Life Skills GO Deep Dive · Maronite College of the Holy Family
From Siloed, Reactive Wellbeing to a Measured Whole-College Framework: Maronite College of the Holy Family's Journey, Two Years On
Maronite College of the Holy Family is a Catholic independent college in Harris Park, catering for students from Kindergarten to Year 12. Around two years ago, the college's Head of Wellbeing and Leader of Engagement began embedding Life Skills GO as part of a new, targeted and measured approach to wellbeing, engagement and pastoral care. What started with a single Year 8 pilot cohort has grown into a daily check-in that now runs from Kindergarten to Year 10, capturing student voice, belonging, wellbeing and readiness to learn alongside attendance, behaviour and engagement data.
By automatically surfacing patterns, trends and emerging concerns to the right people at the right time, Life Skills GO helps the college's wellbeing and engagement team act before concerns escalate, without adding to already busy pastoral and homeroom time. It gives staff and families a shared, evidence informed language for a child's spiritual, social, emotional and academic wellbeing, all tied back to the college's new Student Wellbeing Framework.
Who Is Maronite College of the Holy Family?
A Catholic independent college in Harris Park, Sydney, catering for students from Kindergarten to Year 12. Current enrolments sit at just over 1,300 students and are projected to grow to around 1,600 within the next five years. The community is predominantly Maronite Catholic, and the majority of students have family ties to Lebanon.
The college was founded in 1973 by the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family, originally based beneath Our Lady of Lebanon Co-Cathedral in Harris Park before moving to its current site across the road. The college continues to grow, having opened a new Kindergarten and Year 1 section on the opposite side of the road to accommodate rising enrolments. Staff experience ranges from newly graduated teachers to educators who have spent years at the college, some of whom taught current staff members when they were students themselves.
Faith sits alongside academia, wellbeing and engagement as one of the college's core pillars. The college describes its mission as accompanying students, walking beside them rather than walking in front of or behind them, across every part of their spiritual, physical, social and emotional development, not only their academic results.
A Partnership Built on Measurement
Andrew Pearn, Head of Wellbeing, K-12, and Claudia Bou-melhem, Leader of Engagement, began working with Life Skills GO after a conversation about the difference between reactive wellbeing and proactive wellbeing, and how hard it is to be targeted and proactive without reliable data. Andrew brought experience from a Department of Education background in the school excellence framework and the wellbeing framework for schools and students. Claudia brought a determination to build programs based on what students said they needed, rather than what staff assumed they needed.
Two years on, that partnership has grown into the college's own Student Wellbeing Framework, linking every wellbeing activity to a named domain. The next step is designing the college's own multi-tiered system of support, using Life Skills GO data to work out what is needed for all students, some students and a smaller number of students.
"We are a Catholic independent school in Harris Park,
catering to students from Kindy to Year 12, and our
current enrolments are just over 1,300. It's projected
that we'll probably be around about the 1,600 mark within
the next, say, 5 years.
We do have very strong ties to the Maronite sisters of the
Holy Family, who, back in 1973, founded the college. We're
definitely a growing community, but very much a
faith-based community. Faith for us sits right up there
with all the pillars, so academia, wellbeing, faith, or
engagement."
Before Life Skills GO: Wellbeing Measured by Fragmented Programs With No Way to Know What Was Working
Before the college began embedding Life Skills GO, it cared deeply about wellbeing, but the way that care showed up was fragmented across primary and secondary, with no shared framework connecting the two.
Primary and Secondary, Two Different Worlds
Wellbeing at the college was, as Claudia Bou-melhem describes it, "very secluded, like a primary and a secondary space, and no overarching goal as to where we want to be." The college was running many separate initiatives without a shared domain linking them together.
Today, check-in data feeds into a single Student Wellbeing Framework spanning Kindergarten to Year 12, with a consistent K-12 pastoral program built around four focus areas of gratitude, empathy, mindfulness and emotional literacy.
