Student Wellbeing

Understanding and Educating Boys

Last Monday, St Raphael's staff participated in an amazing professional learning opportunity called Understanding and Educating Boys. The staff were joined by staff from a variety of other schools in the Northern Region.

Over the years, collected data has shown that our boys were struggling to be engaged and find success in their learning. 

Child Psychologist Steve Bidulph says; “The great challenge in the classroom is to get girls to learn and boys to behave.”

Statistics across the board show that boys are falling behind girls in academic achievement and make up the vast majority of problem behaviour in the classroom.

The PD helped us as teachers, understand the unique way in which boys develop and learn, and how that impacts their ability to engage and access curriculum in the classroom. 

Topics in the PD included:

● How boys develop socially and emotionally

● Educational challenges in teaching boys

● How boys learn

● Getting them to behave

● Practical strategies for engagement

The PD discussed evidence-based approaches that are rooted in real-world application and was presented by registered teacher and behaviour management specialist, Tarun Stevenson.

The school is looking into the possibility of a parent information session and will let you know if we can confirm a date. 

Tournament of Minds

On August 20th/21st, 7 students from Year 5/6 will participate in the Tournament of Minds at La Trobe University.

Tournament of Minds (TOM) is a problem solving program for multi-aged teams of students who work together to solve a demanding, open-ended Long-Term Challenge. The team must also participate in an unseen Spontaneous Challenge® on Tournament Day. The program has Primary and Secondary divisions. Tournament of Minds’ aim is to enhance the potential of our youth by developing diverse skills, enterprise, time management, and the discipline to work collaboratively within a challenging and competitive environment.

The 2022 team is: Odessa D'Lasselle, Luca Carbone, Marcus Christensen, Leah Gozzo, Lola Puszkar, Anika Midgely and Sabine Villella.

We wish them luck and will keep you all informed of their progress!