Student Wellbeing & Engagement

Curriculum Day:-

Develop a sense of Belonging and Connectedness to Box Hill High School 

After analysing the 2023 attitudes to school survey data which all students complete early in the year, we noticed a drop in school connectedness factor.  As a result, the focus for Curriculum Day changed to developing and discussing how we can build a sense of belonging for staff, parents, and students at Box Hill High School.  Teaching teams looked at creating a BHHS policy for Belonging, were introduced to the High Impact Wellbeing Strategies, and we discussed the best way to target casual racism occurring at the school. One of the highlights of the day was to see all staff lined up in order of when they arrived at BHHS.  It was amazing to see the number of new teachers that have joined us over the last three years. The positive factor of the ATOS data was seeing a slight increase in student voice and agency factor in year 8-10, which will encourage teachers to continue with their work on developing classrooms that allow and encourage students to take ownership of their own learning.

Engagement - Senior School

The end of the year is fast approaching for our year 12 students.  SACs and practice exams are being completed.  Students will be coming in during the holidays to complete their subject specific revision lectures and all students will be involved in the practice exams in week 2 of the holidays.  The Senior Sub-School is busy organising the end of school celebrations. 

Engagement- Enrichment and GAPP program

Many high ability students have had many enrichment opportunities over the last term.  A Year 9 and Year 8 team participated in Tournament of Minds at Deakin University.  Our Year 8 team received Honours for their performance in the STEM long term challenge and spontaneous challenge which placed them in the top 10% of the teams competing. 

Year 9 students participated recently in the Model United Nations event held at the Centre for Higher Education Studies.  The students presented speeches as delegates for their assigned countries on debated the best approaches used to create a sustainable city.  We are very proud of their efforts. 

Two of our year 8 GAPP students made the state final of the Prime Ministers Spelling Bee. 

Students in each year level were given the opportunity to participate in a public speaking workshop that was run by Speaking Schools Australasia.  It helps students to be able to articulate and communicate their ideas, vision and proposals especially supporting students who want to be involved in our Leadership Programs at BHHS. 

A team of students participated in the RoboCup Junior State Event. 

Students were involved in the Australian Intermediate Mathematics Olympiad (AIMO) which is a highly challenging maths competition designed to identify and stretch talented students.  The AIMO paper is pitched at a Year 10 level but may also be of interest to motivated and talented students in years 7 to 9 looking to pursue Olympiad-level mathematics.

The Year 8 SEAL students from Balwyn High joined our Year 8 GAPP students for an English/Humanities extension workshop. This is a connection that Bernadette Sheedy has started running this year to increase collaboration opportunities across state schools. 

Camberwell Grammar - Year 9 GAPP students collaborating on a problem with other high abilities students.

By Shareen Bottrell

Assistant Principal