Girls’ Group
Girls’ Group is a program that is inclusive of all female stage 4 students from the high school, the Intensive English Centre (IEC) and the Learning Assistance Faculty (LAF). It helps to diminish the cultural and social disparity between female students across the school. Each group of students attended a ten week program that covered a range of issues that young women face; from being able to physically protect themselves to learning about respectful relationships. Each lesson is book-ended with two simple questions that encourage positive wellbeing and discourse; “What was the lowlight of your week?” and “what was the peak of your week?” Students share difficulties they face with the group as well as goals that they achieve. This rhetoric helps to build a positive ethos within the group and a sense of empathy.
Students in Girls’ Group experience female focused wellbeing programs. They went to the Fierce and Fearless Young Women’s Workshop where students collaborated with girls from other Greater Western Sydney schools to build positive relationships and develop their understanding of the roles and responsibilities of women in society. These students demonstrated a wonderful sense of engagement with the content and displayed confidence and resilience. In addition to this, the Girls’ Group participants helped to facilitate International Women’s Day (IWD) at Evans High School. In collaboration with the Student Leadership Team they brainstormed effective ways in which to convey the importance of IWD to the student body. The group were in charge of communicating the IWD lesson plan to their roll calls and classes as well as piecing together the whole school The Woman I Most Admire collage which was displayed for the Evans community. Students in the Girls’ Group expressed their wish to make IWD “bigger and better,” next year.
Throughout the sessions, the participants learned a range of skills; self-defence, Drama, song writing, Zumba, poster-making, Theatre Sports and discussed relevant issues such as equality, resilience, empathy, women’s rights and body confidence.