Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Energetic Radio with Dale Sidebottom & Paul Campbell is a fantastic tool for people looking to bring fun play and happiness into each and every day. Listen along as Dale interviews world-renowned experts and shares his own experiences with you in this weekly podcast.
Welcome to the Energetic Radio podcast. This episode is brought to you
by the school of play dotco, hosted by Dale Sibonham and
Paul Campbell. Each week we'll bring to you tips, strategies, and ideas
on how you can bring more joy and happiness into your life and those you
share with. Alright, everyone. Welcome back to the podcast, episode
number 345 of Energetic Radio. My name is Dale Cybottom,
and I am joined by the one and only, mister Paul Campbell. Good.
Hello, everybody. How are we all? Well, I'll tell you what, Campbell. We are in
the flashiest studio I've ever seen. Now let me paint the picture for everyone out
there. This is 8 years of podcasting. We have never done a podcast
like this. We're at Moskell Park Primary School. We've had the pleasure this year to
not only work with the full staff at the start of the year, upskill
them and give them a really nice experience day 1, but also, we've been
back 4 times this year to work with all the house captains, all the school
captains, and the grade 5, 6 students on empowering them with
our new student agency and leadership program. And we've
got them in the studio today, which is really exciting because, as I said, 8
years of doing the podcast, I have previously had one of my ex
students on the podcast that, I sort of mentored and helped and
shared his story, but we have never ever had any students at a primary
school that are participating in our program. So how exciting it
is? We're pumped for this. It's epic. And not only that, this is the this
is an amazing studio. Right? If we can come and record our podcast here every
week, so I think that'd be unreal. Unreal. I feel a little bit like for
the listeners. I I went and saw Tina Turner last night, and, I feel a
bit like Turner with the microphone set up. It's unreal. Unreal.
Alright. So we're joined with the house captains. We joined with the house captain of
the school. Enriq is one of our house captains, and Enriq is gonna introduce,
who's in the studio with us today. Alright. Let me start with Chelsea.
She's a house captain from Endeavor, which is our greenhouse.
We've got Lana and Ariq, which is me, from Park,
and we've got Sunny from Lodge. Beautiful. Welcome, everyone.
Before we get going, who which house is currently
leading the charge this year in terms of the house? Oh, okay.
Park house. Too good. Too good. Yellow. Yellow house. Yellow's a odd
color, Like, not many people have got a lot of yellow stuff at home. I
know if I was in Park house in yellow, I'd have to probably go shopping
to get myself some, to get myself some yellow attire, I reckon, because it's not
a color I have frequently in my you would have. So
your your amount of color is a amount of brightness. So, I love
it. What was the, what was the best aspect of the of the house system
this year? For me, I would say that we've
put up a beautiful trophy 2 two times this,
in 2 years. So it was a pretty proud and exciting
moment for us all, and we actually showed that Park is the best house in
the school. Hey. Well done. Well done, Parks. Has there been a house that's
dominated over the last few years? Is or is it 5 years straight. 5 years
straight. Park's 5 years straight for park. Yes, sir. So what that tells me is
that there's Teachers are not doing something right. Yeah. The selection model is, is huge.
The drama system. Well, I know that in
schools when you have, house sports, if your siblings follow suit.
Right? So if you've got an older brother or sister or a young one, they
go in the same house. So maybe the genetics in the families of
parks is strong. So the other houses need to lift here, people. I need to,
get the colors up. Yeah. Get the colors up. And start early. I love it.
I love it. Alright. So we're gonna get cracking here. So we got a couple
of questions for you guys, this morning and I'll and I'll kick them off. So,
what has been the most rewarding part of leading the School of Play
student based fun shops this year? For me, I would
say that we made younger people more active and
motivated. As they always said, we always need to put on some sneaky fitness.
You do. A little bit of sneaky fitness. Who doesn't love that? Yeah. The best
thing is if you take one thing, that's the one thing to take, but I
love it. I love it. Carry on, legends. Alright. So also,
let's go into this one. This year, you've been obviously the key in
designing and promoting well-being activities around your school. Okay? And that's something really
important, obviously, as a grade 6 leaders. At the top of your
mind, is there something that you're really proud of?
I'm proud of that, like, the, like, students,
they know they're, like, coming together and they're playing games and, like,
the house captains are doing that, not all not always the teachers.
Amazing. Like it. Amazing. Can I can I go off I don't wanna throw too
many spanners at here? The fact that the student leaders are leading it, do you
think it's being really well received because it's coming from the peers and not from
the teachers? Yeah? Do you think the students are really buying into that because it
is peer led? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Love it. And and do you think, obviously,
the younger students see you leading them and, like, wow. Like, I
could do that one day? Like, do you think it's generating more hype and
excitement around being a house captain or a school captain? Yeah. I would say so.
Yeah. Perfect. Well, that that's what we'd like to hear. Yeah. Because we all
wanna we wanna inspire people to be leaders, and I think that's a really important
thing. But that also starts by you as leaders leading the
way and particularly setting fun activities and giving a really
good experience. They're gonna wanna do that because they see you. They see you
being the leaders and having fun. So you should personally, you
should be proud of that as well as leaders. I understand. We love to say,
you know, attitude reflects leadership. We say it all the time. And how
you guys are leading this charge at the school is no doubt having a
massive impact on the junior kids at the school because they're looking up to you
and going, man, I can't wait to get to, you know, grade 5 or 6
and really start leading these activities as ourselves. So you're pioneers. You it's well done.
