A COACHING CULTURE

At Brighton Grammar School

OUR COACHING CULTURE IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF OUR SUCCESS.

Many know coaching as a fundamental element in sport and as a high impact form of staff development but coaching is part of the BGS way of being.

As a school, we have been successfully engaged in adult coaching with teaching staff for many years. Coaching, however, is not just for the staff. Secondary students regularly engage in a coaching dialogue with their house tutors around their learning.

Coaching is an opportunity for a student to build his independence and direct his own life. The process of coaching is designed to promote self-empowerment in students, as well as improve academic performance and develop resilience. It involves a structured conversation to help a student reflect, set goals, solve problems and plan the next steps.

Some Year 5 and all Year 6 students are also given an opportunity to work with a trained Year 10 or Year 11 student coach to set personal goals, develop strategies, deal with obstacles and establish better habits.

Year 10 students are offered an elective that trains them in leadership and basic coaching and Year 11 students have an opportunity to volunteer to coach a younger student.

The volunteers are provided with more advanced coaching lessons which guide them through the coaching process from the perspective of both the coach and the coachee. The skills developed through both training programs include building rapport; empowering self-reflection; questioning, and importantly effective listening.

The older students use their coaching knowledge and experience to guide a younger boy through a period in his final years in Junior School. Year 5 and Year 6 boys become more comfortable across the program with being coached, receiving feedback and engaging in conversations about their learning and progress.

The younger students develop positive relationships with their Secondary School role models and look up to them for guidance. They build an ability to set achievable goals, measure their progress, and reflect on the effectiveness of the strategies they implement.

The skills learned by Year 10 and 11 boys are applied beyond the coaching experience to student leadership programs, building peer relationships, captaining sporting teams and through improved communication with others in life beyond the school gates.

Brent Brickhill Instructional Coach & Student Coaching

THE YEAR 10 AWAKE PROGRAM IS DESIGNED TO SUPPORT THE STUDENTS TO BUILD DEEPER CONNECTIONS, REFLECT AND LEARN NEW SKILLS TO HELP REGULATE THEIR EMOTIONS AND BEHAVIOURS.

Awake marks a new phase in the Capstone program, as a lead up to First Horizon when we challenge our Year 10 students to build a deeper connection to who they are and begin to consider who they want to become.

This four day wellness experience focuses on developing new ways for the boys to tune in to themselves and build awareness of their surroundings, their emotions, their needs, and of things that might be holding them back. It’s about learning how to respond thoughtfully, rather than reacting to our emotions.

Students set up basecamp in the Alpine meadows near Mt Hotham and then choose their own individual campsites nearby, a quiet place in the mountains to consider the new experiences, to journal and to reflect.

Facilitated by a team of professionals with a range of different skills and experiences, boys are guided through a variety of practices and taught some new skills they can use in their daily lives.

The sessions included meditation, sound healing, breathing techniques, yoga, art therapy and journaling practices. At the end of each day, young Old Boys (+M facilitators) hold a safe space for the Year 10s to reflect on their experiences so far, on who they are now and who they want to become.

James Hilditch Cultural Development Coordinator