As a parent, the holidays can seem to drag. As a teacher they seem to fly by! Like all well intentioned people, I spent time pre-Christmas planning all of the things I would like to do over the summer in terms of preparation for school and had every confidence that when I returned to work on the 18th of January that I would have ample time to do it all! How wrong I was. The last two weeks prior to the students returning just flew by and before I knew it our new Year 7s were in for the afternoon on the Monday and Tuesday saw the return of all the boys.
The noise on Tuesday morning was amazing. There was a buzz of real excitement from the boys as they spent time catching up with friends, discussing what they did on holidays as well as going out of their way to say hi to their teachers. New rooms, new lockers, new classmates and new teachers; all things that are just part of the new year for the boys and to see them adapt to all of these this week was fantastic.
A theme for our boys this year is ‘The Best You’ and this will be discussed with our boys regularly regarding all aspects of their day-to-day lives. This includes their approach to their learning, relationships with their peers and others, as well as their own personal growth and development. Their pastoral mentor, who will play a large role in your son’s school life this year, will help guide and mentor him throughout this year to help ensure that the ‘best him’ is being applied in all of these areas and will also be your main point of contact in regard to your son’s progress this year. Tim Cork has presented a Ted Talk on this topic and it is well worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWpx1lkmgMo
As parents, please communicate with us; ring, email, come and visit. It is so important that the channels of communication are there and that your son’s journey through school is one that is a team effort involving you, us and above all him. Be involved with what he is doing, ask him about school, encourage new activities and ideas and if ever you are unsure about anything then ask us. If you have questions regarding uniform, homework, record books, sport, music lessons, excursions, etc, please contact your son’s Pastoral Mentor as they are there to help you and your boy and to ensure that the year is a successful one for all. The list of Pastoral Mentors is below:
- 7D: Mrs Jan Wheaton (jwheaton@tintern.vic.edu.au) – Jan is currently away from school after suffering a major break of her arm. She hopes to be back at school as soon as possible and apologises for not being there at the beginning of the year. Aptly filling in for her is Mrs Anthea Watkins (awatkins@tintern.vic.edu.au) who is also the Year 7 Co-ordinator.
- 7E: Mr Luke Mansour (lmansour@tintern.vic.edu.au).
- 8D: Mrs Naomi Baulch (nbaulch@tintern.vic.edu.au).
- 8E: Mr Rowan Kidd (rkidd@tintern.vic.edu.au).
- 9D: Mr Ros Jurey (rjurey@tintern.vic.edu.au).
- 9E: Mr Matthew O’Brien (mobrien@tintern.vic.edu.au).
If a first week is ever an indication to judge a year by then 2016 promises to be an amazing year. There is an air of real excitement from the students and from the staff and as I walked around the campus in these first few weeks, it was great to see both the focus in the classroom and the positive interactions in the yard. I look forward to a wonderful year.
