Deputy Principal - Student Development

This week’s Parent Corner is the final one for the year.  We would like to thank you for your ongoing support throughout 2019, and for the privilege of working with your daughters.  I have asked the Pastoral Guardians to give you a snapshot of their magazine article for the year as I think it provides a good reflection of the year that was.  Enjoy reading!

Here’s mine!

This year has been all about Raising the Bar.  Student Development by its very nature is an interesting title within the realm of Raising the Bar.  It can encompass everything the College and community provides to ensure each and every student is able to become the best version of herself.  It does not rely only on the here and now, but on consideration of the skills and understandings that our children will require to be productive contributors to society, both in the present and beyond the college gates.

In 2019, the Service Learning program has enabled all students within Years 7 to 10 to have a taste of what it can be like to think beyond themselves and encounter the other.  With experiences that have involved either assisting adults with disabilities, engaging in play with kindergarten children, sharing the reading journeys of preschool children, or making a connection with the senior members of our community, service learning has been, and will continue to be, an important part of Clare and Francis Schools into the future.  Students have the opportunity to develop skills of empathy, compassion, understanding, communication, and creativity, which are important foundations to volunteer for Outreach and Immersion opportunities, requiring commitment to serve others in experiences beyond the college gates.

There is a plethora of committees and activities in which students have been involved in in 2019.  Being involved in the life of the College by being part of these committees has been once again an excellent example of how Mount Alvernia provides opportunity for growth and for each child to raise her own skill levels and effectiveness as a young person.

The Anti-bullying Task Force is instrumental in recognising anti-social behavior and developing strategies to assist students who are either victims or perpetrators of such behaviours.  As we move towards 2020, self-driven initiatives to educate and intervene when negative practices become evident, especially through social media, will become the norm, and will give members of this committee the capacity to make a difference and keep our students safe.

Workshops that provide students with skills often beyond their years have also been highly attended in 2019.  Whether by developing their public speaking skills by attending a series of three after-school workshops, finding out how to run an effective meeting during break times, or learning how to manage conflict to a satisfactory resolution, the students who attended these session have learnt life-long skills which are also making a fantastic contribution to the high expectations we can expect of our young people as they lead assemblies or create and lead committees of their own.

Raising the Bar may form images of a high jumper aiming for that next level or a musician spending hours practising so that they can finally play Beethoven’s Fifth to perfection, and this is exactly how we need our young people to respond to the intent behind the words.  Many of our girls are on this journey and should be delighted in what they have achieved in 2019.  It is important that in 2020 the bar goes even higher because, with each new year, there will be new learnings and further progress and it will be efforts put in that will, in the end, bring the greatest rewards.

Annette Butterworth