You should be really proud of yourselves. It's epic. Alright. How has participating in the
leadership and well-being program helped you grow personally?
Before, I'll, so
I wanted to go for house captain a few years ago or
no. Last year, but I was a bit shy, and I lacked
confidence. So, it assists me in gaining confidence, and I
think I've progressed well. Yeah. Well, done. Well, done. If you if you
feel a little bit of progression yourself, you should be really proud. Yeah?
We talk about stretching our comfort zone a lot and and being comfortable with the
uncomfortable, and It sounds that's exactly what you've done this year. Right? You've stepped out
of your comfort zone. You've stretched yourself a little bit, and you'll take that with
you for rest of your life. And that's just the first step you need to
take to keep doing that. Right? Don't let that stop this year, by all means.
What skills do you reckon you're gonna take with you, like, into the future from
running this program? I feel like I'm gonna take being
brave and energetic to to help, like, other students, and,
like, I won't be as boring or, like, monotone as I
used to be. Oh, I love that word, brave. Yeah. I think
brave, we talk about it, but it's easy to talk about. It's actually a lot
harder to do. Sonny, particularly, you were saying, like,
you didn't want to go you wanted to be a house captain, but you you
felt a little bit scared. Was it do you was there, like, a point that
made you realize that sometimes you have to be a little bit brave and do
things a little bit uncomfortable to then get the reward?
Yeah. My sister, she, she
was moaning about not being able to be a house captain and how I had
the opportunity, so I just went for it. So you
went because, obviously, you can't go back in time, can you? So your
sister now was looking back and wanted to do it. At the time, she might
wanna do it, but she didn't. And that's sometimes, that's great motivation when you see
somebody else that has not sort of followed their path or saying they wanted to
do because they may be scared or they may have been a little bit worried.
Sometimes, that's great motivation as well. Was she was your sister proud of you for
doing it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She should be, mate. It's awesome. Do you all feel
as though you're gonna carry on this leader she trades into into your secondary schooling
now? Do you think you'll continually pull out your hands for leadership roles? Yeah. I
hope so. Yeah. I hope so. Yeah. Do it. You know what I mean? Keep
going. If you can if you can hone those skills, especially from grade
5 onwards and then do it year 7, 8, 9, 10 and keep going, Imagine
by the time you get out of high school, like, imagine how confident you're gonna
be, you know, imagine how brave you would have been in the the leadership skills
you would have developed if you can keep doing that. So we definitely recommend,
putting your hand off those leadership roles as often as you can throughout your whole
high school journey. Yeah. And and just because you're going from grade 6 into year
7 next year and you're starting in a new school down the bottom, still be
brave, still be confident. Alright? Because that really shines through. The
schools we work with at the moment and some of the year sevens that are
confident and brave, they have fantastic students. Alright? And they're getting the most
out of it because they believe in themselves. Alright? So exactly
like what you've done this year, it's been really powerful. Now, one more from me.
What advice would you give to the future school leaders about running
successful well-being programs initiative to improve your school
culture? I would say that whenever you do
anything, just step up to it. If you're if you know what you're doing, you
gotta be confident, you gotta know what you're doing, and give them a message really
well. So then it can go out, and you actually have make a
good impact to to the world. Oh, beautiful. That's deep.
If that sort of mic drop sort of set up there, if they weren't held
up You can't drop these mic. That is so well set up in the air.
And I love that. And personally, I know Paul's run a couple of sessions with
you, but I've had the fortune of running 4 sessions each term
with each of you. And what I would say is not only have you been
great at leading around the school, but also putting your hand up,
answering questions, and leading in front of your peers. Because sometimes that's a lot
harder when, you know, you've got your other peers around, none of you have judged
each other, you've all accepted each other, and more importantly made each other feel safe.
Alright. And that is a really good sign. Not only as a leader is it
important to be leading and showing the way and everything like that,
but also it's to support your fellow leaders. Alright? Yep.
Nearly knocked the monitor over there. But, that that's what yeah. I know.
That's one thing I've personally been really proud of to see and see the growth
in you as a leadership group. So should be really proud of that. Yeah. I
love it. And I'm gonna throw a question with that notice here and I hope
I don't freak you out, but, Dale told me not to do this today. But
I can't help myself. Out of all the activities you've led,
which one do you or 1 or 1 or 2, which ones do you think
have been the most well received or been the most fun or the other
students at Mossy Isle Park have really loved doing?
I reckon the, what is it called? The clapping game? Yep.
