Yeronga State High School Pastoral Care Rationale
At Yeronga State High School, our Learner Agency Program (known elsewhere as Pastoral Care) is a cornerstone of our commitment to nurturing the whole student - academically, socially, emotionally, and ethically. Grounded in the values of respect, inclusion, and global citizenship, the program is designed to support students' personal development and future readiness through a structured, age-appropriate framework from Years 7 to 12. From 2026, we are partnering with Wellio, an online platform that helps schools deliver evidence-based wellbeing lessons to students in Years 7-12. It provides a library of over 350 lessons on topics like emotional regulation, resilience, and healthy relationships, using interactive tools like polls and quizzes.
Years 7–8: Inquire
In the foundational years of secondary schooling, students are encouraged to explore their identities, relationships, and the world around them. Under the theme of Inquire, the program integrates:
- Understanding Technology in the Classroom. Lessons to build students understanding of platforms used in Yeronga classrooms and the ethics of responsible use.
- Respectful Relationships Education to build empathy, communication skills, and conflict resolution strategies.
- Wellbeing modules that promote emotional literacy, resilience, and self-care.
- Career Education that introduces students to the world of work, personal strengths, and goal setting.
This phase lays the groundwork for ethical thinking, curiosity, and a strong sense of belonging.
Years 9–10: Ethics and Choices
As students mature, the focus shifts to Ethics and Choices, supporting them to navigate adolescence with integrity and purpose. This stage deepens their understanding of:
- Ethical decision-making and the consequences of choices in personal, social, and digital contexts.
- Respectful Relationships in more complex scenarios, including consent, power dynamics, and diversity.
- Career Exploration through subject selection support, industry exposure, and personal interest mapping, culminating in JET-Planning (Junior Education & Training Plan) in Year 9 and SET-Planning (Senior Education & Training Plan) in Year 10.
- Wellbeing strategies tailored to the challenges of adolescence, including stress management and mental health literacy.
This phase empowers students to make informed, values-driven decisions about their lives and futures.
Years 11–12: Global Ideation
In the senior years, the program culminates in Global Ideation, where students are challenged to think beyond themselves and contribute meaningfully to a rapidly changing world. This phase embeds:
- Career Education and Pathway Planning as a central focus, including QTAC preparation, resume building, interview skills, and post-school transitions.
- Global Citizenship themes that explore sustainability, equity, and innovation.
- Wellbeing practices that support academic pressure, life balance, and future uncertainty.
- Ethical Leadership and ideation projects that encourage students to design solutions to real-world problems, drawing on their learning across disciplines.
- Guest-presenters who are invited to impart knowledge onto our students across a range of themes and topics.
This final stage prepares students to leave school as confident, compassionate, and capable young adults.
Student Voice and Agency
At Yeronga State High School, student voice is not just encouraged - it drives change. We believe that students should be active participants in shaping their learning, their school, and their future. When students are genuinely heard, they become more connected, motivated, and empowered to make meaningful change.
Through initiatives such as our Student Summits, Horizons Women’s Hub, and a range of leadership programs, students at Yeronga have multiple opportunities to share their ideas, influence decision-making, and advocate for issues that matter to them and their peers. These platforms foster collaboration, confidence, and a strong sense of belonging, ensuring every student feels seen, heard, and valued.
Our Year Level Heads of Department play a pivotal role in strengthening these opportunities, coordinating programs that extend beyond the classroom to promote student leadership, advocacy, and active citizenship.
At Yeronga, student agency means more than having a voice - it means using it to create impact. Together, our students and staff continue to build a school community where every voice matters and where learning is a shared journey shaped by those at its heart.
YCONNECT
The Y Connect Project was a partnership between Yeronga State High School and researchers from Griffith University. The Y Connect Project brought students, teachers, school leaders, artists, arts organisations, and researchers together in an attempt to enhance young people's sense of belonging and connectedness, and to generate improvements in several aspects of learning. To address these goals, arts-based pedagogies were employed across the curriculum, teachers partnered with artists and arts organisations, and focused arts projects became part of the natural landscape of the school.
The image above provides a representation of the Project's key findings in relation to research question one – impact on students. It reveals that six critical connections were enhanced for the young people who participated in the Y Connect Project: connection to self; connection to each other; connection to learning; connection to and belonging within the school community (abbreviated to connection to the school community); connection to the Arts, artists and arts organisations (abbreviated at times to connection to the Arts); and connection to the future through the creation of alternate possible selves (abbreviated to connection to possible selves).
Y Connect way is capable of adding real value for learners and learning by employing the expertise of artists in partnership with teachers and the curriculum and making use of the power of arts-based pedagogies.