Head of Students News

Mr Peter Serone

ASH Program

This year we have implemented our newly developed ASH program.  This program incorporates social, emotional and behaviour strategies, careers preparation and academic skills.  It is designed to equip all boys with the skills necessary to be good Christians and good citizens as they progress through the College and beyond.

 

An overview of the themes for each year level is shown in the table below and a summary of what is covered in Term 2 is also provided.

 

ASH Program 2021

 

Year 5 - Bullying

This unit explores what bullying is and importantly, what it isn’t. 

 

It also helps the students develop an awareness and understanding of bullying and the reasons why some people might bully others. Bullying behaviours are investigated and we look at strategies that can be utilised if students find themselves the victim of bullying.

 

Year 6 - Values

This unit will create an awareness and an understanding of what is meant by the term values. A definition of what our values are is determined. The unit will also help the students identify what some of their values are and, when are the times in life when they will need to use these values.

 

Year 7 - Naplan Prep and friendships

The first two lessons of this unit will focus on Naplan preparation.  A discussion of what it means to be a Marist Man, how we treat others and how we develop healthy friendships will ensue.

 

Year 8 - Emotional Regulation

This unit explores the purpose of emotions and how to recognise key feelings in yourself and others.  A toolbox of strategies on how to effectively manage emotions is discussed, with a particular focus on Mindfulness and Anger Management.  Students will have an opportunity to practice these strategies in class and develop action plans for future stressful events.

 

Students are also provided with a list of apps that they can use to help manage emotions, practice mindfulness, enhance sleep, reduce worry, prioritise exercise and set goals.  These apps include:

  1. Smiling Minds: Mindfulness app https://www.smilingmind.com.au/smiling-mind-app
  2. Headspace: Mindfulness app  https://www.headspace.com/headspace-meditation-app
  3. ReachOut breathe: guided breathing app https://au.reachout.com/tools-and-apps/reachout-breathe
  4. Music eScape: scans the tempo of the songs in your iTunes library and sorts them into feeling categories (e.g. happy songs, sad songs, peaceful songs etc.).
  5. The check in- How to help a friend who is going through a difficult time: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/about-us/about-our-work/young-people/the-check-in-app
  6. Worry time: Useful if you find yourself worrying a lot of the time.
  7. Recharge: sleep and exercise (https://au.reachout.com/tools-and-apps/recharge)
  8. Couch to 5km: C25K® is the easiest program to get beginners from couch potatoes to 5K distance runners in 8 weeks http://www.c25k.com/
  9. Goalzie: Goal setting and creating challenges with your friends. http://www.c25k.com/
  10. The toolbox: Collection of health and wellbeing apps endorsed by professionals (https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/the-toolbox)

Year 9 - Naplan and Camp preparation and Character strengths

The first two lessons are focused on Naplan preparation and Camp preparation.  A representative from Adventure Alternatives will talk to the students in Week 3 about the purpose and structure of the four-day camp to ensure students are ready to embrace this important life experience.

 

Students will also explore their Character Strengths by completing the VIA Character Strengths Survey.  Character Strengths are the positive parts of our personality that impact how we think, feel and behave and can be used to help us overcome obstacles that arise in our lives.  You may wish to complete this survey yourself and discuss it with your sons. The survey can be found at https://www.viacharacter.org/character-strengths-via

 

Students will have the opportunity to debrief their camp experience using the framework of character strengths and they will discuss one particular strength, perseverance, which is strongly linked to academic achievement.

 

Year 10 - Being a Marist Man in Relationships

The focus of this unit is on healthy relationships.  YourChoicez media will be working with the cohort for a full day on the concepts of masculinity, consent and respect.  The rest of the units will extend upon this workshop and cover topics of the purpose and importance of our relationships with others, factors that influence meaningful romantic relationships and developing an informed conscience around sexual decision making and consent.  This topic will also continue into Term 3.

 

Year 11 - Leadership

One skill that is important when leading others is the ability to convey information to a group of people.  Having the skill of writing and presenting engaging speeches is important, whether you are applying for a school leadership position, going for a job interview, delivering a class presentation or motivating your sporting team. Therefore, this unit will focus on teaching boys the technical skills of public speaking. In addition, we invited Jimmy Clarke, last years school captain, and Ben Roden-Cohen, winner of the public speaking club last year, to share their experience in this area with the cohort.

 

Year 12 - Leading into the Future

This unit aims to equip boys with life-based skills that they can use when they leave the College. Boys were surveyed and asked to select topics of interest and the key topics identified were renting a property, completing a tax return and basic accounting, car maintenance and applying for a personal loan.  Parents and Caregivers were contacted to see if they had expertise in these areas that they could share with the boys.  We were overwhelmed by the number of responses and the generosity of our MCA community. 

Real Choices will also talk with the boys about consent, respect, human dignity, sexting and the law on consent.

 

We look forward to seeing how the boys engage with these topics over the course of the term.

Peer Mentoring

Over the course of the term, during weekly House meetings, a structured peer mentoring program has been put in place for pastoral group classes.  This program occurs 2-3 times per term.  PG classes break out into smaller conversation groups, given a theme to discuss, to give older students the opportunity to strike up a conversation, build relationships, and develop leadership skills with younger students in their pastoral group. The hope is that this will develop a network of contacts for younger students in the College.

Chickenpox

The College has had a confirmed case of chickenpox.  Please find below, a link to information from Qld Health regarding signs and symptoms of chickenpox, including advice on treatment and prevention. For further information, please contact Qld Health or your family GP. 

 

http://conditions.health.qld.gov.au/HealthCondition/condition/14/217/23/chickenpox-varicella