Student Wellbeing Case Study: Parramatta Marist High School

Context

Jurisdiction	Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese
Enrolment	1,000+
Established	1820
Integrations	Okta Single Sign On

Parramatta Marist is a highly respected, innovative school in Western Sydney, Australia.

The school recently implemented Skodel as part of its Wellbeing School Improvement Plan for 2024-2025, prioritising student wellbeing by integrating a check-in and student support system to monitor student wellbeing development in a timely manner.

Parramatta Marist is one of a growing number of Catholic schools across Parramatta Diocese (CSPD) who have successfully adopted Skodel. 

“Student voice is an essential component of our school’s wellbeing strategy. We believe to take a preventive approach; we must incorporate student voices. It helps build trust within our community, demonstrating our commitment to listen and respond to student needs.” ~ Jake Ward, Director of Strategy

Needs Assessment

Parramatta Marist reviewed ways to improve gathering wellbeing feedback from students. Google Forms were previously used to survey students, however, the school identified three challenges to solve:

1. Improve data gathering and post-survey follow-up and support
   • Remove survey fatigue from the student experience
   • Establish clear, efficient follow-up actions post-survey for students and staff 
   • Ensure every student feels heard, and teachers are comfortable reviewing the data.

2. Data access and management
   • Provide the right level of data access for teachers through account permissions
   • Ensure leadership has comprehensive oversight. 
   • Prevent data from becoming siloed, ensuring a unified approach to student wellbeing

3. Analysing trends over time
   • Tools were needed to easily compare data over time
   • Visualisations were needed to highlight emerging student wellbeing trends.

Solution Overview

The school established a working team to address their student wellbeing data needs by finding or building a solution that would:

1. Enhance the student experience, eliminating survey fatigue

2. Streamline wellbeing data collection

3. Structure student support processes
   • Implement a system with clear protocols for post-survey actions for students to take to plan and act improve their wellbeing
   • Provide teachers guidelines and simple features for follow-up, ensuring no student’s needs are overlooked.

4. Improved reporting and decision making
   • Simplify the aggregation and interpretation of student wellbeing data
   • Improve communication with the community, and 
   • Use data to inform decisions that positively impact student wellbeing.

Identifying Skodel as the Solution

Upon investigating the market, Parramatta Marist reviewed three platforms and determined:

• Skodel best met the school’s student voice needs. 
• The school valued Skodel’s partnership with educational psychologist, Andrew Fuller, which informs the platform’s approach to data use and support. 
• Skodel ensures that post-survey, students have simple next steps, and teachers are provided with clear guidelines for effective follow-up. 
• These guidelines are supported by intuitive features such as Skodel’s student planning tool and the ‘lodge a concern’ for teachers. 
• Data is presented in an accessible way and its account permissions eliminates data silos.
• Skodel customisations meet wider needs.

Student-focused Wellbeing Experience

Skodel provides a student-friendly experience that promotes student efficacy. It guides each student through:

1. Identifying how they feel
2. Going a bit deeper to understand the exact feelings and what drives them
3. Ascertaining the impact their feelings are having on student functioning and readiness for learning
4. Presenting a simple action planning tool with tailored suggestions for each student to develop agency in wellbeing.

Actionable Wellbeing Data through Skodel

Role-based Data

Skodel delivers data to Marist stakeholders as required:

Leadership Team	Year Coordinators and Homeroom Teachers	Students
Skodel data to: Review schoolwide trends and manage individual concernsCommunicate with parents and othersProvide support to teachers as required	Skodel data to: Understand student check-ins and use of the planning tool. Respond as required, preventing escalations	Skodel data to: Reflect on their check-ins and emotional trends. Inform the creation of their own action plans for wellbeing. Understand wellbeing growth over time.

Skodel Templates for Data Generation

Skodel enables schools to sequence check-ins and other data events as part of their annual Pastoral Care plans. Making each interaction meaningful and avoiding overload for staff and students.

Start of Term Template	Mid-term Template	Ad-hoc Check-Ins
Question focus (adapted based on ages): How do you feel about the term ahead/how strong is that feeling? What is contributing to that? How could we further support you?	Question focus (adapted based on ages): How is this term going for you/how strong is that feeling? What is contributing to that? How could we further support you?	Seasonal check-ins: Pre exams Transition to new years Pre camp

Analysing Skodel Wellbeing Data

While it is normal to experience emotions like worry, Skodel offers students support when such feelings become overwhelmingly intense. Parramatta Marist uses Skodel to understand patterns that may indicate structural challenges and opportunities to better support groups of students.

School-wide Data

Parramatta Marist is pleased to see positive trends in friendships, supportive teachers and a positive school environment. No trends were identified in Skodel to warrant structural changes, however, through Skodel the school was able to provide timely support to students. The school continues to monitor these trends through a practical approach to student voice and using visualisations such as the following example:

Note, this is not actual data from Parramatta Marist. It is mock data provided for illustrative purposes only.

Data and Guidelines for Individual Student Support

“I value understanding where my students are at. Finding time for these conversations can be tough, but I believe they’re among the most effective ways to build relationships. What I appreciate about Skodel is its emphasis on meaningful interactions rather than just frequent check-ins. It’s especially helpful that Skodel offers a straightforward process for escalating any concerns. This allows me to comfortably review the data, knowing I have a clear path to follow if action is needed, without feeling unsure about how to respond.” ~ Homeroom Teacher

“Beyond impressed with Skodel as a Wellbeing platform. From its user-friendly face to its impressive functionality, I can confidently say it has added tremendous value to my pastoral role.” ~ Erin Smith, Year 12 Coordinator

Parramatta Marist uses the following framework within Skodel to identify students needing individualised support:

Click here to see a live Skodel demonstration of this capability.

Review the Effectiveness of Actions

Where patterns emerge in Skodel that student wellbeing and readiness to learn is being impacted, the school responds. The review of the effectiveness of these changes is made easy through filters on Skodel such as the one below and in this live demonstration.

Note, this is not actual data, it is for illustrative purposes only.

Learn more about Parramatta Marist’s approach to Wellbeing Data 

For school leaders interested in learning more about this approach or Skodel’s capabilities, reach out to info@skodel.com.

Key Skodel Information

Cyber Security

Skodel is registered with Safer Technology 4 Schools (ST4S), an initiative of Australian Department of Education that sets and reviews information security standards of services such as Skodel.

School and whole jurisdiction capabilities

While this case study relates to a single school that has successfully implemented Skodel to support student wellbeing needs, Skodel can also be deployed across entire school jurisdictions. In the case of Parramatta Diocese, Skodel already facilitates Communities of Practice, whereby wellbeing leaders at schools such as Parramatta Marist can share and learn from one another. 

Skodel is designed as a holistic solution, comprising the following service elements: