Mentoring
Castle Hill High School has implemented a mentoring program for Girls and Boys. Junior mentoring caters towards Year 8, 9 and 10 and the Senior mentoring for Years 11 and 12.
Senior Boys Mentoring
Senior Boys’ Mentoring is a long-standing program specifically designed to support young men through the Higher School Certificate, specifically developing their academic, social and wellbeing skills to achieve academic success. The program has a strong focus on successful study habits, organisation and planning, and providing social and emotional support over the HSC course. The program operates in a team environment and involves meeting in an allocated Pastoral Care group daily and participating in fortnightly small group/individual meetings outside of class and PC.
Key areas of focus include:
· Developing strong partnerships between students, teachers and parents
· Challenging anti-social masculinities in an education and social context
· Developing individualised study programs
· Explicit instruction on study strategies for specific subjects, organisation and planning
The Boys’ Mentoring Program requires a significant buy-in from students and the expectations for the program are that students will:
- Be committed to the pursuit of academic excellence – working harder and smarter
- Consistently represent the values of the school – senior learning contract, uniform, attendance, behaviour etc.
- Be committed to consistent diary use – recording homework, study plans, hours studied etc.
- Be committed to complete 3 of study per subject per week – increased in assessment periods
- Engage in daily mentoring activities in PC – including days with a flexible start time. This includes study strategies, weekly study challenges, tracking hours, creating revision documents, sharing strategies etc.
- Participate in fortnightly meetings for individual mentoring – 20 minutes at recess, lunch, before/after school, during study session, can be in small groups
Year 12 PC Mentoring
The Year 12 PC Mentoring Program offers a specialised program to support students during their HSC year. Students are been placed into targeted Pastoral Care groups with small groups of students they have identified as having similar subjects, values, or aspirations. This program has been developed using Year 12 Exit Survey data, data from the Tell Them from Me survey and the positive experiences and results from the Senior Mentoring Programs.
The program is fully resourced on CANVAS and is implemented by specialist teachers during Pastoral Care and takes 2-3 sessions out of 5. Each week has a theme and activities/resources that developed students' skills in organisation, studying and identifying support networks, as well as supporting their wellbeing at times of heightened stress or anxiety. Individual PC teachers deliver this framework within their own weekly plan.
Junior Boys Mentoring
My name is Matt Yiangou and I have been privileged enough to oversee the Junior Boys Mentoring Program for some years now. Rather than me telling you what I love about the program, I asked some of the amazing young men in my PC this year to give me their thoughts.
“Junior Boys Mentoring is great because we are improving our interest in school. We get to see and engage with the other boys in the class and do activities. It is better than a normal PC because we can help each other.” Written by Archer Jones and Boston Smith (Year 8)
“We look forward to the daily sessions of our Junior Mentoring PC. We are here to provide guidance for the Year 8 students in various ways to hopefully make life easier for them. We work on our well-being through continuous interactions with each other and our teacher. Sir challenges us to reflect and consider what it means to be a ‘good man’.” Written by Wilson Fryer, Ethan Smit, Joshua Mildenhall & Mahmoud Belal (Year 10)
Junior Girls Mentoring
The Junior Girls mentoring group is all about fostering self-confidence, goal setting, positive engagement in school and dealing with issues that young women face today.
Along with the teacher, the girls set goals related to personal development and/or achievement in school. Working with the teacher and a small group of peers each day allows us to build positive relationships, check-in frequently and hold each other accountable.
As well as being guided to achieve their own individual goals, the group also collaborates to set collective goals that benefit the school and the community. This year, the girls organised and implemented a fundraiser to celebrate International Women’s Day, successfully raising over $500 for our local women’s shelter.