Schools

The programs can be run for:

• Students: Years 5-12
• Boarding Students, Staff and Students
• Leadership staff
• All Staff
• Parents
• Combined Students and Parents

No, it’s never too late! Some of the most impactful programs we’ve run have been for year 12 students.

Many Year 12 students report very concerning sleep habits. However, happily there are many proactive students, who are keen to make improvements, after recognising the difference it will make on their academic outcomes, along with mental health and resilience through their final year.

I would suggest however that these are run in Term 4 as start as new Year 12 students, or prioritising Year 12 for Term 1 or 2, so

Yes! The best program is one where students and parents hear the message at the same time! 

The combined programs increase the impact of the information and can be run for the whole school or particular year group.

We recommend they are run for a particular year group in conjunction with an event, for which 90+ % of the parents and students are attending anyway.

For example:

• Subject Selection Nights
• Year 11 Study Skills/ HSC Information nights
• Year 7: Many schools include a brief version of the Sleep for Better Health, Resilience and Performance Program as part of the “Year 7 Student/ Parents Introduction to the School”, which 95% of students and parents are attending anyway. These are usually held in either Term 4 or Term 1.

So while they’re a little more effort to organise, there is plenty of positive feedback with parents and students hearing the message and answering questions together. With Year 7 this results in parents backing this message up at home right from the beginning of high school.
They are also noticing the students discussing goals to improve their sleep as part of their parent teacher meetings.

(Some schools are even giving out normal alarm clocks at these, so that there is no excuse for phone to be in their room as an alarm! 😊)

The programs can be run for any number of students providing there is adequate staffing.

We’ve run them for 50 to 500 students in person. So this is something we can discuss, to create a balance between your budget and group size, in order to increase attendee engagement and overall value from the program

However, where the year group’s sizes are over 175, and/ or the Stage 2 group work component is included, we encouraged the program to be run in half year group sizes, especially for the Stage 2 group work component.

Yes, we love running these sessions to support staff wellbeing

Many schools are now prioritising the staff session as being more about staff wellbeing and secondarily about students. 

The feedback from my recent ones has been positive, about the tips for the staff themselves, in addition to how helpful it was regarding being proactive with their own children and family.

Additionally, staff become more likely to ask students and parents about the students’ sleep, which in turn helps build upon a whole- school approach to the topic.

Some schools are starting to include sleep as part of parent/ teacher interviews so that every single parent and student are asked at least once a year about the students’ sleep.

The normal student/teacher ratio is required during any of our programs.

This assists with the information having a lasting impact for both students, staff and parents.

Many staff who have engaged in the presentation, find it beneficial in their role, as well as from a personal perspective.

Firstly for their role- they come away with the same information as the students allowing for valuable discussion, follow-up and reference back to the program material, particularly for their next wellbeing lessons.

It is particularly helpful for the school to have wellbeing staff, year advisors and/ or mentors present – to keep the message alive and assist the students in setting goals for lasting impact. I’ve worked with schools where sleep goals have become part of the student led parent/teacher meetings

Secondly, staff find the information helpful for themselves and they frequently ask questions and for information to support their own sleep and that of their children and/ or partner

Room set up and AV:

• Microphone: the school to provide a microphone, even in a small rooms, to help enable re-engagement of the students during discussion time
• Seating: the school to provide chairs in rows where possible, rather sitting around tables or on the floor, to increase engagement and minimise distraction
• Workspace: for the group work component, access to flat area’s works better than auditorium style to facilitate group engagement and writing on the butchers paper
• Worksheets and pens: to be available at the beginning of the session.

Year groups sizes:

Where the year group’s sizes are over 175, it is encouraged to run the session in half year group sizes, especially for the Stage 2 group work component.

Introduction:

A staff member to introduce the session and provide a context as to why the topic is important to the students in relation to their learning, along with their mental and physical health.

Where possible link the topic to the school, along with observations relating to the particular year of students attending. This helps to create increased relevance and empower the speaker to maximise impact and learning outcomes.

Additionally for the staff member to outline their expectancy of student behaviour during the session

Staff engagement:

Workshops are more effective when staff are actively involved in the session in order to reinforce the importance of the topic and assist with maximising student engagement.

Techniques that can assist include:

• Staff to familiarise themselves with the context of the workshop. This can be done through internal communication along with sharing The Sleep Connection staff resources forwarded to the organiser prior to the session.
• Staff to be assigned to work with specific groups during the group work. The students are generally divided in to groups of 8-10 so depending on staff numbers, the staff can work together with 2-3 student groups.

• Staff to monitor the behaviour of the students in order to free up the speaker to focus on the message and the learning outcomes.

TSCP are effective due to providing an end to end solution, from education through to where to get professional help from.

The program includes: education on all things sleep; personalising the information by helping attendees to assess their own sleep habits; providing relevant tips for each attendee to implement; information and encouragement on seeking professional health from a sleep specialist and/ or sleep psychologist, where general tips won’t suffice.

TSC is based in Sydney. However we regularly travel interstate, along with running webinars to wherever in Australia or the world you are 😊

TSC provides both pre and post program consultations and resources.

Pre-program:
complimentary consultations to discuss your organisations sleep health needs and goals to ensure each program is tailored accordingly; sleep diary; online sleep questionnaire; parent letter for schools

On the day:
program & personal sleep questionnaire; meeting with relevant staff such as  Human Resources, wellbeing staff, counsellors and psychologists.

Group work resources are also provided for those incorporating the group work component into their programs.

Post program:
Individual Attendee Post Program Resources: information based on the particular audience and their questions; tips on where to get professional help

School or organisation consultation and resources: resources based on the workshop feedback, along with consultation regarding implementation if complementary ideas from 12 Tips to a Becoming Sleep Smart School

TSC will bring their own laptop and will need a large white screen, data projector with sound system for the embedded videos as well as a microphone.

We have both HDMI and VGA AV options on our laptops.

A pen, along with a desire to learn and motivation to improve.

Some programs may require participants to bring their sleep diary, along with the   questionnaire to be printed and provided at the beginning of the session.

Costs depend on the various program options; live and online versions; number of programs; number of attendees and of course tailoring the content to ensure the program best supports the needs of your school or organisation.

Please share some details with me here and I will send some ideas and costs straight through to you:

To save time and make it more convenient for the staff booking our seminars we do not require a deposit. The full amount is due 14 days post seminar, paid via the invoice details

The TSC has the following policy regarding cancellations:

• Cancellations within 4 weeks of the program date will incur 50% of the complete program fee.
• Adequate notice of no less than 4 weeks must be given if you are rescheduling your seminar. A new date must be secured at the time that you postpone the seminar otherwise the cancellation penalties will apply.

TSC is happy to consider individual requests from schools wishing to record a presentation.

Please note that permission must be sought before any recording is undertaken and organisations must adhere to our conditions, including the specific timeframe for access, that we have agreed upon.

We ask that a copy of any approved video/audio or photographic recordings of our presentations are supplied to TSC following the presentation,