That was everybody's favorite I reckon or or the
Buddies Everywhere. Yeah. Buddies Everywhere is a great game, isn't it? And that just that
just connects people so well. Right? Buddies Everywhere and the clapping game is an insane
one. I was, I was incredibly impressed when I first walked
into school with the gratitude tree. Oh, yes. That's powerful. It is powerful
and it's just such a cool visual when you walk into your front office area
and you see such a sprawling, you know, sprawling tree of
leaves and then we sat there and read every message. Yeah. Read every one of
them and it's just such a beautiful powerful, I guess thing to
have in your school for you, and that that's something you should be really proud
of, you know, and that that's a legacy you've left on the school, and I
hope that the students that partooking that and left their little messages
felt, you know, felt really good about themselves when they put that up in the
tree. But, yeah, you guys are really proud of that one. I love I love
the gratitude tree in your foyer. Same. And I think that's one thing about leadership
as well that our programs we've taught you all well and good to teach the
face to face, but then also there are things around the school for maybe some
of the students that feel a little bit uncomfortable. They can still get those benefits
when they come in their own time, they roll the dice, answer one of the
questions, they put it up on the gratitude tray. Each time you walk past that,
it reminds you of things you're grateful for in your life that you've put up.
But, also, it reminds you of what other people are, and it's a really positive
experience. And, personally, when the first two terms when I came in here,
and that wasn't up, Not saying your school foyer wasn't beautiful and
colorful, but the 3rd term when I came in, I'm like, wow. It is such
a powerful thing. Right? So leadership isn't just running sessions
and games and well-being initiatives that we've called. It's also setting things up around
the school like you have. And that's really what we tried to do and
hence, why we wanted to have you on the podcast because you've actually brought our
program to life in such a really good way. So house captains, you were the
ones delivering it, designing it, and everything like that. Putting the work
in, you should be proud of that because the ideas and constructs you put around
your school are brilliant. Yeah. Well done. Well done. I I was late to the
party, obviously, but my my workshops with you were were
really fun, and you're an incredible, incredible group of young human beings. You
really are. So take that with you. Okay? Take that with you. Take that
bravery with you into your next journey, and we can't wait to sort of
follow you follow your journeys along, and, yeah, thank you. Thank you so
much for putting our program and bringing it to life. It's epic. Well done.
Awesome. Beautiful. Thank you. No
worries. Well done, guys. Did really well. Yeah? Yeah? Were you a
bit nervous? No. No. You did really well. Yeah. You made
mine. Clearly good answers. Sorry for throwing a few questions at you without nervous,
but I think it's sometimes nice just to have a general conversation, not be too
structured sometimes. So Well, we're kinda just used to that by now. Good. It's good.
Well done. Nice work. This is awesome. Well done, yes, captains. Have we got,
got some I wanna get some photos of this stuff. Did you? This would be
awesome. Can we all get in here somehow?
Actually, I'm just gonna be a little hard. Sorry, you lean in.
There we go. Awesome. Alright. I'll take one. Sit there. Stay there.
Yeah. Give us some smiles.
Excellent. Alright. Thank you, house captains. Thank you. Well
done. You did really well. Thank you, guys. Well done. Well done,
everyone. How's that? That's
good? That's good.
Babe, I did well. I did really well. Here
we go. How are we, legends? Get a put a El Capitanos. Oh, hello. Gonna
put a Oh, hello. Gonna put a gunk on us. We don't need the one.
Okay. You're gonna You're gonna place the girl. Thank you. That's alright. I'll just not
put them on. This feels weird. Does this
not. So when, obviously, when one of you talking, just move it around so that
one can. Now Yeah. To you. Now we got we got Cal. Yeah. Now
first and foremost, so Calum. Mhmm. Zivan? Yeah.
Zivan? Zagam? Yeah. Did I get that right?
Oh, yeah. Meyer. I run into this. Meyer. Alright. You
you're gonna introduce and then you've got some questions for us? Yep. Yep. Beautiful.
Alright. I'm just gonna say my background is an army just so we're gonna have
to cut it up. Well, just now that the house captain's out now, we're going
to focus on the school captain. Beautiful. And they and
they've thrown it over to us, but on the on the other foot. No worries.
Ready? It's all good. Alright. Here we are again. I guess, for
section 2 of this, part 2 of our Mesquite Park
podcast episode 345. We had our house captains,
join us first and foremost. And now we've got our 4 El Capitanos. The
4 school captains are now in this unbelievable
podcast studio. I'm just gonna introduce you guys. So we've got Maya. Hi, Julia.
Hello. We got Zuvan. Hello. We got Zugam.
That's me. Beautiful. And we got Callum. Hello. Awesome. Now, I'm gonna be honest
with you guys, we love a bit of a nickname the school play. So we're
playing a role with Cal, Soob, Zag, and Mimi.
Yes. Yes. Well, Mimi, it is now
Mimi. That's right. Now, obviously, I think after the first session
we did, you forgot me in here. And I'd never been
on a podcast where students had interviewed me before and I absolutely loved it. And
what I said, we will come back at the end of our program, and we
would love to return the favor. But what's ended up happening is you're gonna
still ask us questions about the program. How does that work?
