Wellbeing during COVID-19

The last vestiges of the COVID-19 closure from an absentee perspective came to an end on the weekend with the return of our Year 7 & 8 boarding students. Hooray! There were quite a few faces we had not seen for a while. We know that teaching adolescent boys has some challenges and even more so when they are removed from the social setting of a classroom or school. Without the intrinsic motivation of being with their friends, the challenge to keep a boy focused and on task is amplified. To our rural and remote parents, thank you for adding the additional role of teacher to your existing job description and for many of you at the busiest time of the year during seeding. This was an extra challenge and your support was most appreciated. Starting this week, we will have an intensive five weeks of learning before we head to the mid-year break. Hopefully we are not that far away from events such as assemblies and Chapel.

Last week we ran one of our two annual Wellbeing surveys with our students. It is a survey that offers each student an opportunity, in a confidential manner, to indicate aspects of school life that work well for him and aspects that cause anxiety and worry. This data provides aspects for us to address and monitor or take direct action on. One of the critical aspects for us is the relationships students have with each other. In Middle School some boys have had five or six years together. Understanding how their behaviours and personalities contribute to the wellbeing of others is crucial as boys thrive when they have confidence in those around them. In the next edition of The Thistle we will summarise some of this data for you.

Vocabulary Matters

This was a topic of discussion with teachers at a recent professional development session that drew attention to the fact that vocabulary (the knowledge of word meanings) and the development of an extended vocabulary remains a fundamental building block in our ability to comprehend and deliver information. Illustrating this, these six words came up in conversation in Year 7 & 8 subject conversations: orthographic, mendacious, vascular, igneous, isthmus, baptism. Encouraging boys to explore challenging words, their meaning, and how complex words are put together, can happen anytime, inside and outside of school. If research by O’Conner (2014) is an indicator, depth of vocabulary is the best single indicator of academic and future occupation success. I ask you to please check which your son tonight to see how he went on the above six words.