OVERVIEWYOUNG MEN: CHALLENGES IN A CHANGING WORLD
| Young Men: Challenges in a Changing World
Wadhurst boys are making the transition from primary to secondary education; from childhood to adolescence, an exciting time of life. The world they are growing up in is changing fast. Part of our job is to help them gain the confidence to tackle the new challenges and new situations they will find in this global society. Young people will need to be flexible and tolerant, able to empathise, make the most of continually evolving technologies, get to know their wider community and develop their emotional intelligence. We help them acquire communication skills, to be able to present information in diverse ways, be creative and thoughtful decision makers, accept responsibility and maintain a sense of balance in increasingly busy lives. Our students gain these abilities in many ways. They mix with a wide range of peers and make new friendships. They are exposed to a stimulating academic curriculum and diverse co-curricular activities. We like to build strong connections between each student and his School, largely by encouraging each boy to find particular interests and pursue them. Confidence grows through encouragement and the development of resilience. We value persistence, recognising that children develop at different speeds, have different skills and that the best we can do is to try as hard as possible in everything we do. New skills are learned through the academic program, on sports grounds, the information technology program, music and drama performances, arts, chess, public speaking, debating and much more. In Outdoor Education, boys learn to pitch a tent, cook a meal in a billy and sleep in the bush. By collecting for Red Cross or cropping their hair for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, they acknowledge the need to care about less privileged members of their community. Our Director of Leadership is introducing programs to give students experiences and knowledge of leadership, which we describe as 'small L' or leadership of self. From time to time, we invite contemporary speakers to give their perspectives about adolescent education and welfare. Celia Lashlie, author of He'll be OK; Growing Gorgeous Boys into Good Men, spent two days at Melbourne Grammar recently and gave an entertaining talk to parents about the challenges of raising adolescent boys. |
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