Mix up, I'm guessing. Yeah. No. We're excited about this. So these these
questions without notice. They are. We're on the spot. We're in the hot seat. This
is what we like. We're on the hot seat. Alright. So who we're gonna pass
to? The gum. The gum. Let's go. Let's go, Zug. I'm
gonna ask you just 2 questions. Oh, okay. Alright. So
how did you and Paul come up with the idea to support well-being
for staff and students? Oh, that's, I suppose
it all started for me, probably 8 years ago when
I started, running workshops. And, originally, they were just
designed for teachers on fun ways to engage in the
classroom with different activities. And like all things in life, I think it
just evolved. And I personally went through a couple of
highs and lows in my life, and I found that finding ways to make well-being
in my mental health fun was really important. And through that,
we designed the school to play. And originally, yeah, we used to do a lot
of staff workshops, but then schools are like, well, can you do exactly the same
thing as you're doing with our staff, with our students? And we're like,
beautiful, because Paul and myself are both school teachers. We're ex school teachers,
and it was a natural thing. We we love helping a lot
of individuals. More importantly, it's great to work with teachers, but also getting
back into the classroom and in front of big lots of students to inspire
with our fun messaging, is something that we're really proud of. And
that's how it started for me. And, obviously, Paul's, recently come on board
and I won't steal his thunder too much, but used to be a big, AP
of well-being at a at a high school. And, I saw I
did a number of sessions at his school, and I saw Paul in action and
the way he interacted with his students and how much he cared. And that really
resonated with me. And then we've got along really well, and, hence, now we
team up. And, it's a really nice combination where we sort of
complement each other. We've got different backgrounds, but at the end of the day,
we we both believe in the power of play and, having fun and connections
and everything like that. And, that's why now, yeah, we work with a lot of
schools and students, like yourselves. It'd been really cool. Thank you.
That was really good. Beautiful. Thank you. No worries, mate. So And I won't I
won't delve in too much. For me, from the get go, especially in my teaching
career, is, the importance of connecting. You know,
I I always say that students don't care how much you know until they know
how much you care, and that resonated with me really early and and just
building strong bonds and connections with my students, and I did that through fun and
through play. And then, yeah, I was lucky enough to be in the audience, one
of Dow's, fun shops as as an assistant principal, and
I got to feel, you know, what these fun shops evoked
and those amazing feelings of connection and vulnerability and, and
I just loved it. I absolutely loved it. And got even out to work with
our students and staff, and as Dal said, we we hit it off and and
got on really well. And when he, approached me to come on board, it was
a no brainer. And this is exactly where I need to be. I absolutely love
it. In this podcast studio today. No bit of place. That is
absolutely wonderful. Oh, thanks, Maya. Thanks, Maya.
So far, so good. And we, you know, we now we now get to
impact upon tens of thousands of young people a year, and it's, it's a really
cool way to live your life, to be honest. Very rewarding. Yeah.
And my second question Yep. Is was there ever a
moment or experience that sparked this idea?
Mine actually came from, I was teaching in
London. This was a long time ago. And so for
teachers that are listening along, anyone that's done supply teaching in Central London,
it was really, really tough. And I remember so you'd roll in each
day, new group of students, you'd have a set bit of work, and they wouldn't
wanna listen to you and it was horrible. And I just remember, like, each day
getting there, no kid would listen and I'd end up yelling and it'd be a
horrible experience. And then I thought back to this one teacher
that always came in and built a relationship before giving any work. So
I thought, you know what, I'm gonna go in the next day. I'm not gonna
say who I am, and I'm just gonna start with 4 simple little activities. It's
not about winning or losing, just about having fun. And what I found was the
class the day before that absolutely hated me, that didn't wanna bar
me, that was yelling at me and everything like that, After those 4 games, he's
like, sir, sir, who are you? Who are you? And I'm like, I'm down. And
I tell you what, after recess, if you're just as good, I've got a better
game. After lunch, I've got an even better one. And at the end of the
day, if you're all good and you all look after yourself, I've got the best
one you've ever seen. And it was the most amazing experience ever because I built
a relationship with these students that didn't have that before. And what I found
was is the school said then, Dale, do you want to come back and do
another 3 days? And I'm like, s h I t. I don't have 7
more good games up my sleeve for the same class because I used the best
ones that day. So what it really did for me is it made me think
about it's so important to build a relationship. Connection before content.
And through that, I found that I had all these different little activities
on paper in my bag. And I had a lot of other teacher friends in
London going, what are these games? What are you doing? So I put them all
together and designed my first app, mobile app called Classbreak.
Essentially, there's 500 different activities on there to help
teachers, students, anybody connect, have fun
through simple little games like what we've done in our programs. And, essentially,
that's how it started. Then I created another 30 apps, and then I was still
teaching in, Melbourne back, and people would ask me to come and present
in Dubai on the weekend or Singapore or something like that. And, it got to
a stage where I'm like, well, what I'm doing is pretty cool. So, I left
teaching and, yeah, 8 years ago, I started doing this full time. So for me,
it was out of my poor teaching that I
thought I need to change something because I was nearly ready to quit teaching and
I was thinking I might just be a removalist like one of my housemates or
I might go work at a bar because I just wasn't enjoying it. But that
wasn't anybody else's fault besides my own because I wasn't taking the
time to build relationships and connections and make it fun. So
there's a That's awesome. Along with it, Heather. Time in there. Yeah. You you mentioned
there you obviously created class break and then you've created 30 odd apps on the
phone, which is which is unbelievable. I imagine all of
them worked. No. Some absolute stinkers in there. Absolute stinkers. So you
failed you failed many times, I take it. So I invented a couple. There's one
this I spent a lot of money on this one. There's this app called Koala
Pop, where there's all these different koalas. You gotta push a koala head and then
it pops in 4 ways and it'll pop other koalas and you're only allowed to
do certain amount of push. It was actually a really good app. But then I
started to get sued because it was really similar to these other apps. So then
I had to get rid of it. I had I had some slot machine apps.
