Middle Years

Understanding the Middle Years

Recently, I listened to a podcast titled “Understanding the Middle Years,” which includes an interview with George Patton, Professorial Fellow in Adolescent Health Research from the University of Melbourne, who is the Chief Investigator for the Childhood and Adolescence Transition Study. This is a longitudinal study of 1200 students from Grade 3 – 11 and has been going for over 10 years. The study is looking at the journey a child goes through as they progress through both puberty and their schooling. The transition from primary school to secondary school is now thought to be critical in the health and emotional development of students and some of the key findings include:

Students need to be active players and active shapers in their own world during the Middle Years. This is required for their healthy engagement in both school and their social environment.
Peers become very important to students of this age and peer relationships help shape their emotions and emotional wellbeing.
Students are also wanting to move beyond their peer group and explore how they fit in the outside world.

Regarding learning, the study found that persisting emotional problems result in students losing one year over four in numeracy NAPLAN results and loosing six months for NAPLAN reading. Persistent disruptive behaviour has the same resulting decline in NAPLAN results. Poor peer relationships contribute to reduced learning, so what a student’s peers are doing is incredibly important for the student, as well as their learning.

Encouragingly, many of the strategies the study suggests are already part of our myPEC program. These include:

Year 7 Orientation days.
Making sure the school is a welcoming place for students.
Promoting the formation of a positive peer group through experiential activities early in Term 1.
Building and maintaining student engagement with school though peers, schoolwork, teachers and co-curricular activities.
Acting on emotional problems early through our Mentor System and the School Counsellor.
Ensuring students keep up with their learning, as once behind it is easy for this to become part of their identity. (e.g “I’m no good at XXXX subject”).
Parents are welcomed and involved in the school through the Parents' and Friends' Association.
Teachers are a great resource for social and emotional learning and support for students. The Middle Years Mentors, Head of House etc. all take on this role with the students under their guidance.

The Childhood to Adolescence Transition study gives us some insight into the Middle Years, but also is encouraging that what we are doing in the myPEC is helpful for our students in the long term.

Ben Hawthorne

Head of Middle Years