pastoral care and personal development
TRANSCRIPT
PASTORAL CARE AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENTat Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School
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SustainabilityWe are well connected to our broader community and manage our physical, human and financial resources wisely. We ensure
that the quality of educational and personal development opportunities and outcomes of staff and students are widely known, resulting in strong enrolments and ongoing financial
security for the School.
THE THREE ENABLERS THAT ALLOW US TO FACILITATE OUR PILLARS ARE:
Quality Resources and FacilitiesWe plan for and provide the most
appropriate and relevant resources and facilities to optimise learning, participation,
productivity and overall wellbeing of students and staff.
Quality StaffWe employ highly-skilled
employees who bring expertise, unique talent and a depth and breadth of relevant
skills to Ivanhoe Girls’.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
In seeking to realise our aspirations, Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School will focus its planning, leadership and resources on five major strategies for continuous School improvement:
Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School is a forward-thinking community of learners who are thoughtful in their choices and brave in their actions.
THE THREE PILLARS THAT GUIDE ALL WE DO ARE:
Connected Community We value curiosity, authenticity and service, leading to connections to others and to the
wider community.
Quality Pastoral Care We value courage, inclusion and diversity, leading to resilience and compassionate,
respectful relationships.
Quality Learning and TeachingWe value an education that challenges and connects, leading to powerful and
progressive thinking.
OUR STRATEGIES
STRATEGY 5Strengthen community
engagement and school sustainability.
STRATEGY 4 Provide engaging,
flexible and innovative learning and work
spaces.
STRATEGY 3Attract and develop
expert academic and professional staff.
STRATEGY 2Provide exemplary
student pastoral care and opportunities for
personal development.
STRATEGY 1Facilitate engaging,
holistic and connected learning and teaching.
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MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL
At Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School we are dedicated to our students reaching their full potential in academic, sporting and cultural pursuits through the provision of engaging, holistic and connected learning and teaching. Our overarching purpose as a school is clear: to be a forward-thinking community of learners who are thoughtful in their choices and brave in their actions. When it comes to our learning and teaching programs, the thoughtful and brave learner - each student - is at the very core of all we do.
“We are facing unprecedented challenges – social, economic and environmental – driven by accelerating globalisation and a faster rate of technological developments..... The future is uncertain and we cannot predict it; but we need to be open and ready for it.” 1
Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School looks to the future with great optimism and a clear sense of purpose. We are pleased to outline our continuum of pastoral care from ELC to Year 12 and our customised approach to the teaching of our students at the different stages of their learning journey. In addition, this document outlines the various student capabilities that we foster in our students that enable them to thrive, both here at Ivanhoe Girls’ and, ultimately, in the challenging and exciting world beyond our school.
Dr Deborah PriestPrincipal Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School
1. Andreas Schleicher, Director of Education and Skills, OECD (2018) The Future of Education and Skills: Education 2030. Retrieved from www.oecd.org
WHY A GIRLS’ SCHOOL?
Research over many years consistently shows girls feel more confident and most free to pursue their interests to the best of their abilities, in the classroom, on the sporting field, on the stage and in a broad range of co-curricular pursuits, in an all-girls learning environment.
Even more significantly, the academic outcomes for girls who learn in all-girls schools are consistently superior to girls’ outcomes in co-educational settings; so too are the numbers of girls participating and excelling in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects through to Year 12 and beyond.
When girls are free of social pressures from boys and gender stereotypes in their learning environment, they become empowered to freely discover their passions, explore their own values and identity, and to develop their unique set of strengths and talents without the limitations so commonly experienced by girls in co-educational settings. Furthermore, teaching methods in an all-girls learning environment are customised to the way that girls like to learn and the pastoral care is customised to the needs of girls progressing through the various developmental stages of early childhood into adolescence and early adulthood.
At Ivanhoe Girls’ we believe passionately in the effectiveness of educating girls in an all-girls learning environment and of the advantages that this opportunity brings to our students.
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WHY CHOOSE IVANHOE GIRLS’ GRAMMAR SCHOOL?
We care as much about the developing character of each girl as we do about their academic achievement. Our School has a well-established and impressive reputation for nurturing strong, intelligent and compassionate women who go on to lead and serve the community in meaningful ways. This legacy continues as we believe that the wellbeing of each child is a fundamental precursor to them achieving their personal best.
By maintaining our enrolments between 850 – 1000 learners from our Early Learning Centre (Three Year Old) through to Year 12, we are able to know each student as an individual, to monitor her progress carefully and to ensure she feels accepted, valued and validated as she learns how to fly high.
