Year 7 & 8 Coordinator’s Message

Dear students and parents,

Term three has been both a busy and productive one for our years 7 and 8 students. In addition to applying themselves to a wide variety of academic outcomes, our students have enjoyed some extracurricular activities this term such as various excursions for Health and PE, and important incursions to help in their development.

Arguably the most significant incursion that our students attended this term was a whole-day workshop called The Man Cave. On Thursday 15th and Friday 16th of August, years 7 and 8 students were given a break from their regular classes to participate in a day where they learned about emotional intelligence and male mental health. This incursion identified that boys at this age are at a critical developmental phase and experiences like participating in The Man Cave can make a huge positive impact on the men they choose to become. The Man Cave is a preventative mental health and emotional intelligence organisation for young men, their parents and teachers. Having worked with over 10,000 participants across Australia, their programs help facilitate healthy masculinity and build emotional intelligence in boys and young men by providing them with opportunities:

To realise that their daily challenges are widely shared;
To redefine their experience of masculinity not as silence, isolation and indifference, but rather openness, trust and mutual responsibility;
To develop their emotional toolkit to powerfully deal with the challenges of life; and
To develop interpersonal skills that help them foster the important relationships they want and need.

In this interactive workshop, the presenters worked to empower the boys as much as possible by creating a safe space for honest conversation, asking the boys questions which prompt them to share their thoughts and provide some basic tools which the boys can use to support each other. These kinds of experiences build self-esteem, develop emotional and social intelligence, increase mental and physical wellbeing, build resilience and ultimately help our boys and young men lead better lives. I am very proud of our students who participated in this incursion and I witnessed displays of exceptional maturity and courage throughout. I would love to share more about the valuable insights and meaningful conversations that I witnessed during this event, however, in doing so I would be breaking the most important rule of The Man Cave: "What happens in the cave, stays in the cave!"