No Way to Know What Was Resonating
The college was, in Claudia's words, "doing so many little things" without a reliable way to answer two questions: how do we know whether it is resonating with the kids, and what is the impact of what we are doing. Without that evidence, it was hard to tell whether an initiative was adding value or simply ticking a box.
Qualitative Data Was Hard to Come By
Andrew Pearn came from a curriculum background with plentiful quantitative data, but wellbeing was different. Being proactive and targeted, rather than reactive, was difficult without that qualitative picture of how students were actually experiencing school, not just how they were behaving in class.
Building Buy-In: Make It Targeted, Make It Measured
The most common question other schools ask Maronite College is how it got commitment to something so measured without overwhelming already busy staff. The answer began with how the change was framed: not as a request for more data, but as a way to be targeted and to prove impact.
Andrew is clear that the framing mattered from the very first conversation. Rather than starting with a program the college wanted to run, the conversation started with why: what was the college trying to achieve, and how would it know if the approach was working. That question, put plainly, shifted the whole project from "we want to do something" to something targeted and measured.
That is not to say it was effortless. When staff first heard that something new was coming, the reaction was not always positive. One teacher, on hearing the change was coming, listed the fifteen things they already had to do every morning before roll call. Staff turnover and the ordinary pressures of a busy school day meant the college had to be deliberate about how it introduced anything new.
Leadership also modelled the approach from the front. Andrew and Claudia worked directly with the college's leadership, including Sister Margaret and the Head of College, to design the Student Wellbeing Framework and to run an internal audit of every existing wellbeing initiative, consolidating the ones that overlapped and setting aside the ones that did not align with where the college was heading.
Ask Why Before What
Start with why the college wants to change, not with a program it has already chosen. Insist on an approach that is targeted and measured.
Anchor It to a Framework, Not a Program
Link the change to the college's own Student Wellbeing Framework and its domains, so it reads as infrastructure, not another initiative.
Run an Internal Audit, Then Consolidate
The college sat down and reviewed every wellbeing program already running across primary and secondary. Programs that overlapped were consolidated. Programs that did not align with the direction of the new framework, or with the data the college would be pulling from Life Skills GO, were set aside.
This freed up time and energy to focus on what mattered: a consistent K-12 pastoral program built around four areas, gratitude, empathy, mindfulness and emotional literacy, all traceable back to the framework.
It also meant that when staff were asked to try something new, they were not being asked to add it on top of everything else. They were being asked to use their existing pastoral and homeroom time more strategically.
Prove There Is No Extra Admin
Show staff the check-in fits inside the fifteen minutes of pastoral or homeroom time already on the timetable, rather than adding a sixteenth task to their morning.
Trial With One Cohort First
Before telling the rest of the college, run it quietly with a single cohort long enough to build confidence in the data.
Let Leadership Use the Data Themselves
Andrew and Claudia model curiosity with the dashboard themselves, asking what it is telling them and what needs addressing now, rather than treating it as a report for someone else to read.
"It's not a one-off program, it's not even an initiative, it is embedded into the culture of the school. And we can embed it into our framework that gives us data that we can be reflective on to say, you know what, we missed the mark there, we need to actually change our tact for this cohort of kids, or this group of 20 students."
Embedding It: Start With One Cohort, Prove It, Then Grow
The college's approach to embedding Life Skills GO did not come from a big launch. It came from choosing one cohort, running a quiet trial long enough to trust the data, and only then bringing the rest of the college along.
The college selected one cohort and ran a trial for a full term, around ten weeks, without informing the rest of the school. As Claudia explains, "we focused on two things. Build the habit of check-in, validating that every check-in is valid, and engaging the kids who are not checking in as just as important."
Over the ten-week trial, the college was able to paint a picture of the cohort and identify students who would have slipped under the radar without it. As Claudia puts it, this helped "actually identify kids who would have slipped under the radar, who are now on, like, high-risk plans, because of the information we, or the trends we were able to pick up with Life Skills GO."