With over 116 years of experience in finding and nurturing the strengths of our learners, Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School continues to provide a
personalised education for each girl to explore and extend herself academically, socially and culturally while developing a disposition founded on integrity and generous service to our community. Thus, our teachers unashamedly put the pastoral care and character building of our students on an equal footing with their academic achievements. In doing so, we are proud to develop articulate, courageous, critical thinkers who are generous of spirit, have a lifelong love of learning, and who have a voice and use it to make a positive contribution to the wider community.
Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School has a wonderful tradition of leading innovative and socially progressive girls’ education with graduates achieving outstanding success in a broad range of Australian and international tertiary pathways including STEM-based courses. Our school community enables girls to challenge stereotypical views of what they can and should achieve, with
Mathematics, Science and Visual Arts being among our most popular and successful subjects. The key to our learners’ success is for us to encourage and nurture passion, engagement and creativity in whatever combination of subjects our girls are interested in studying and exploring.
We welcome every girl as a unique individual and we foster in her the confidence to discover her talents and to build upon them. Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School is a remarkable and forward-thinking school that enthusiastically embraces innovation and learning that is connected to real-world applications.
Our girls explore and develop their potential in a friendly, nurturing and welcoming school and leave as graduates who are "life ready" as well as "tertiary and career ready".
At Ivanhoe Girls’ we view the opportunity to educate girls, to prepare them for purpose and success in their adult lives, as a privilege.
PHILOSOPHY ABOUT PASTORAL CARE AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
In the Junior School class teachers play the lead role in the pastoral care of each of their students. Then, in the Senior School, the Year Level system is the key element of this approach to pastoral care. Every Year Level, with its own coordinator and tutors, is a community in which our students are known and valued by staff and by their peers.
The security of an encouraging and supportive environment enables us to achieve our core purpose as a school: to be a forward-thinking community of learners who are thoughtful in their choices and brave in their actions. Our students – thoughtful and brave learners – have four key capabilities that are fostered both through our learning and teaching programs and our pastoral care systems. Knowledge, to make sense of an increasingly complex world; Thinking, because it is so important to think critically, analyse information and consider a range of perspectives; Creativity, as this is essential to developing a growth mindset; Connectedness, to aid the formation of healthy relationships.
Our approach to pastoral care and personal development engages students and builds these capabilities in a way that is sequential, age and stage appropriate, evidence based and respectful of the School’s Christian heritage.
Student
DEEP LEARNING
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LEADERSHIP AND SERVICEINDIV
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At Ivanhoe Girls’ Grammar School a focus on each individual student is central to all we do. The caring relationships that are at the heart of the School provide the best possible foundation for learning and personal development.
Model for Student Success
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STUDENTS’ LEARNING CAPABILITIES
Today’s students need to develop 21st century capabilities in order to thrive in the uncertain world that awaits beyond school.
At Ivanhoe Girls’ we focus on developing four key capabilities in our students, through both our academic and pastoral care and personal development programs. These capabilities will enable students to be more powerful learners, whilst also increasing their wellness.
Knowledge
To make sense of an increasingly complex and rapidly changing world, students need broad and sound general knowledge. They also need to develop deep knowledge, which is a true conceptual understanding, if they are to be flexible and adaptive.
Students need to be able to recognise what they do not know, and the process by which to source and learn this information. Equally important is their ability to be self-reflective and have a true and genuine knowledge of their own strengths and values.
Thinking
Increasingly, students need to be able to process vast volumes of information in meaningful ways. The ability to think critically, analyse information, consider a range of perspectives, evaluate and make decisions will be essential to students’ success in their future lives.
Creativity
Developing creativity is essential to embracing a growth mindset and being willing to consider endless possibilities. In an entrepreneurial world, students also need the hands-on skills to design and construct physical expressions of their ideas.
Connectedness
Being able to engage and collaborate constructively with others, forming healthy relationships, is essential to human development. People, and especially young people, need to feel that they have a nurturing community to belong to and that they have something meaningful to offer that community in return.
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PASTORAL CARE PROGRAMS
We know that when families develop trust and familiarity with educators, children settle into the program better and achieve better outcomes. Relationships with both children and their families are at the heart of the Early Learning Centre program.
Once families and children feel secure and supported, children begin to learn about their feelings and getting along with others. Educators support children to develop self-regulation skills. These are the skills that enable us to manage our own behaviour, our reactions to feelings and to calm down after something exciting or unexpected occurs. These skills are the foundation which children will continue to build upon throughout their lives.