I had photo store apps. I had QR code apps. What? I had some
of the most ridiculous ones ever. Anyway, now we've got only about 3 or
4. I really called it down. Yeah. But, yeah, I
suppose you only know by doing. You're doing right? And you learn I look
back at all the money I spend on these apps that don't work and koala
pop, but, yeah, like, it might have worked. Who knows? No. But invaluable
lessons. Big time. What have you learned? I'll laugh about it. Failing your returns and
have a great laugh about it now, but I didn't know that qualification. Yeah. Not
many people do, mate. I thought I was gonna look that up. That still exists.
Good. Happy to you guys later. Okay. So my quest my
question is, can you explain how play based learning can support emotional
regulation in younger students? Oh, great. Great. That's fun for you, Cambo.
That is a banger. It is. Play play doesn't
discriminate, 1st and foremost. It breaks down barriers really
well, and especially the type of play activities that we incorporate into our workshops
and that you guys have been running at the school. Play in
the way that we deliver it, it levels out the playing field. And when
everyone's playing, they're they're forgetting about what's going on
outside of the school fence. They're forgetting about what's happening at home. They're forgetting about,
you know, anything that might not be going so well in their life. They're they're
forgetting about the stress, all those sorts of things. Even even with adults, like, even
as adults, they forget about their to do list, and they forget about the emails
they gotta get back to and, I just feel we feel that when people are
playing and they're, we call it play based mindfulness, they're just
in the moment. You know what I mean? They just allow themselves to be completely
present and it helps them to regulate their emotions. It
helps them to calm down because they stop worrying about everything else that's going on
in the outside world. And then through play,
play is incredible at building at social connections.
It really is. And as human beings, we are made to be connected. Let's be
honest. We love having friends. Right? And we love talking to our friends. We love
hanging out. And you know yourself, you probably felt a little
bit isolated or a little bit, you know, alone at times, which
happens to everybody, but it happens to all of us. When
you start playing with other people, it breaks that isolation down and you form a
really cool, fun connection with other people. And I just think it just
puts a spring in your step. It makes you feel good about life, even if
it's that 10 minutes you're playing, that 15 minutes you're playing. But if you can
put that 10 to 15 minutes into your life on a regular basis, then
hopefully it starts to break down how often you're you're feeling a little bit blue
or a little bit gloom. But Yeah. So true. And I'm I'm looking just up
and now at at Moscow Park Primary School's, vision and the values, and
it's respect, responsibility, and relationships. Well, the big thing we do
is it all starts with relationships like what I mentioned before. Once
you've got a relationship with somebody, normally, there is that element of
respect. And through that respect, then you realize that you've got responsibilities
as a human being, not only to yourself, but others. And I think
that for us is something we really try and bring across, and we use play
to do that. Why? Because it's fun. If something's not fun, no one wants to
do it. We're we're not gonna tell you how to build just go and build
relationships. What do you mean? Like, that's not fun. But if you do it and
you don't realize you're doing it, but then the learning takes place afterwards, like the
the vision's up on the wall, that's what is really powerful and that's why
we're so passionate about it and we get to do it with amazing students like
yourselves. Good question. Thank you so much. That's a great
question. Can you share a moment when you saw a student
make a significant breakthrough in their well-being due to these
activities? Yeah. Can I go? Oh. Mate, I was scared. I was
trying to think. I'm getting quick. I'm getting quick. Not too long ago,
to be honest with you, we're up in Wodonga. We're up in Wodonga. We're working
to a place called Flexible Learning Centre and that was a place where it
wasn't a mainstream school. So this is a place where students didn't fit into the
mainstream school. High level trauma, lots of things going on their lives,
and these kids can literally rock up to this learning center whenever they want, come
and go as they please. It's a pretty relaxing environment. But, yeah, we kick
started off a workshop. Dale kicked it off. I've never seen a man so nervous
in my life. And he kicked it off with our clapping
game and, and there was this young lady, young girl,
probably I'd say maybe 16 years of age, and she even in the first 30
seconds, she got up and she and she she walked to the very back of
the room and she was like, this is not for me. I can't I can't
deal with this. My anxiety is kicking in and I've got this incredibly energetic bloke
at the front of the room telling me, you know, clapping what it is. Anyway,
she got back to the room. Long story short, she didn't leave entirely. She sort
of sussed it out and about 20 minutes in, she started
to feel safe and she started to feel connected with the people around her because
she allowed herself to be a little bit vulnerable and she started joining in. And
we just watched her from afar and, you know, next minute she's up and she's
smiling, she's singing, she's dancing. She won the won one of the competitions and she
won one of Dale's books and, she hung around for the whole session and not
only did she hang around, she then started to open up and really connect with
other people and get involved and the smile on her face was I'll never forget
it, and she got so much out of the session in the end. So
for me, that growth was so good to see that, you
know, she was so far out of her comfort zone early on, but she hung
around and then she she did amazing during our session. That was that was an
incredibly rewarding Yeah. Workshop. Yeah. Great one. For
me, it was probably the last session we did. It wasn't a student one. So
on Friday afternoon, we did a corporate sort of fun shop. So
now sort of keynote for 60 Winteringham,
workers. So they were like regional managers from all over,
Victoria that look after elderly people that, you know,
are homeless and things like that. Anyway, as you're doing your
talk and you think it's going pretty well, and towards the end,
then, this gentleman stood up and he
stood up and he said and it made me cry, but he said, that is
single handedly the most incredible message and experience we've
ever had. And then and I've made I shook his hand and
gave him a hug later, but then half the room came up to us afterward
and said, that guy has been at the this organization for over 2 years, and
he's never hardly even spoken. And they couldn't believe what had happened. So
I suppose sometimes when you you you sit back and we got in the car
and we drove home, just moments like that make you feel
very fortunate that you're able to impact people. You're able to share
something you believe in and give people something that they didn't realize
they needed. He was he said, look, I I wasn't looking forward to this today.
