Grammar Gazette- Issue 2, 2007

Student Care Programme is premised on an acknowledgement of these challenges. Once a fortnight, the Year 9 cohort meets with their co-ordinators Mrs K Cohen and Miss A Dare and Year 9 House Group teachers. The sessions held during this time are designed to develop a sense of community within the cohort from which to deal with a range of issues that are relevant to their age group. These sessions are devised by the co-ordinators with input from Mrs K Belbin and Mrs J Forbes, our School Counsellors. Towards the end of the year, our programme for Year 9 aims to expand their focus beyond the confines of themselves and their immediate friendship circles. The emphasis here is on the notion of giving back. In Term III, students are introduced to the concept of community service in preparation for the integral role this will play in the Year 10 curriculum. In this way it is hoped that our students will begin to develop a lasting sense of their own worth and the very real power that they have to change the world around them in a meaningful way. Miss Alison Dare, Head of O’Connor House & Mrs Kim Cohen, Head of Mackay House

“Our approach to this issue begins by unpacking what actually comprises a positive relationship and focusing on the nature of empathy. In this way, it is hoped that the girls will have a better understanding of the effects that their words and actions have on each other.”

standards for beta girls (essentially a wannabe Alpha) who hover around them, hoping to be noticed and accepted. A gamma girl is outside this hierarchy and considers that what she does matters far more to her than how she appears. “She is neither popular nor unpopular (thriving among the cliques) – girls who are nice, fairly smart, athletic, confident, and totally okay with not being the most beautiful, best-dressed, most popular girls in school” (Lundsten, 2003). It would seem that these gamma girls ultimately fair the best both at school and in life. These are examples of the teen social world commentators such as Wiseman (2002), Shearin Karres (2004), Simmons (2002) and Talbot (2002) tell us our teenagers are negotiating. The Year 9

it would be naïve to think that it did not exist. Our approach to this issue begins by unpacking what actually comprises a positive relationship and focusing on the nature of empathy. In this way, it is hoped that the girls will have a better understanding of the effects that their words and actions have on each other. Indeed the School, under the guidance of Mrs K Belbin (School Counsellor), has produced a Promoting Positive Relationships policy which confirms and endorses a consistent, school-wide approach to dealing with the spectrum of what is fashionably termed the gamut of alpha, beta and gamma girls. According to Miller (2002), alpha girls are “monarchs” who exercise control through deceit and often cruel tactics that establish their power and set the

Lundsten, A. (2003, January 22). The simon: It was a great time to be a grrl. Retrieved September 6, 2007 from: http://www.laurengreenfield.com/index.php?p=7E2LO8J0 Miller, J. (2002). A Unified Theory of Maureen Dowd. Retrieved September 6, 2007 from: http://www.seanet.com/~jimxc/Politics/Articles/Dowd.html Shearin Karres, E. V. (2004). Mean Chicks, Cliques, and dirty tricks: A real girl’s guide to getting through the day with smarts and style. Adams Media. Simmons, R. (2002). Odd girl out: The hidden culture of aggression in girls. New York: Harcourt. Talbot, M. (2002, February 24). Girls Just Want to Be Mean. The New York Times, Late Edition – Final, Section A, p. 21 Column 1. Wiseman, R. (2002). Queen bees and wannabees: Helping your daughter survive cliques, gossip, boyfriends and other realities of adolescence. Crown Publishers: London.

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