Early Learning Centre
These skills are supported through:
• having high expectations for children and their learning based on their current age, stage and abilities
• a supportive orientation program which includes home visits for new families
• building a sense of belonging for families as well as children through events and open communication
• a buddy program with older primary students
• providing learning environments that are thought provoking and support children in forming relationships with others
• intentional teaching in relation to social and emotional skills
• learning about others and our community through incursions, special events, specialist classes and the daily program
• viewing children as competent and capable, giving them opportunities to contribute ideas on matters that affect them
• encouraging children to be independent and participate in experiences that are useful in everyday life
• valuing children’s ideas and views through project work.
Establishing a strong and positive connection between home and the Early Learning Centre is important.
In Junior School, there is a style of learning and therefore pastoral care that best suits girls and we know that if girls develop confidence early on they do not lose it.
Cognisant of this, throughout the Junior School years we follow a continuum of personal and social capabilities under the four headings of Self-Awareness; Self-Management; Social Awareness; and Social Management.
Prep to Year 6
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These social and emotional skills form the basis of our pastoral care program that is taught explicitly and implicitly through a range of experiences and opportunities
• our Integrated Unit studies Science, Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) in particular Personal, Social Health
• strong student-teacher relationships with expectations tailored to the developmental stage of the child
• student led Assemblies and Church Services
• sport teams in Years 5 and 6• sport and House events such as cross
country, netball, soccer swimming, reading
• class-initiated Social Service activities in Years 2-6
• character strengths in Years 5 and 6• camps in Years 3-6• student buddies from ELC to Year 5
• leadership opportunities in Years 1-6• public speaking and performances
in Prep to Year 6• lunch time Clubs• being safe: cyber safety taught
explicitly in the classroom and with external experts in Years 2-6
• social skills with the School Counsellor and an external expert in Year 4
• mindfulness with the School Counsellor in Year 2
• sexuality and health education with external experts in Years 4-6
• specific thinking tools explicitly taught at each year level from Prep to Year 6
• music performances individually or in ensembles from Prep to Year 6
Self-Awareness: recognising emotions: understanding themselves as learners; developing reflective practice.
Self-Management: expressing emotions appropriately; developing self-discipline and set goals; working independently and show initiative; becoming confident, resilient and adaptable.
Social Awareness: Appreciating diverse perspectives; contributing to society; understanding relationships.
Social Management: communicating effectively; working collaboratively; making decisions; negotiating and resolving conflict; developing leadership skills.
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The early-to-middle teenage years are an exciting time of exploration and character development, yet they can also be fraught, as young people at this age and stage can be distracted by the complexities of friendships and friendship groupings. The potential for this to occur has only been increased by the widespread use of social media and other emerging technologies.
Years 7 to 9
In order to enable our students to develop a real sense of connectedness and a clear understanding of what respectful relationships look like, our approach to pastoral care in each of Years 7, 8 and 9 involves:
• evidence-based preventative interventions led by Tutors
• targeted coaching of students regarding help-seeking behaviours and appropriate ways to engage with trusted adults
• the School’s Counselling Team to help students navigate complex situations, understand the impact of their actions and normalise engagement with our Counsellors
• clarification of the School’s robust processes for dealing with serious issues when they arise, in keeping with our published approach to Serious Offences and our Harassment and Bullying Policy
• input from external experts, primarily to help students comprehend their ethical and legal obligations when it comes to the fast-changing landscape of information technology and social media.
A sequential Outdoor Education program is also used in each of these years to connect students to the natural environment and as a means to build strong connections within Year Levels whilst fostering resilience.
The key focus of our pastoral care and personal development programs in the first three years of the Senior School is friendships and the consequences and appropriate use of social media.
PASTORAL CARE PROGRAMS
Year 7Year 7 is a major point of transition from primary to secondary schooling. In order to ensure a smooth transition, Tutors and the Year Level Coordinator work with students regarding:
• three strategically-placed induction days in the preceeding year, involving activities to enable students to come to understand the Senior School and its processes. Throughout the year, Year 7 students commence building strong relationships with Year 10 Peer Support Leaders, who work alongside Year 7s in an ongoing way
• the building of strong connections with other students in the cohort (the Year 7 Camp is an early opportunity to do this)
• organisational skills
• time management
• academic expectations
• women’s health and the changing female body.
A range of expert staff and visitors support the Pastoral Team to facilitate the Pastoral Program.
In addition to the skills and disciplines that are developed across Years 7, 8 and 9, there are further specific and sequential points of focus, targeted to the age and stage of students, at each of these Year Levels.
