share his knowledge of 6 Team Conditions of High Performing Teams and apply these conditions to school teams. Providing practical ideas as to how individual staff, in school teams, may work together to maximise their health, performance, diversity and sustainability, this session will be relevant to teachers and school leaders.

Andrew will give participants a snapshot of three tools that maybe used to improve psychological safety and well-being (Team Diagnostic Survey; ERGO Analyst; PRAiSE (Psychological Risk Assessment integrated Solutions for Employers). These three tools give school leaders options to analyse the well-being of their staff (and themselves). By creating high performing teams that are a Circle of Trust, high performing teams will have interdependent individuals, working together for their mutual well-being.

10:10 – 10:30am

Q&A Panel with above presenters

10:30 – 11:00am

Morning Tea

11:00 – 11:30am

Chantelle Sansness, School Foodies Curriculum Toolkit Developer, QUT

Health & Wellbeing on the Menu: Explore QUT’s School Foodies Toolkit

Discover QUT’s School Foodies Curriculum Planning Toolkit – an adaptable, research-based resource designed to enhance food and nutrition environments in primary schools.

This free website helps teachers to:

• Meaningfully integrate food and nutrition education across the curriculum

• Save time with ready-to-use, curriculum-aligned planning tools

• Engage students through real-world learning contexts

• Promote student health, wellbeing, and a strong sense of belonging

Co-designed with school leaders and educators, the toolkit will equip you with practical tools and resources to tailor food and nutrition education to your unique school communities.

11:30 – 12:00pm

Bianca McLeish, Student Wellbeing Coordinator, Catholic Education Diocese of Rockhampton

Empowered Educators: Building Emotional Regulation Through Self-Awareness

Teachers are  expected to frequently calm dysregulated students — often without foundational knowledge of how to regulate themselves during ongoing stress. 

This workshop invites educators to develop practical skills in self-awareness, learning to identify their own nervous system states and respond with empowered regulation. Grounded in neuroscience and compassionate practice, we’ll explore how teacher wellbeing directly shapes classroom tone, relational safety, and student engagement. Participants will leave with strategies that support not just the teacher role — but the whole human being behind it.

12:00 – 12:30pm

Emma Derainne, Teacher and Researcher, The University of Queensland

How Good are School Gardens?

School gardens are more than green spaces — they are living classrooms that nurture curiosity, wellbeing, and community.

This session will explore how gardens foster student engagement, promote sustainability, and support equity by connecting curriculum with lived experience. Emma will highlight practical examples of how teachers integrate gardens into teaching practice, and discuss how these spaces contribute to whole-school wellbeing — a contribution recognised when she was named a finalist in the 2024 Queensland Wellbeing Awards.

Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of how to harness school gardens as powerful tools for learning and inclusion, and with practical strategies for advocating for garden-based initiatives in their own contexts.

12:30 – 1:30pm

Lunch

1:30 – 2:00pm

Q&A Panel with above presenters

2:00 – 2:30pm

Jillian Stansfield, Guidance Officer, Burpengary State Secondary College

Creating a Culture of Care and Psychological Safety in Schools

We will explore how supporting teacher wellbeing enhances schools’ capacity to respond to student anxiety, trauma, and mental health challenges. Drawing on research, a staff wellbeing committee, and the WaND initiative, we will share practical strategies to build psychological safety, reduce emotional fatigue, and foster collegial trust.

Participants will engage in a collaborative problem-solving activity and contribute to a Teacher Wellbeing Padlet, generating an ongoing repository of ideas. Practical guidance from active school engagement, recognition practices, and promotion of EAP resources ensures attendees leave with actionable tools to embed a culture of care for staff and students.

2:30 – 3:10pm

Danni Foster-Brown, Head of Virtual Learning Community, Hillcrest Christian College

Wellbeing and Emotional Intelligence in a Virtual World

How do students develop emotional intelligence skills if they don't see each other face-to-face? Hear from the Head of the Virtual Learning Community about how an online Prep to 12 school can create a sense of wellbeing, belonging and social connections - for students and teachers.

3:10 – 3:30pm

Q&A Panel with above presenters

3:30 – 3:45pm

Ask the Audience: Delegates share the one idea that they will work on next week