Big brother is helping you
[attach]6691[/attach]It might be part of the Toronto Catholic District School Board, but Neil McNeil High School, an 850-student all-boys’ school in The Beach, feels like an independent school in the very best sense.
Its ivy-covered exterior resembles a boarding school. The students all wear uniforms. And the school has won numerous awards, including a recent Daryl L. Cook Peer Helping Award from the Ontario School Counsellors’ Association, for its innovative support programs.
“[A decade ago] we realized that a number of our boys weren’t doing as well as we’d hoped in terms of grade nine credit accumulation,” says the head of Neil McNeil’s math department Anne Buckley, who helps coordinate the school’s Big Brother mentoring program.
At the school, all grade 9 students are divided into groups of four, with each group mentored by a grade 11 student, or big brother, over the course of the year. The groups meet on what the school calls asset days — late-start days that focus on a certain theme, such as appreciating differences or celebrating success.
The grade 11 mentors are divided into groups of four as well, each with a grade 12 student leader.
During the first weekend of school, around 60 grade 11 students and 20 grade 12 students, assisted by staff members, led the grade 9 students up to Muskoka Woods for an orientation camp.
Staff members train the grade 11 and 12 students to run the camp in April.
“It’s changed the culture tremendously,” Buckley says. “A lot of our grade 9s really feel welcome to the building because they spend so much time with the senior students.”
That’s certainly the case for grade 9 student Aidan Kelley, who gushes about Neil McNeil’s welcoming atmosphere.
“Everyone knows each other and everyone’s really friendly,” he says. “A lot of the kids from my Muskoka Woods group are still in my classes and we’re still really good friends.”
The school also runs a lunchtime tutoring program through its grade 11 leadership class, in which every grade 9 student with a mark of 65 or less in one of their courses receives help from a grade 11 student two days per week. If possible, boys are paired with their mentor from the Big Brother program.
Kelley says the tutoring program has improved his grades.
“It’s nice to have a student helping me with my stuff,” he says. “It’s not like the teachers don’t connect with you … but teachers will be like, ‘do your work’ and a student knows what it’s like to want your free time.”
Buckley says that students often request tutors themselves.
“Once the boys get their marks above 65, they’re allowed to leave tutoring if they so choose,” she says. “Most of them opt to stay.”
Other initiatives include the “Freshman 40” program, which encourages grade 9 students to complete all 40 of their volunteer hours in their first year of high school; and the “Quest 10” program for grade 10 students, which focuses on building empathy and self-knowledge. Quest 10 participants are mentored by grade 12 religion students.
“We did a research project a couple years ago … and by far (our programs) had the most positive effects on grade 11s and 12s,” says Buckley. “They were more engaged in their own studies, they were more engaged in their extracurriculars, and they felt they had meaningful roles within our community.”
Grade 12 student Liam Walmsley, says the programs work because mentors are able to engage grade 9 students on their level.
“[It’s] not like a superior, but a friend, a peer they can rely on,” he says. “Someone who’s been through what they have.”
Grade 11 student Nick Bomers, who tutors grade 9 students in French and math, says that he and the other mentors enjoy the added responsibility.
“If someone gets a good mark in one of their quizzes, you know you were a part of their success,” he says. “It feels good to take on that role.”
Neil McNeil officials have seen a signifigant gain in credit accumulation, Buckley says, with around 95 percent of grade 9s now earning eight credits by the end of their first year.
“It shows that if you take care of the social/emotional needs of kids, and engage them within your building, the academics come,” she says.
The school also runs an outreach program for its international students, all of whom are currently from China, says vice-principal Kathleen Wong.
Among other activities, staff have led the school’s Chinese students on a shopping trip for winter clothing; organized a dinner party that offered students a chance to prepare stuffed turkey; and brought them to hockey and baseball games, with free tickets donated by Kids Up Front.
“I think it is a very important program for the students,” says Wong. “Not only do they benefit, I think our Canadian students benefit from the interaction.”
Mike Wallace, Neil McNeil’s principal, says that he’s humbly proud of what his staff has accomplished at the school.
“[The programs] give students the chance to take an active approach to leadership, and then see the results,” he says.