Brighton Grammar School

BRIGHTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL SharingTHE JOURNEY There is a false notion that being good on the sports field, popular with the ladies and little else equals being a real man. “Sometimes I think it’s difficult for boys to know what it is to be a man these days,” says the Director of Marketing and Community Relations at Brighton Grammar School, Natalie van Wetering. “We’re lucky in a school like ours,” she says, “because we’ve got a lot of male teachers and all different sorts of male role models, which are very valuable for boys.”

Written by Kristy Attard

righton Grammar School is an independent, Anglican boys’ school situated in Melbourne educating 1250 Bstudents who will become part of the next generation of Australian men. With a rich history spanning 130 years, Brighton Grammar has a fresh approach to education. “We think a boy’s school is special because it focuses on teaching boys and the way that boys learn. What we say is we teach boys, but we teach boys to be successful men.”

Dynamic Culture

Brighton Grammar School is teaching to meet the specific educational, psychological and social needs of boys from Early Learning to Year 12 as they navigate the pathway to adulthood. The bottom line is that boys learn differently from girls; in the primary school years, girls are typically much more talkative than boys are. Girls learn by socialising and playing imaginative games whereas boys are often much more physical. Boys are kinesthetic or hands-on learners. Put simply, they learn better by doing, not talking.

Boys like to move around the classroom and need more space than girls do. They also respond better to assessments that are broken down into a series of deadlines. These are just a fraction of the differences between how boys and girls learn – which teachers have long known and science is now proving.

Boys will often deliberately underperform in school to avoid being singled out. The pressure to fit in and be cool can be overwhelming, particularly for teenagers. Unfortunately, this phenomenon of holding back to blend in with the crowd is

BRIGHTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL “Brighton Grammar School has creating spaces for Learning developed a culture where boys are encouraged to open their minds to education and celebrate their achievements.”

common. Brighton Grammar School has developed a culture where boys are encouraged to open their minds to education and celebrate their achievements. CREATING creating VIBRANT spaces for Living One in four Brighton Grammar boys from the senior school is COMMUNITIES involved in debating, for example. “Debating is a fantastic life skill,” says Ms van Wetering. From Year 4 through to the end of ClarkeHopkinsClarke design places where people and Year 8, it is compulsory to learn a musical instrument and many communities can thrive. We boys choose to continue studying and playing music. Drama bring a holistic set of capabilities creating and a sound understanding of spaces for Working is another subject the boys enjoy, which develops creativity community infrastructure to our work across diverse sectors, and self-confidence. “We’re also a huge chess school,” Ms van including education, child care, community health, aged care, Wetering adds. Chess is a game of strategy and intelligence, retail, town centre masterplanning, and many Brighton Grammar boys are keen chess players and mixed use, multi residential, and commercial of ce projects. proud of it. This enables us to maximise the value we can provide throughout Brighton Grammar is currently building a new Middle School, the design process and the architectural outcome. specially designed to meet the learning needs of boys in Years www.chc.com.au 7 and 8. “The Middle School is a 20 million dollar investment; 115 Sackville Street, Collingwood 3066, (03) 9419 4340, [email protected] it’s massive and is being built from the ground up.” Instead CONGRATULATIONS BRIGHTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL ON YOUR 150TH ANNIVERSARY

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SJ Higgins Group is a leading mid-tier commercial building contractor with a reputation for excellence, quality and reliability in the delivery of construction services. Our experience spans across a wide range of market sectors including education, commercial, industrial, health, aged care, retail, mining, community and leisure with operations covering the eastern seaboard of Australia and having successfully com- pleted projects in QLD, NSW, ACT, NT, WA and VIC.

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SJH- Business in Focus Ad-3.indd 13 7/11/2013 3:13:21 PM “Many Brighton Grammar boys are keen chess players and proud of it.”

of having traditional classrooms with a ratio of 25 boys to one teacher, the Middle School will be a technology rich, open plan facility that can hold 75 boys in each of the four, flexible Learning Commons and multiple teachers. Open plan learning may not have really worked back in the 70s but what is different now is the ability to create a technology rich space. Every boy will be equipped with his own tablet so information will be at his fingertips. Another key feature is that the teachers will be teaching in teams, which enhances the learning process. Instead of having one teacher to 25 boys, there will be more like three teachers to 50 boys, and these teachers will be moving around and working with the students directly.

The Middle School will be a flexible space to suit the needs of the teachers and students. Within each Learning Common, there will be lecture style learning, collaborative working areas and smaller meeting rooms. The new Middle School will be open term one next year.

Curious Thinkers

Education is not a one-size-fits-all system anymore. Problem solving and developing higher order thinking is much more important than just knowing content in today’s world. There is an emphasis on developing minds that want to know the “The Middle School is a 20 million individual. “It’s called personalised learning and is definitely dollar investment; it’s massive the way of the future,” says Ms van Wetering. “That’s the and is being built from the beginning of the real journey that we’re on now.” ground up.” The Crowther Centre for Innovation and Learning is the rather unique research arm of Brighton Grammar. “The Crowther reasons why and how rather than just blindly accepting Centre looks at what is going on with education all around the information. Brighton Grammar School is committed to world with a particular focus on what works for boys,” explains remaining a single campus, all boys’ school where students Ms van Wetering. That information is utilised at Brighton feel confident enough to achieve their personal best and Grammar and shared with other schools. Over the last three learning programs are tailored to meet the needs of the years, Brighton Grammar has run a national conference about embracing technology to provide parents with accurate and immediate feedback on their child’s progress. “We’ve got a new software program called The Hub. Parents can now log on to that and see anytime where their child is sitting in terms of assessment, what’s been corrected, what has and hasn’t been handed in. You can nip problems in the bud much earlier.”