And then when you got up there in your shorts and t shirt, I was
thinking, oh, no. What's this idiot gonna do? And he ended
up giving me a hug at the end and said, mate, you're incredible. Keep doing
what you're doing. And you don't know the impact you have sometimes until people
share. So yeah. Whether that was a really that that really
sticks home with me probably because of the last session, we did as well. But,
yeah, for me, that was that one. The differences you make
is absolutely incredible, especially with other people and
children. Oh, thanks, Ugh. Yeah. It's also really great to see people happy.
Oh, mate. Isn't it? Oh, it's so good. We we we try and we're
human beings. We definitely try and walk around the earth with a smile on our
face, and we talk about perspective a lot and how grateful we are for the
life we've gotten. You compare it to a lot of people overseas and what they're
going through and the people in their own country, but, and and this is
great for you guys. You know what I mean? Things are gonna get tough. The
road the road ahead is bumpy. There is yeah.
The road ahead is bumpy and and I guess school's job and especially our job
is to try and equip you with the skills to navigate that those bumpy roads,
and build that resilience and and put things in perspective and,
that will hopefully keep you at a certain level of happiness, without going to
but life ebbs and flows. Right? But, yeah, it is. It's it's awesome to see
people happy. Yeah. So true. Most certainly seen that from you today and
last time you came here. Oh, thank you. I have a question for you guys.
What has been the biggest challenge in applying well-being programs to
the schools, and how did you overcome it? Well, you could
probably talk about this from different perspectives, from,
you know, trying different initiatives Yep. When you were AP. So
my former role is an assistant principal of well-being and positive education. And
you sometimes you swing and sometimes you miss.
And some of the programs you get in don't resonate with a lot of people
and you miss the mark. And the one thing that we've really
we know is that it's gotta be engaging. So when you're bringing your well-being
programs, it's gotta be engaging, which means it's gotta be fun. Right? And it's gotta
be I've got a pen in my hand currently. I hate to say this a
lot, don't I? Got a pen in my hand currently, but we try not to
use them too often in anything we do. We don't want students journaling and writing
things down because you can be judged and it can be a little bit disengaging,
but, yeah, we just really strive to make them
engaging. But also the other the other tough part is
is human beings are so different. Like, you're all we're all so
different. Right? We've got different likes and different interests and different personality types,
and we know that we're never gonna resonate with everybody. That is impossible. You
are never gonna resonate with every everybody in the room, but if everyone in that
room can just take one thing from our workshops, you know, we we
probably relay 10 to 15 messages in our workshops minimum,
but they take 1 and they might not let you know they've taken 1, but
we pretty much know that every issue in that room has at least taken one
thing that they can walk away with and put into their own life. We may
not know it, but it's real challenging thing is when you get the kids that
are just too cool for school, and they just they know they
care so much what other people think and they just wanna be super cool and
and wanna disrupt the workshops, and that is don't know why it's frustrating. It's
hard. It's hard. You gotta you gotta bite your tongue sometimes and try and
approach it. Paul's been very good at making me bite my tongue a little bit
more. The session I'm not gonna say where or where, but it came to
mind last week. I was doing a high school session. And the thing I find
is 95% of the room are really engaged, but
sometimes there might be 5% that feel uncomfortable. And normally,
when they feel uncomfortable, they act out or be silly. And I
I personally find that really hard not to focus on those 5
instead of focusing on the 95 that are loving it. But like everybody, that's
something I'm personally working at. And I'm getting a little bit better because my
fuse was going a little bit. But, yeah, I try now to focus
on the ones that are really engaged. And like we said, you're not always gonna
win everyone over. As much as I find that really hard because I wanna
be liked. I want everyone to like what we're doing, and I want them to
be engaged. But the reality is that's never going to happen. So
I think great advice is not everyone's always going to like you, and that
is fine, and this is just general in life. So focus on what
you can control and the people that do like you. And this is what I
always try and tell myself that maybe the messages we're
saying are planting seeds. These students may not really want it at the moment, but
one day they might be struggling and that's when it'll come back. So
even though interaction isn't in the room or they're not fully engaged,
yeah, you're planting seeds. Yeah. That is amazing to hear.
