Early in September, Laverton School came alive with excitement and community spirit as it hosted a special netball event that brought Shooting Stars participants together from Laverton and Leonora. This was a Deadly Minds Matter Community Event, a key element of the Deadly Minds Matter program run within Shooting Stars.
The program provides participants with opportunities to develop positive social and emotional wellbeing skills including tools for emotional regulation and preventative mental health strategies for responding and adapting to life’s challenges as they emerge. It is delivered over a course of 10 weeks at each site, and is completed with a community event, including netball games and engagement with local health service providers.
Shooting Stars participants from Leonora and Laverton in years 3-6, had completed the Deadly Minds Matter program, and this event was to celebrate all that they have learned, put their skills into practice, and engage with the wider community.
Leading up to the event, the girls in Leonora and Laverton were pen pals with one another, which was a fun way to break the ice and connect with each other before the netball event.
The Laverton Program Coordinator, Holla Lomu, told the Kalgoorlie Miner newspaper:
“Our girls had so much fun, they made new friends, and really enjoyed meeting the girls from Leonora.”
“They started off with a pen pal letter and started sharing hobbies and stuff like that, just kind of getting to know each other that way before meeting which was pretty cute.”
It was reported that ‘Leonora Lightning’ were the overall winners of the netball event, but the Laverton Kungka Juniors held themselves very well regardless, and cheered for the other team. This is what Deadly Minds Matter is all about!
Thank you to all the volunteers, and senior Shooting Stars participants for helping to run the day, and to everyone who was involved! We were lucky to have a number of community organisations with interactive stall activations, providing opportunities for the participants to learn about different aspects of wellbeing, and learn how they can engage with the services if the need arises in the future. There were plenty of spectators present to cheer the girls on in their netball match - from families, the wider community, the school, as well as representatives from our corporate partners and supporters, Gold Industry Group, Gold Road Resources, and Minara.
We would like to acknowledge Mineral Resources, Principal Partner of our Deadly Minds Matter program.
