NURTURING THE LEARNER

St Catherine’s School staff pride themselves on knowing our girls and knowing them well. We recognise that an essential component of supporting students is a holistic approach to Academic Care; nurturing the learner in their academic and personal journey. In recognition of this integral connection between the cognitive and social emotional development of each student, the Pastoral Program in the Senior School includes a weekly Academic Advisory session with the House Tutors. In addition to the Wellbeing sessions, the Level or House Assemblies, and the Academic Advisory sessions, these all offer students academic ‘checkins’ to discuss strategies for meeting challenges and attaining their goals.

Initial sessions have included activities, readings and videos to support students with a better understanding of the learning process, the neuroplasticity of the brain, the importance of a growth mindset and how to adopt efficient problem solving and study strategies, specifically to ‘set themselves up’ for a productive year. Students will continue to utilise their ePortfolio to set goals, track their learning progress, reflect on feedback and take part in readings and discussions.

In the Years 10 to 12 Academic Advisory sessions, these conversations will also be supported by data provided by the Dean of Academics, Ms Kirsten Wiley, who monitors individual student data as they progress through the upper year levels in the Senior School. House Tutors are already commenting on the value of this dedicated time to get to know the girls personally and as learners.

As part of our journey mapping of each student’s progress through the school, the Academic Advisory sessions focus on achieving the broader goal of guiding the students to become resilient and courageous learners, to achieve ‘academic buoyancy’ as it is often dubbed.

Australian psychologists Andrew Martin and Herbert Marsh proposed that building students’ academic buoyancy is one way to promote long-term resilience. Martin defines academic buoyancy as the ability of students to rebound from daily setbacks that are a normal part of schooling, such as a poor grade on a test, negative feedback from a teacher or being cut from a sports team. He demonstrates the key link between academic ‘skill’ and the ‘will’ to succeed, noting the interrelationship between personal and social wellbeing and academic progress.

The Academic Advisory sessions aim to assist the girls to see learning as a progressive and challenging journey, where set-backs, mistakes and failures will occur as part of that process, with each one building stronger cognitive pathways and greater personal resilience.