Winter Book Club

Chapter 4: Puberty and Blocked Transition

The part of this chapter that I appreciated most was the section on 'Building a Ladder from Childhood to Adulthood'. As an educator, my desire is to see our children enter adulthood as compassionate, confident and capable young people. I want them to have opportunities to enjoy greater independence, to engage in meaningful experiences that require them to put their skills into action. It is a delicate balance and requires great wisdom as a parent to know when to give our children a nudge from out of their comfort zone and when to also put the brakes on when they are pushing for freedoms that they don't have the capacity to manage well.

When it comes to digital freedoms, our children will not be harmed by a slow approach to an increase in digital freedoms. It is much harder to wind back freedoms once we have opened doors for students.

Our College QUEST program is intended to form a kind of 'rite of passage' program that is intended to help students in Year 9 step up into the upper Secondary years. We try to formulate a program that provides experience of physical challenge, skill development and service learning and so presents learning opportunities and challenge for all students. While some will find the outdoor experiences a fun challenge, they may find engaging with members of the community as part of service learning to be more uncomfortable. Others will enjoy the skill sessions or the service elements more their 'cup of tea' but will be stretched by some of the more demanding physical experiences. We want to use the program as a context to explore some of the dispositions they need to navigate the next phase of their learning journey, to understand their preferences and strengths more deeply and to recognise their vulnerabilities and how they can overcome these. 

Jodie Bennett

Principal