When the college was ready to roll the check-in out to staff, it was framed against the college's mission of accompanying students, spiritually, physically, socially and emotionally, not simply as a new way to collect data. That framing is what Claudia describes as helping the change "land well" with a staff group ranging from brand new teachers to educators who had been at the college for decades.
The check-in sits inside pastoral time on a Friday and homeroom time already on the timetable, so it adds no extra administration. When a teacher raised concern about being given "another thing" on top of an already long list of morning tasks, the college showed how the fifteen minutes already set aside could simply be used more strategically.
Consistency now runs from Kindergarten through to Year 10, so no cohort's picture goes missing.
Every Student Known: Two Years of Change
The shift at Maronite College is best seen over time. What began as a quiet ten-week trial with a single Year 8 cohort has become a daily, whole-college practice where student voice sits alongside attendance, behaviour and academic data from Kindergarten to Year 10.
Before · The Old Approach
- We ran wellbeing separately in primary and secondary, with no overarching goal linking the two.
- We could not tell whether the many small programs we ran were resonating with students or simply ticking a box.
- We had plentiful quantitative curriculum data, but the qualitative data we needed to understand wellbeing was hard to come by.
- We could not be targeted or genuinely proactive without that data, so much of our work stayed reactive.
- We had no consistent way to bring student voice into decisions about wellbeing, engagement or pastoral care.
- We often assumed what students needed rather than asking them directly.
- Conversations with families relied mostly on what a teacher had personally observed.
- We could not easily identify the two or three students in a cohort who were quietly slipping under the radar.
- We ran a long list of separate wellbeing initiatives across the college with no easy way to see which overlapped or aligned with our mission.
- We had no shared, whole-college framework linking faith, academia, wellbeing and engagement.
The Shift · The Pilot Habit
- One Year 8 cohort trialled a daily check-in through Life Skills GO for a full term, without the rest of the college being told.
- The trial focused on building the habit of checking in, treating every check-in as valid, and following up with students who were not checking in at all.
- After around ten weeks, staff reviewed the emerging picture of the cohort and used it to identify students who needed a closer look.
- The rollout to staff was framed against the college's mission of accompanying students, not as a new data collection exercise.
- Check-ins were built into existing pastoral and homeroom time already on the timetable, adding no extra administration.
- Check-in data began feeding into the college's new Student Wellbeing Framework and its four pastoral focus areas of gratitude, empathy, mindfulness and emotional literacy.
After · Two Years On
- Staff can see how a Year 8 to Year 10 cohort is checking in day to day, not only what shows up in behaviour afterwards.
- Leaders of wellbeing and engagement can review trends across the college's roughly 1,300 students from a single dashboard.
- Homeroom and pastoral teachers can bring what they notice in their own room into wellbeing and leadership conversations.
- Staff can identify students who may otherwise have gone unnoticed and place them on high-risk support plans earlier.
- Kindergarten teachers can see when particular students are consistently checking in as more anxious after break times, and connect them with indoor social skills groups.
- Parents can be shown real check-in trends in conversations, rather than a general impression of how their child is going.
- The college can run a Parent Learning Lounge series shaped directly by what the Life Skills GO data is showing, including a spike in distress linked to online activity.
- Staff can see a marked rise in students using the journaling feature to say what they cannot yet say out loud.
- The Student Wellbeing Framework now links every wellbeing activity back to a named domain, rather than sitting as a series of disconnected programs.
- The college is designing its own multi-tiered system of support, using Life Skills GO data to work out what is needed for all students, some students and a smaller number of students.
- Since the original Year 8 pilot, check-ins have extended from one trial cohort to every year group from Kindergarten to Year 10.
