The Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) in 2002 ‘acknowledged that education is as much about building character as it is about equipping students with specific skills’.

Most schools would acknowledge that the role of education has definitely shifted to one that includes educating the whole child. While schools continue to teach subjects, it is the non-prescribed curriculum that many parents are seeking when choosing a school for their child. Parents are wanting their child to leave school with more than just an excellent education. They want their child to have confidence, good self-esteem, optimism about their future, a growth mindset, ability to exercise ethical judgement and social responsibility, and to be a global and moral citizen. Instilling values in our children provides them with a moral and ethical compass, as well as many of the qualities listed previously.

In Barbreck, we are proactive in our approach to promoting values. This year, we introduced the ‘Ace Card System’. An Ace of Hearts is for being loving, caring and nice, an Ace of Diamonds is for excellence, an Ace of Spades is for effort and hard work, and the Ace of Clubs is for teamwork and cooperation. These cards acknowledge and encourage our girls to demonstrate desired values. Teachers award these throughout the week by giving the girls cards and they are acknowledged at our weekly assembly.

The theme for our Junior School assemblies is ‘To Be the Best Version of Ourselves’ through our thoughts, words and actions. This theme is developed through the assembly’s ‘Behaviour of the Week’. Some of the behaviours covered this year have been: respect, persistence, treating others as we want to be treated, manners, making good choices, and filtering our words – just to name a few.

The Junior School Captains chose ‘Promoting Kindness’ as their theme this year. Each week, at assembly, they provide key messages about kindness and award girls with ‘Random Act of Kindness’ awards. Both teachers and students nominate these awards, and they keep everyone on the lookout for girls showing kindness. The girls love receiving these awards, and it is wonderful to hear about how kind our girls are.

A group of Barbeck girls receive their ‘Random Act of Kindness’ awards at the Junior School assembly.

Our wonderful staff, who are so caring of the students, also model values. The respect and care they show the students is highly valued by our parents and students. They model caring and respectful relationships, and in response expect the same from the girls. Teachers also try to teach the girls to never give up, keep trying, overcome obstacles, think carefully, value the perspectives of others, be open to new learning, compromise, negotiate, learn from errors, accept feedback and guidance, and care for others.

The girls are told often that they have the power to change society, no matter how small they are – they have the power, voice and action to influence others. They learn that one smile, one act of kindness, one conviction – no matter how young they are – can make a difference for the better.

Ms Karen McArdle, Head of Junior School
Year 3 History Unit of Work

The Year 3 students have been thoroughly engaged in their History unit of work, ‘Marvellous Melbourne’. The students began their unit of work by researching John Batman and John Fawkner and considered the debate surrounding who founded Melbourne. We shared a City of Melbourne publication with the students, Gilbert and the Guardians of Melbourne, which further explored the controversy about Melbourne’s foundation. The students were so engaged in the story that this led to the development of their Melbourne Landmarks project, ‘Gilbert’s History Tours’.

To complete the project, the students worked in pairs or small groups to explore a significant Melbourne landmark. They were given six questions to research and the challenge of having a creative component to accompany the written part, with the end goal of them becoming Melbourne tour guides. The girls were given a rubric that outlined the expectations at different levels, and they used this to work toward their own goals.

We have been overwhelmed by their enthusiasm and engagement in the task, their effort and application, and the end result. The girls were very proud to share their learning with their parents and the Prep to Year 2 students.