Caring for their own wellbeing enables teachers to better care for their students

Written by Mr James Phillips (Executive Director of People and Culture)

23 July 2026

At Aitken College, we inspire everyone to do their personal best. As an education community, this includes providing our staff with the latest knowledge and educational practices to enable them to in turn, be the best professionals they can for our students. We know that excellent education is underpinned by positive wellbeing.

As Term Three commenced, our staff were fortunate to have Dr Josh Symes present in collaboration with our new Director of Wellbeing, Ms Natasha Rae. Dr Symes has twenty years of school leadership across three continents with significant expertise in education and wellbeing. His doctorate is in educational leadership, and his coaching practice is grounded in health and wellness. Natasha Rae has spent thirty years designing and leading wellbeing in education, spanning individual counselling, trauma-informed practice, team leadership, and whole-school systems design. Staff were immersed in a keynote address that outlined the current wellbeing statistics and data, coupled with a toolkit of evidence informed strategies that influence a positive sense of wellbeing.

The College is also privileged to have highly experienced discipline specialists who also offered electives across their areas of interest; Sustainability and Agriculture, the Library, Food Studies, the Bushtucker Gardens which is a part of our First Nations education experience, Science, Communications and Community Engagement and STEAM. For many, these electives were a highlight that have ignited inspiration for future possibilities within classes.

Our leaders spent intentional time with each other to continue focus on how to best support and care for staff so that they can flourish as educational professionals, in turn, inspiring the students to do their personal best.

Finally, Dr Symes commented on the positive warmth and energetic atmosphere of the staff team. We are proud of our staff and know that our learners (the students) are in the very best hands!