Melbourne Girls Grammar is in the final stages of the largest construction project in its history.
The Weekly Times reported that the new Artemis Wellbeing Centre, due to open next year, will be the centrepiece of the wellbeing program at the South Yarra school.
Principal Catherine Misson said the $22 million complex reflects the importance placed on student health and wellbeing at the senior campus.
It will include a 25 metre swimming pool, basketball and netball courts, yoga and fitness studios as well as learning, study and consultation spaces.
‘We have designed what we think is the first gendered wellbeing centre,’ Mrs Misson said. ‘We recruited a team of female architects to design the building for girls.’
In addition to this investment, the school pours staff resources and thought into its well-established health and wellbeing program, Personal Dimensions.
The program sees girls participate in five hours of activities a fortnight designed to increase mental, physical and emotional health. Groups of 15 girls are supported by a Personal Dimensions mentor - a staff member who is the point of contact for the girls and their parents for the school year.
Mrs Misson has announced five full-time wellbeing coaches — trained through RMIT’s Master of Wellbeing program — will join the Melbourne Girls Grammar staff next year, taking over responsibility for the wellbeing needs of Year 9 and Year 10 students.
‘We are bringing in full-time wellbeing coaches who don’t do anything else but work with girls,’ Mrs Misson said. ‘They won’t have teaching loads.’
‘With no other distraction or responsibility, they can provide every girl with a 15-minute dedicated one-on-one coaching session every week, at a minimum.’