Meet Wally!
Wally is our JOY dog. He is a Miniature Schnauzer, born in 2023. He loves sniffing around college grounds, chasing balls and sitting on your lap. Wally attends classes and College Tours. Wally’s purpose at Heathmont College is to bring joy to our community. He can assist coregulating emotions, reducing worry or stress
and motivates students to focus and learn.
The JOY Dog Initiative: Photo credit to HK
Health and well-being are important factors in our daily lives. After the effects of a global pandemic, lockdown and then a return to the classroom, we have embarked upon a journey to purpose train a JOY dog who will work at the school. Our JOY dog acts as a wellbeing dog, working in several spaces across the College.
- The aim of the project is to improve wellbeing for students. This will be achieved through improving socializing skills and self-awareness skills that are a part of the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) competencies.
These competencies are linked to Victorian curriculum standards, and it is expected that all teachers cover these learning outcomes and are able to assess them,
as per expectations related to the entire Victorian Curriculum.
Three areas will be the target group for this project and as the action progresses, it will be implemented more broadly across the school.
- Well-being
- Integration
- Study areas
The objectives of this project are to improve teaching and learning practices related to SEL competencies and to gather evidence to show improvement in student outcomes within a particular cohort of the school
