Grammar Gazette- Issue 1, 2017

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STUDENT CARE: A COLLECTIVE TASK

the support of extended families and wider communities. The development of familial, interpersonal and institutional relationships at this critical stage in life may have lasting influences throughout life. Adolescents need to hear different voices and encounter a range of interpretations of our diverse world if they are to learn to make sense of it and find their unique place within it. ‘When schools — and the numerous potential mentors they contain — are brought into the equation, the spectrum of understanding, support and available guidance is widened further’ (Wright, 2013). At Brisbane Girls Grammar School, the role of engaging with parents is seen as critical to the development of each girl. The School offers many formal opportunities throughout each year for parents to engage with the staff. Examples of these are the Parent Information Evenings, Parent Seminars and Parent-Teacher Interviews. Through these forums, staff share their expert knowledge of educating teenage girls, and this can be a powerful opportunity for parents who are seeking support about their teenager’s development and behaviour as well as their own experience of parenting teenagers. Informal moments also present themselves — a casual chat on the sports sideline, a phone call, a quick check in at the Student Reception Office or a brief word in the Student Drop Down area in the morning before school. In all of these ways, a firm and positive relationship can be built with families, a sense of community becomes strengthened and staff can come to know the students in a more complete way. Schools exist to educate young people, but this education must not be seen as separate from, or at odds with what happens beyond the school gates. At Brisbane Girls Grammar School, staff invest in helping everyone associated with each student — her parents, her friends, her other teachers and most importantly, herself. It is a collective task performed over the years to strengthen her strengths, to build her in areas where she is less strong, to foster resilience and optimism for the future and to grow her heart, her mind and her soul.

AUTHOR Mrs Anne Ingram Deputy Principal (Students)

ADOLESCENCE IS OFTEN DESCRIBED AS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT PERIOD OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. IT IS A PERIOD OF INTENSE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL DEVELOPMENT, AND IS ALSO A TIME OF CHANGE WHERE GIRLS ENTER A NEW FIELD OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES. Adolescence is fundamentally characterised by the increasing importance of social contexts beyond the home, as young people gradually move, step by step, towards independence. These changes include a shift in autonomy away from family-centred relationships. Adolescents transfer their focus to school and peer group interactions. During this time, they become more socially conscious, self-assertive and increasingly loyal towards their friendship group. At the same time, a teenager’s moral outlook also becomes progressively more abstract. Moral convictions become heightened and justice emerges as a dominant moral force. The previous focus on egocentricity now begins to shift to reveal an outward-seeking attitude towards the service of humankind. Parents can certainly attest to the fact that adolescence involves a phase of heightened emotionality that can sometimes be difficult for all parties to manage and negotiate. The transition to adolescence involves significant changes for young people as well as their parents and carers. New parenting demands requires some renegotiation of the parent-adolescent relationship and there is enormous pressure placed on parents to be ‘perfect’, to create ‘perfect’ children and to lead ‘perfect’ lives. We know this is not the reality. Our daughters are each unique and on a life journey that we cannot (and should not) craft for them. It certainly can be an uncomfortable feeling, supporting from the sidelines, as our daughters find their way, but this is made easier with

REFERENCES Wright, H. (2013). Raising Girls: why schools and parents make a perfect combination. Dr Helen Wright’s Education Blog Education Changes the World January 28 2013

GRAMMAR GAZETTE