To be sure, the students at Brighton Grammar School are “Brighton Grammar School is excelling academically. “We get very good results,” remarks committed to remaining a single Ms van Wetering. “In the last couple of years, 57 per cent of campus, all boys’ school where the boys score over 80 out of 100 in the VCE.” The students are also taught how to succeed in life after school. “We try students feel confident enough to and do it all the way through school, not just with the senior achieve their personal best and boys.” Being able to work as a part of a team and undertake learning programs are tailored to research are essential skills to excel at TAFE, university and in meet the needs of the individual.” the workplace, and each year, the boys from Preps through to Year 10 attend a camp where they learn teamwork, leadership the way boys learn and interact using technology; people skills, how to overcome challenges, and more. “We have an from all around Australia have attended. The school is also extensive outdoor education program that isn’t just a matter of going off to camp and having fun for a few days.” local and global community. “We’ve got a synthetic soccer pitch that is used extensively by local soccer clubs for their Connecting Positively training and we run periodic evening parenting courses Beyond academics, being a global citizen who contributes on topics like bullying,” explains Ms van Wetering. Brighton to others is becoming increasingly relevant in today’s world, Grammar is proactive about providing activities for boys and and Brighton Grammar is heavily involved with both the their fathers to do together, from science and technology They have been sponsoring it for the last five years. Before “The Junior boys raise around that we funded the entire camp with the boys raising the $8000 a year to support a school money and taking the disabled children away for four days.” in Nairobi, Africa.” Four times a year the boys bring in non-perishable food items which are taken over to St Mark’s Church in Fitzroy to nights to weekends away. “The boys are loving science and help feed the poor. Brighton Grammar is the single biggest technology,” she says. “They love building things.” contributor of food to the Ute Full of Food program and has The interaction with the local community does not end there been for years. for Brighton Grammar School. “We’ve been running a camp Brighton Grammar also has a sister school for girls, Firbank for disabled children since the 1940s,” says Ms van Wetering. Grammar School, located just 500 metres away. The two “At the end of the school year once the holidays start, a group schools do all sorts of fun activities together, from traditional of boys go on what’s now called the Sony Foundation Camp. concerts and plays to philosophy classes and bush dancing. Brighton and Firbank Grammar run Share Community Campus, sports equipment and learning materials Brighton Grammar an extensive after school hours and holiday program as a received from the Coles Sports for Schools and Woolworths joint venture. Share Community Campus has approximately Earn and Learn programs was donated to Martyrs’ Memorial 10, 000 enrolments per year of children who come from 50 School, as well. different schools. They enjoy participating in the wide range Brighton Grammar School will continue striving to create of activities available from computing and drama classes to boys who will become successful men and make a difference soccer and tennis clinics. to others with their lives. “And what does it mean to be a Brighton Grammar School has also extended its outreach successful man? To be a successful man is to be respectful, globally to give underprivileged schools a helping hand. to be a good father, to be a thoughtful husband, to be a The Junior boys raise around $8000 a year to support a cooperative worker and to be community minded,” shares Ms school in Nairobi, Kenya. Their fundraising efforts have van Wetering. “It’s not just your job defining you but all these rebuilt classrooms and dormitories, paid for salaries and fed characteristics that turn you into a nice man who can stand, children. “We’ve got another good relationship with a school shake someone’s hand and look them in the eye.” in Papua New Guinea called the Martyrs’ Memorial School,” says Ms van Wetering. “Small groups of boys go up there and do projects like building chairs and bookcases.” All of the creating spaces for Learning

BRIGHTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL

Brighton Grammar School Phone: 03 8591 2200 Email: [email protected] CREATING creating VIBRANT spaces for Living COMMUNITIES www.brightongrammar.vic.edu.au ClarkeHopkinsClarke design places where people and communities can thrive. We bring a holistic set of capabilities creating and a sound understanding of spaces for Working community infrastructure to our work across diverse sectors, including education, child care, community health, aged care, retail, town centre masterplanning, mixed use, multi residential, and commercial of ce projects. This enables us to maximise the value we can provide throughout the design process and the architectural outcome. www.chc.com.au www.chc.com.au CONGRATULATIONS www.sjhiggins.com.au www.mattiolibros.com.au 115 Sackville Street, Collingwood 3066, (03) 9419 4340, [email protected] GRAMMAR SCHOOL ON YOUR 150TH ANNIVERSARY PROJECT PROJECT SUPPORTERS

SJ HIGGINS GROUP IS PROUD TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH BRIGHTON GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

SJ Higgins Group is a leading mid-tier commercial building contractor with a reputation for excellence, www.selectpropertyservices.com.au www.riskwizard.com quality and reliability in the delivery of construction services. Our experience spans across a wide range of market sectors including education, commercial, industrial, health, aged care, retail, mining, community and leisure with operations covering the eastern seaboard of Australia and having successfully com- pleted projects in QLD, NSW, ACT, NT, WA and VIC.

Visit WWW.SJHIGGINS.COM.AU to view our project portfolio.

CALL 03 8552 2800 OR EMAIL [email protected] TO REQUEST OUR COMPANY BROCHURE.

SJH- Business in Focus Ad-3.indd 13 7/11/2013 3:13:21 PM

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