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Year 8 Year 9At Year 8, students increase their focus on study skills and commence doing more work on individual goal setting.
With their Tutors, students explore friendship - what it means to be a good friend and the natural fluidity of friendships.
They also complete a rigorous and evidence-based program in their Health classes that focuses on:
• what good health and wellbeing looks like
• puberty
• risk-taking behaviours and the development of strong values as a protective factor
• respectful relationships, including problem solving and stress management.
These discussions are conducted in a manner that is designed to minimise involvement in harmful activities. They are also carried out in a way that is in keeping with our values as an Anglican school.
Many Year 9 students start to think more deeply about the world of work and the other opportunities and challenges that will greet them after school.
Tutors and the Careers Counsellor work with students to prepare relevant documentation (such as a Curriculum Vitae) and to develop interview techniques. It is also appropriate at this age and stage to engage further with students regarding behaviours that can involve real risk for young people, and an online world that contains many dangers. Through our Health Curriculum and the involvement of Tutors and external specialists we work with students to help them understand:
• the effects and implications of consuming alcohol and drugs
• safe partying• relationships, sexual decision-making
and consent• pornography and its implications.
The Year 9 program has been developed with expert input from the School’s Counsellors and the Chaplain. Both its content and delivery respect the School’s Christian ethos.
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Year 10With students starting to plan both for success in the VCE and for life beyond school, at Year 10 we support them through:
• pathways planning activities, which involve the School's Careers Counsellor, and others that include real-world activities with a focus on entrepreneurship
• encouraging and promoting leadership opportunities, for example through the Peer Support and School Ambassador programs – both of which involve significant leadership training
• sessions that aid students to understand the technicalities of the VCE
• Tutor-led initiatives regarding supporting one another through the challenges of the VCE
• a hands-on Driver Training Course
• First Aid Training
• mindfulness exercises and sessions focussing on resilience run by the School’s Counselling Team.
PASTORAL CARE PROGRAMS
Years 10 to 12In the final three years of our students’ education at Ivanhoe Girls’, we increase the range of activities that are tailored to ensure readiness for both the challenges of the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) and the world beyond the school gate.
Young people today face a world of immense change and great uncertainty. It is also one of real opportunity; we know that employers are increasingly demanding skills in higher-level thinking, creativity and collaboration. At school the acquisition of specific subject knowledge remains important. However, in this new paradigm, programs that foster the acquisition of 21st Century skills and capabilities are vital. How we seek to do this across the senior years is detailed in the next section.
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Year 11Leadership remains an important theme in Year 11, especially as we look forward to the selection of School Leaders for the following year.
Unity as a Year Level, especially in the context of managing examinations, work/life balance and potential stress, is a further priority. Key specific elements of the pastoral program include:
• a two-day conference at the end of Term 1, which is both an opportunity for bonding and a means to engage with external experts on relevant themes (such as gender stereotyping in the media)
• exercises focussing on managing stress and developing resilience, run by the School’s Counselling Team
• additional exercises centered on planning and organisation, revision and study habits, run by Tutors and Subject Teachers
• leadership activities• preparing for School Leader
nominations, with the Head of Senior School and current School Leadership Team
• a seminar on managing risk and harm minimisation, focusing on alcohol, drugs and social media
• financial literacy sessions.
In addition, we work with external experts regarding body image, as research tells us that girls’ negative feelings about their bodies can increase around Year 11.
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Year 12A very strong academic focus among our students at Year 12 is both inevitable and desirable.
Our approach to pastoral care in this final year of school aims to support students in their academic endeavours whilst ensuring a broader focus, especially on 21st Century skills. Encouraging wellbeing at such an exciting, yet potentially stressful, time is a further key priority. Some of the ways we seek to do this involve:
• a two-day retreat at the end of Term 1, which is intended to strengthen relationships and community through a range of activities that require problem solving, teamwork and challenge
• significant and ongoing support from the Careers Counsellor regarding Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre submissions, interview skills and university processes
• discussions, led by the School's Counselling Team, about balance and mental wellness
• Tutor-led activities about role-modelling in the school setting, and what it means to be an engaged citizen beyond the school gate
• sessions on sexual health and relationships (building on work done in previous years)
• service activities• further work with external experts
on road safety.
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123 Marshall Street Ivanhoe Victoria 3079 AustraliaT +61 3 9490 6222E [email protected] www.ivanhoegirls.vic.edu.auCRICOS provider No. 00974A/018621A
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