This issue’s welcome article is from Jason McManus Vice Principal.
Tintern Grammar prides itself on finding ways to maximise the growth of our students during their time with us. This is in both academic learning and the development of broader personal and social capabilities, so that our graduates can move from us to their desired pathway successfully.
Our new Forward Strategy Towards 2030 specifies four graduate attributes which detail the types of capabilities that our graduates will need to succeed beyond our gates:
- Knowledgeable and caring thinkers
- Open-minded enquirers
- Balanced risk takers
- Principled and reflective communicators
As a way of fostering these attributes and maximising the growth for each student, we will be trialling a new initiative in 2023. Each Year 12 student will meet with a member of our Senior College team to have a structured ‘coaching conversation’ about their desired pathway beyond school and therefore goals for Year 12. As part of this, they are guided to reflect on what they could do to reach those goals and commit to actions. Factis Non Verbis.
We have found in our coaching work with staff, that reflection, goal setting and action planning can be a motivating process that gives agency, fosters independence, and enables ongoing growth. We hope that extending this process to our senior students will have a similar effect and empower them to make the most of all the opportunities the School offers them in this final year of school.
For some students, their goal might be around developing skills for the workforce, or for application to courses requiring interview, audition, or folio presentation. For many, academic achievement in their studies to enable an ATAR entry into tertiary courses will be the focus. Either way, we aim to work with the students to distil their goals, then using coaching questioning guide them to devise their own actions that will make this goal a reality.
These goals and actions will be captured on a simple one-page template and uploaded to the student’s Portfolio page on the MyTintern Portal, where their teachers and parents/guardians will be able to view them. We hope that this will allow all those involved in supporting our students to best help them to achieve their goals.
Coaching is an established tool in many workplaces, we hope that by participating in this our students will also build emotional intelligence and self-knowledge that will stand them in good stead for their future careers.
We are very excited about the potential of this trial to help us support each student toward their own personal life goals and as a way to include families in the partnership. We will seek feedback from the students and staff involved later in the year and hope that it’s value may be amplified in future years with students in more areas of the school.
Jason McManus | Vice Principal