Wow. You said in the first time you interviewed
you that you, that you always start with the
clapping game. Yep. And, recently, I started cricket
training again. And, we used the clapping game with the dice.
Oh, wow. Yes. Amazing. How'd it go? Yeah. It's working well.
Yeah. Everybody gets it early now, which is Oh, that is
so good to hear, Calin. And one thing It gets the energy up too. Yeah.
It does. Right? And and do you know how proud of you I'm so proud
of you for doing it because what we wanna achieve out of this program, our
student leadership program is for you to be young leaders in your school, but more
importantly, we want you to be young leaders out in the community. Yes. That's what
it's all about. You're taking what we've what we've taught you and you're putting that
into your life, into your community, and then you're teaching others, and that
is epic, mate. That is epic. And, you know, we want you to be leaders
in community. We want you to be leaders in family. And we want you to
be leaders in your friendship group. And that means being brave and doing things like
that. Wow. My hat is my taking my hat off the bat. Did you go
to training and say to your coach or whoever, I
wanna start it off? Or how how did you initiate that? So
my dad's the coach, and I said to him in the car on the way
there, oh, I got something I wanna do, see if it works, try and keep
the torque up. Blown away. Oh. Get out of it. It it was
just like a mini practice match, and it worked. So we did it on the
on the weekend for the game. Yeah. And it worked again. So we just kept
doing Well done. And now that'll be your team's thing, right, that gets you
centered and get you focused and get you switched on, and everyone's forgetting about what's
going on outside, and then they're on the like, right, when they do that clapping
game, that's their cue to, right, be present with my team, with my
mates, and and focus on what I gotta do. And that's what you're that's what
you're achieving there. Oh. I love that, Kel. Well, Dan, I've played a lot of
cricket in my life. And normally, we used to just start with throwing or hitting
the ball to each other, but that's such a great way. Because not everyone's always
gonna be good at cricket, but they'll still be there to be part of the
team. So you're giving them something really fun to start with, mate. So
Especially on that coldest Saturday mornings, gets everybody Yeah. Gets
everybody everybody up. Yeah. A 100%, mate. A 100%. That's a neuron spiral.
Are you getting better at doing it yourself, mate? Yeah. Yeah. It's like anything, the
more you practice, the better you get. Batting, bowling, crib, fielding, slapping. Run up, but
Yeah. That's what I mean. Well done. Love that, mate. Awesome.
I would like to say that if there's any questions you would like to ask
us now, please ask us now. We'd love to answer them. Yep. I I've got
one. I I wanna know we asked the the previous group this question also.
Out of all the activities that have been put in place at the school, from
the school play programs, which one do you think has been, a, the most
fun and b, the most impactful? Question
without notice. Yeah. Clapping one for me. Clapping one for you. Good girl.
The egg, chicken, monster and human. That was a Evolution.
Evolution. I was is evolution. I was, a story about that
one. Sorry. I'll get back to the other one is, I was in, in
Peru, so in South America, and I was climbing Machu Picchu, which is
one of the original wonders of the world. And in our group, we had people
like porters from Peru. We had people from Canada. We had people from Asia. We
had Americans, all these Australian, New Zealanders. And then other people walking were
all different nationalities. And so each morning, as much as my
current my my fiancee there, but my wife is like, oh, you're not gonna start
up another game. Halfway up, match pitch you day 3 of the
hike. There was about 200 people there, and I played that
that game. And you should have seen it. Like, it was just
empty. Imagine the scene. Oh, it's amazing. I want to be there now. I
know. 2 100 people. Oh, it's crazy. And more and more people then don't see
me and go, oh, we're getting new games, games. Well, they call me games guy.
Yeah. Anyway, so great activity. Work anywhere. I
love that. There you go. Mhmm. So, like, for me, the b one is,
the handshake one. Oh, nice. The handshake one's cool, isn't
it? The handshake one is really cool. We love that one because you're creating, you're
connecting, and you're remembering that person. Friends. Yeah. Yeah. It brings
you closer together. I like it. I love that one. Love that one.
My favorite one would be, when we did the rock paper scissors tournament.
Yeah. And when, if you well, look, you adverse people, and if you lost, you'd
be their cheer squad. Yes. And I liked it a lot because,
like, no matter who it was, if you win, you would just cheer for them.
Yeah. And it's it made the people feel better and it also you
were just having fun. Yeah. Brings a lot of energy to the room, that one,
doesn't it? A lot of energy to the room. All those activities there that you
just mentioned, we call them connection starters. They're so simple, aren't they?
Each one goes for 2 or 3 minutes. It's not really about winning or losing.
