Preparatory School

Welcome to Term 3

Welcome back to School for the start of Term 3. We trust the recent break offered you and your family a chance to rest, recharge and enjoy some special time together. As we return to the rhythm of School life, Term 3 promises many opportunities for learning and connection.

New Wellbeing Program Empowers Young Minds

Westminster’s Preparatory School is proud to introduce Grow Your Mind, an exciting wellbeing initiative designed to support our Preparatory School students’ emotional intelligence, resilience and understanding of mental health.

Rooted in neuroscience and positive psychology, Grow Your Mind helps children explore how their brains work and how to care for their mental wellbeing.

The program integrates engaging resources including stories, humour, and a podcast created by children for children, featuring interviews with expert guests. Families are encouraged to visit the Grow Your Mind website to explore these resources and listen to the podcast together.

As part of our broader wellbeing curriculum, Grow Your Mind has been trialled across several classes with outstanding engagement from students. Through interactive lessons and storytelling, students are introduced to five friendly animal characters, each representing key parts of the brain and their functions:

• The Wise Owl – Prefrontal Cortex: decision-making and problem-solving
• The Guard Dog – Amygdala: managing the fight, flight or freeze response
• The Sifting Sooty – Reticular Activating System: focus and attention
• The Elephant – Hippocampus: memory and learning
• The Sensitive Octopus – Insular Cortex: empathy and connection

These characters offer a fun, accessible way for children to explore emotional awareness and build important lifelong skills. You can see them in action through this short video.

In the coming weeks, families will begin to notice visual displays and resources across the School that celebrate and reinforce Grow Your Mind concepts.

We encourage parents and carers to talk with their children about what they are learning and to explore these ideas together at home.

Creating a shared language around mental health strengthens the connection between home and School, while nurturing a culture of openness, understanding and support. We are excited to be embedding this program into daily life at Westminster and look forward to sharing its progress with our community.

Prep School Library Schedule

Each morning, the Prep School Library opens daily for reading and borrowing from 8.20 am, giving children a gentle and settled start to their day.

During lunchtime this term, a variety of engaging opportunities will be on offer for students.