About the Senior School

The College in their wisdom, decided to split the College into Senior and Middle School. This has allowed for the development of specialised programs, greater student connection and better student and staff management.

The three aims of the Senior School are:

1.  to improve the academic standards

2.  for students to have a greater connection with our College

3.  for student to own their own behaviour.

We wish to improve the academic standards through greater student ownership of their studies. Students are now told to record their homework in their diary for every lesson. Parents are to sign the diary weekly so that they can have a sense of the demands on their son or daughter.

The role of the Homeroom teacher has intensified whereby they are required to sign the diary weekly, liaise with parents and also ring home with the periodicals. The Periodicals is an early warning system in week 3 of each semester, whereby teachers record if a student is “not working”, with an N and/or “having difficulty”, with a D. The aim is for the student to have dialogue with their teacher to determine strategies for improvement.

The second aim of developing a greater connection with our College goes to the heart of sound education. Students need to have a reason to come to school and they need to see that a good education leads to opportunities. All students in Senior School will have at least one formal Careers appointment to help determine their desired pathway. Students need to feel that people care about them at school and all teachers make an effort to speak with the students about their concerns, aspirations and goals. The pastoral care periods focus on these aspects.
The third aim of students owning their own behaviour is central to modifying student behaviour. We try very hard to separate the person from the poor behaviour. Our policies reflect the emphasis on that poor behaviour and that it is a choice made by the student. We need to teach students to make better choices.

Graeme Dent

Head of Senior School