Everyone feels safe. It's just about having fun. And like Kel
said, they anybody listening, start any session. If you've got a meeting, if you've got
a cricket session, I don't know if you've if you've got anything at home, a
party or something like that. Start with something like that. It's a really fun way
to do it. Make leadership. I love that. Make leadership play for you. Yeah. Well,
that's that's really evident, you know, that 4 school captains have come in
and that's exactly what they've brought out. They Yeah. They love those. Well done. What,
as school captains, what what skills do you think you've developed this year? What are
you gonna take with you? Like, speaking aloud to other
people Mhmm. And being really have to be really confident and ready.
Yep. Because especially in assemblies and podcasts, you
have to make sure you know what you're doing, have it all organized. And if
you don't, it might just crumble. Yeah. But when you learn that
skill and it gets up there, you can realize you can do it. You are
spot on. Being organized and being prepared is is key.
And I think when you put the work in to prepare and plan and
rehearse and rehearse It's good. Yeah. And it makes you feel less anxious Yeah. Also.
Right? You feel less nervous a little bit because, you know, you've got this. That's
a brilliant one. Basically, what Maya said Yeah. I'm, like, bring,
being organized because I'm kinda messy.
Being vulnerable is very important too. Being honest is important. Being honest as a leader
is very important. See, I've strapped his chicken on the floor. We'll we'll help you
with that tomorrow. I stopped, like, talking out loud I'm kind of press
practicing. Yeah. So, like, I can bring my confidence level up. Yeah.
Beautiful. And just know that not many people your age and I was the same.
Like, you're probably looking at 2 people that feel appear to be really confident. I
was the same at your age. Yeah. I I remember holding the paper and it
was shaking in front of doing public speaking things and, keep at it because you
develop the skill and as you're doing, you put lost you on the table. Yeah.
Yeah. And you don't have to be really really proud of yourself. You're being fixed.
You're stepping out of your comfort zone. Right? And that's something to be really proud
of. That's awesome. Look. For me, it's trying to be the best
version of myself. Because even in the downs and the lows, you just
gotta push through and just to be the best version of yourself, which I know
is what you guys do as well. Yeah. We try. We try. We don't always
get a ride. The effort. You most certainly make the effort. Thank you. And you
gotta work on it, like, just this morning, the man to my right, Dale, pulled
me up. Like, he he he reset my mindset this morning a little bit. I
won't go into too many details. He did. No. Had a had a frustrating evening
and, yeah. He he really had an amazing and frustrating evening. But, yeah,
he reset my mindset this morning. So it happens to the best of his. Right?
So when you can gather that skill, keep working on it. Come.
Probably exactly what everybody else has said. Trying to
make the best version myself probably is a big part of it.
Yeah. Trying to help everybody around me. Beautiful. I love that. That's
brilliant. Can you hear me? Yeah. Good community. And if you can work on yourself,
but also impart some knowledge on others, that's Yeah. That just feels so
good intrinsically. And more importantly, I suppose, Steve
and Lynn and the rest of the team here that have created such an amazing
opportunity for you Yeah. To not only you do do things like
this, but have a podcast like it's an incredible thing, and
I couldn't imagine the skills that you've learned from that.
So, yeah, keep practicing these things because they are skill sets
that will always be needed. In the world, we live in technology based. No
one can replace us. No one can be human centered like doing a podcast
like this. So awesome skill sets you already have in grade 6, and you should
be really proud of that. Yeah. For sure. Question, have you guys listened to our
podcast? I have actually. I've listened to one because my
brother made me. Because I said, brother, I need help with this, and he's, like,
we'll go on the website. Okay. So I read it.
And I really like that. Not you don't just put energy into,
like, when you go to a place. You put energy into everything.
Aw. Thank you, Mark. It's how you show up. It's very nice. That's how you
show up, and and and you've gotta find that the will power to shop
sometime. Everyone gets tired on it, but, yeah, we do try to shop because,
attitude reflects leadership. You know what I mean? Attitude I love that one. You do.
That's really cool. I love that. And for the rest of you, don't listen to
it. Uh-uh. I sorta have. I've watched a couple
YouTube videos, so Yeah. Cool. There you go. Chapped with him
speaking. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Nice. Well
So so, Zog, you got
first of the kind. I'll tell you what. It's been that enjoyable. We look forward
to hopefully doing more of these with some of the lucky schools we work with.
But school captains, thank you so much. You should be really proud of what you've
been able to do this year. More importantly, from when you interviewed me
first term to now, how you've grown and how you're
speaking, it's amazing. Alright? And that's exactly what you do. You only get better
by doing it, putting yourself out there and practicing. So it's been a pleasure not
only to be interviewed on your podcast, but also to have you on our side.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Really impressed. Really impressed with who you are as
human beings and just best of luck. Yeah. Best of luck for for what's
ahead of you. Remember it gets bumpy, but ride it and enjoy it and support
each other as best you can and and never stop working on yourself. We thank
you so much for letting us be here and have this conversation with you again
for the end of the term because we soon have graduation. Yes. Good
luck. One of the best nights of the year. One of the best nights of
the year. Frak up. Look sharp, boys. You'll be great. Alright.
Awesome. Alright, everyone. Enjoy. Thank you. Take care. Thank
you.