"I'd hate to think, if we didn't catch those three children, where they'd be now. For me, on my level, and on my spectrum, on my plane, where I'm working with, unfortunately, a fair bit, in that reactive wellbeing, that high, high impact wellbeing, that facilitation of the wraparound care, as I said, without having that there, I feel like we may have missed those children."
What They Can See Now That They Couldn't Before
The change shows up at every level of the college: in how a child is supported, how a teacher runs a homeroom, how the wellbeing and engagement team plans, and how leadership speaks with families. Here is what Life Skills GO has helped make visible.
For Students
Before: many students without the words to say what they were feeling had no consistent, safe way to be asked before a concern showed up in behaviour.
Now:
- A daily check-in that flexes from Kindergarten through to Year 10
- A journal that a growing number of students are using to say what they cannot yet say out loud
- A recognised way to signal that something is wrong before it becomes a "sir, don't worry about it, I can deal with it" moment
- Kindergarten students who are already building an emotional vocabulary they may carry through the next ten to thirteen years of school
For Teachers
Before: homeroom and pastoral teachers relied on what a student volunteered or what showed up in behaviour, with little structured way to check on quieter students.
Now:
- A morning, and sometimes afternoon, check-in some Kindergarten teachers now run around break times
- Confidence to notice a pattern, such as a student consistently checking in as more anxious after break times
- A structured reason to have a conversation with a student that is not about curriculum or a forgotten laptop charger
- Support to raise a concern with the wellbeing or engagement team rather than carrying it alone
For the Wellbeing and Engagement Team
Before: Claudia and Andrew relied on incident reports and anecdote to decide where to focus pastoral time, with no consistent way to test whether a program was making a difference.
Now:
- Real-time trends across the whole college on a single dashboard
- A pastoral program built around four consistent focus areas: gratitude, empathy, mindfulness and emotional literacy
- Evidence to decide which existing programs to keep, consolidate or set aside
- A Parent Learning Lounge series shaped directly by what students are reporting
For Leadership & Parents
Before: conversations with families relied heavily on what a teacher had personally observed, without a shared, evidence-based starting point.
Now:
- Conversations with families grounded in what a child has actually reported, not only an impression
- Real check-in trends staff can bring into a difficult conversation with a parent
- A partnership with the Australian Federal Police to run parent education sessions on online safety, informed directly by Life Skills GO trends
- A framework that ties faith, academia, wellbeing and engagement together for the whole K-12 community
Giving Every Student a Voice
Maronite College runs the check-in from Kindergarten through to Year 10, so it needs to flex across a wide range of ages and needs. Two years in, it has begun to build a depth of emotional literacy and a shared language that staff are only starting to see the full effect of.
Accessible From Kindergarten to Year Ten
The college's Kindergarten students "love" the check-in, with some classes checking in both in the morning and in the afternoon. As the check-in has extended year by year, it now flexes across the full range of the K-10 cohort using it.
The Pattern After Break Times
In some Kindergarten classes, teachers noticed that certain students were consistently checking in as more anxious after break times. That pattern initiated a conversation, and those students were directed to indoor social skills groups instead of the playground, where they had been feeling uncomfortable and socially awkward.
A New Avenue to Talk
Staff have seen a marked rise in students using the journaling feature. Claudia describes checking the dashboard for a student on a support plan and finding dozens of journal entries waiting, an avenue for a student to tell or talk that they did not have before.
Two or Three Students Who Might Have Gone Unnoticed
In the original Year 8 pilot, staff identified two or three students who would otherwise have run under the radar for concerns including potential self-harm and possible mandatory reports. Those students and their families, initially resistant to the idea that anything was wrong, are now, in Andrew's words, "very receptive to receiving help."
A Different Kind of Conversation With Families
Real-time check-in data has changed the way staff open difficult conversations with parents, replacing a general impression with what a child has actually reported, in a way families have described as helping them understand what their child is exposed to.
Building the Capacity for Honest Conversations
A homeroom teacher who might not usually ask a question now feels able to check in candidly with a student who seems a little off, rather than leaving it entirely to the college's wellbeing leader.
