Principal's Update 

Activity Aplenty

Our College has been abuzz in the lead up to some key events, with students preparing for optimum performance across ACC Athletics Championship, ACC Student Leadership and next week's NAPLAN testing program. 

I had the privilege of attending ACC Athletics Championship, and it was thrilling to watch our boys give it their all. Congratulations to all our athletes, spectators and family members who joined us in cheering alongside the team. 

This month, we are also hosting a series of College Tours across our Bentleigh East and Mentone Campuses, allowing families to explore our unique spaces. These tours are led by our wonderful Year 11and 12 student volunteers, who each shape part of the brilliant Beda experience on offer. 

The feedback I've personally had from touring families about our student tour guides has been overwhelmingly positive. We trust these students are as proud of themselves as we are of them and they are a great asset to our College. 

College Governance

The College is incorporated as a Company Limited by Guarantee. Under legislative and regulatory guidelines, St Bede’s College transitioned to a leadership model where the De La Salle Brothers invested the governance of the College in a Board of Directors led by a Chair of the Board. The delivery of educational outcomes is managed by the Principal, the corporation’s Chief Executive Officer, who is accountable to the Board.

The Board of Directors’ main functions include:

• ensuring compliance with relevant Commonwealth and State legislation, regulations and policies;
• ensuring a Child Safe College;
• conducting appropriate Risk Management procedures for all aspects of the College;
• promoting excellence in education.

School Boards lend strong leadership and governance to a school’s mission, ensure financial viability and sustainability, and improve the quality of educational programs, which lead to improved student outcomes. Boards contribute to the culture of the organisation and monitor organisational performance by questioning management, listening and advising, providing leadership in a crisis situation, and measuring performance in a meaningful way.

It is my privilege to work in collaboration with our Board, led by Chair Keiren Tilbrook, and our Board Members, who I am pleased to introduce you to here.

International Women’s Day Breakfast

It was a pleasure to welcome more than 200 members of our College community to our second annual celebration of International Women’s Day, a breakfast sponsored and organised by the Parents & Friends Association. Staff and students from Kilbreda College were also in attendance, as well as Mayor Jenna Davey-Burns of Kingston City Council.  

Our guest speaker, Sumaya Harare, came from Kenya to settle in Melbourne at the age of 7 with no English. She and her family settled into a predominantly white neighbourhood and she attended the local primary school. Sumaya spoke of her life experiences and thoughts surrounding resilience, inclusion, diversity and understanding. 

International Women’s Day is a celebration of respect, love and care towards women. It is also a time to remember those who continue to go unheard and are prevented from reaching their full potential, as basic rights like health and education are still not recognised for some women around the world.

As a Catholic school in the Lasallian tradition, St Bede's College takes on the responsibility for the education and formation of young men who engage in respectful relationships with women. We are called to promote a community that is inclusive of the voice of women, the visibility of women in our public profile and leadership roles, that supports quality education for all women and girls globally, and demonstrates the innate respect that one should have for all of God’s people. 

We do this, of course, in the spirit of partnering with our students' families to educate and raise young men who will make a real difference - in their own families, communities, and the world. We accept this challenge so that our graduates and current students will stand up and speak up, and will promote and expect equality, equity, dignity, and respect for all.

The International Women's Day 2024 theme is 'DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality'.  This focuses on how technology and education in the digital age can help the empowerment of women and girls across the world. Of equal importance, this theme also explores how to protect the rights of women and girls in digital spaces and how to combat the serious issue of online gender-based violence.

I would like to acknowledge the women who work and volunteer in our College and thank them for the amazing and essential work they do in supporting, teaching, coaching, leading and advising our students. 

Above all, I acknowledge the mothers of our boys and their essential role as educators and guides of our developing young men. I believe it is most significant that, in an all-boys’ school, we take every opportunity to celebrate the special women in our own lives and, most importantly, to celebrate women everywhere. 

Educating and Understanding Boys

In educating boys, it is our duty to know them, to understand them and to work within the ways that best suit their ways of learning. As part of membership of the International Boys School Coalition (IBSC), we have access to specific insights that allow us to further expand upon our learning strategies.  

Learning Strategies for Boys 

• Brain break activities when students lose concentration and opportunities taken for kinaesthetic learning.
• Minimise 'talking at', focussing on 75% of time on task and up to 25% on teacher talk. Clear, short instructions with definite timelines.
• Make learning intentions visible and refer to these intentions throughout the lesson. This allows students to know the purpose of their learning. Educator Adam Cox stresses that boys need to know why something is important for it to have significance for them. “Boys thrive on purposeful work” and “relish real-time achievement,” when they are assigned tasks that give their school experience personal meaning.
• Create opportunities for success for each learner by differentiating tasks and using success criteria rubrics.
• Give positive reinforcement and feedback, and let students know that their thoughts and ideas are valued.
• Provide boys with the structure, organisation and boundaries that they appreciate. Teachers set the boundaries; students push them!
• Use exciting topics and look for ways to give boys some autonomy over their learning. Once boys have interest and ownership in a subject, they will do wonders. 
• Research conducted at boys’ schools has demonstrated the importance of action and accomplishment in teaching young men and boys. Educational researchers Michael Reichert and Richard Hawley have found that successful lessons often introduce a memorable element — a novelty, kinetic activity, game, or role play — that facilitates the intended learning outcome.

Our College has a philosophy of encouraging participation in healthy physical activity and developing sporting skills and team spirit across all ability levels from a young age.  Research demonstrates a link between fitness and academic performance, and suggests exercise promotes perseverance, discipline and focus as well as overall mental and physical wellbeing.

It is our honour to teach your boys and we remain committed to supporting and understanding them along their journey. 

Per vias rectas

Deb Frizza

Principal 

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Bunurong people of the Kulin Nation, whose ancient wisdom nurtured these lands and waters for millennia.