"I had a conversation with a young lady the other day where something had happened, and her response to that was, sir, don't worry about it, I can deal with it. And I'm like, okay, you may be able to deal with it now, but is that something that, how often do you think about this concern? And she goes, whenever it comes up, I just think about something else. But we don't want you to suffer in silence. We are here to empower you to build your, yes, your resilience, but also to empower you to find your voice, to reach out when you do need help."
What We Learned: Key Takeaways
Two years of embedding Life Skills GO, distilled into what Andrew and Claudia would tell any college starting out.
Ask Why Before What
Before choosing a tool, be clear on why the college wants to change, and insist on an approach that is targeted and measured, not just something to do.
Trial One Cohort First
Run a quiet pilot with a single cohort for a full term before telling the rest of the college. Build trust in the data before building trust in the rollout.
Go Slow, Be Deliberate, Be Consistent
Year one taught the college that less is more. Take three steps back, understand the full landscape, and then take baby steps. Baby steps are okay.
Fit It Inside Existing Time
Build check-ins into pastoral and homeroom time already on the timetable, so it never reads to staff as one more thing.
Bring Families Along, Not Just Staff
Use what the trends are showing to shape a parent program, like the college's Parent Learning Lounge, so families understand what students are dealing with, not just staff.
It Is Not Just a Data Tool
The deeper value is teaching emotional literacy, self-regulation and empathy, so children can identify, communicate and manage their emotions. The whole-college data is the byproduct of children who can thrive.
Reflections from Andrew and Claudia
"Just need a chat. Just need a check-in. So, building the capacity and the rapport, it all comes back to relationships. Teaching is relationships. Above all, it is relationships."
"The biggest shift that's been really helpful in the way we've driven engagement and pastoral activities at school is because now we have another layer of data that really talks to our kids, because it's from our kids."
Put the Reports Into the Meetings You Already Hold
At Maronite College, the value of Life Skills GO was never limited to the daily check-in. The real value came from what happened next, and the reporting was designed to fit into the routines the college already had in place, rather than creating additional processes or workload.
Life Skills GO information is reviewed as part of the wellbeing and engagement team's own dashboard checks, feeding directly into pastoral planning, homeroom conversations and the Parent Learning Lounge program for families. Attendance, behaviour, wellbeing and student voice are brought together in a way that matches the questions each role is already asking, from a homeroom teacher noticing a pattern in their own room to leadership planning parent education sessions.
Staff do not need to build reports, analyse spreadsheets or learn a complex reporting system. The information is organised around the questions the wellbeing and engagement team are already asking, so that check-in trends can guide decisions such as which programs to keep, which to consolidate, and where to focus a parent information session next.
Bring Student Voice, Wellbeing and School Data Together All in One Place
Book a personalised conversation with a Life Skills GO education specialist. We will guide you through a short, interactive demonstration and show how the platform supports early identification, student voice, engagement and belonging, partnerships with families and carers, proactive intervention, staff decision-making and continuous whole-school improvement.
You will also have the opportunity to ask questions, explore how Life Skills GO could support your school's priorities and determine whether it is the right fit for your community.
Life Skills GO supports schools and systems of every size, sector and context, including metropolitan, regional and remote schools, government, Catholic, independent and specialist settings, and support classes.
Take These Ideas Further
Go deeper on the themes in Maronite College's story, from the webinar Andrew and Claudia joined, to free expert guides you can use with your team tomorrow.
Related Webinars
Andrew Pearn and Claudia Bou-melhem joined Nikki Bonus for a Life Skills GO webinar on moving from reactive to proactive wellbeing in a faith-based, K-12 community.
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Book a personalised meeting with our education wellbeing specialist, to show you how Life Skills GO can help you achieve your college's wellbeing goals. We will guide you through a short interactive demo and answer any questions to help you determine if Life Skills GO is right for your school.