Author Archives: Mentor College / TEAM School

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About Mentor College / TEAM School

Tutorial and Educational Assistance in Mississauga, or TEAM School, was established in 1981 to strengthen the learning skills of students. Located in the heart of Mississauga, TEAM School is a non-denominational private school recognized by the Ontario Ministry of Education. Founded in 1982, Mentor College educates children from junior kindergarten through to the university entrance level. Children at Mentor College are grouped by age and experience in three levels of study: Untitled-1primary, intermediate, and high school. These groupings follow the curriculum set out by the Ontario Ministry of Education for all schools in the province.

Humble Beginnings Lead To Great Things

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Like the school itself, many of the school events that we host each year had relatively humble beginnings. But whether the event is graduation, the charity fashion show or our musicals, there is some commonality. In each case, there is a core group of students who want it to happen, at least one teacher who agrees with them, a principal who gives the event the “green light” and supportive parents who ensure that their children get to and from the meetings, practices and the event itself. It is a fascinating process and even though they are not our students, we are proud of the way a group of our parents has somewhat replicated this for an event that happens tonight.

Four years ago, a group of women got together to decide on a way to raise money for the Credit Valley Hospital. “Fashion With Flare” was born and even though the school did not have an official role in the event at its inception in 2011, guests tonight will be very aware of the Mentor/TEAM presence…and not just because we now are the title sponsor! The organizing committee is made up almost entirely of Moms who currently or once had children attending our schools. I imagine that once again this year, the volunteer student base will have a large Mentor/TSS contingent and the MC is a former student of ours, Matthew Maida.

Add all this together plus the fact that the event is in memory of Jenna Santelli, a 12-year old student of ours who passed away four years ago at the Credit Valley Hospital from complications due to cancer, the decision for the school to be the title sponsor is an easy one. We know we will see lots of students, parents, alumni and teachers there tonight and we thank you for making this non-school event a successful one once again. Come visit the “principals’ table” tonight and say hello. We will be smiling extra wide because we don’t need to wear our ties and (for a change at a school event), we don’t need to stay behind afterwards to stack chairs or take out the garbage!

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

Are You Up To The Challenge?

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I have noticed on Facebook that the latest trend is the 7 Day Thankful Challenge. One person asks someone they know to post something for which they are thankful seven days in a row and then to challenge one or more others to do the same thing.

I thought it would be an interesting thing to try this so here is my “7 Day Except That It Was All Done In One Day Thankful To Be At Mentor College and TEAM School Challenge”:

Sunday, September 21: I am thankful that our students have such a fantastic outdoor education facility in Muskoka and that our OEC and Grade 11 leadership teachers brought such great energy to their weekend.

Monday, September 22: I am thankful that we have developed the TSS (TEAM Secondary School) programme and that these students get so involved in before-school, lunchtime and after-school activities with their friends in the Mentor programme. There isn’t another small high school in the province that can provide the extra-curricular activities that TSS can!

Tuesday, September 23: I am thankful that we are able to supplement our phys. ed. curriculum with an on-site swimming pool and that our youngest students get SO excited on swimming days. I am also thankful that the pool is not an Olympic-sized one because our swim teams are VERY good at doing turns!

Wednesday, September 24: I am thankful that ALL of our students get a sense of how thankful they need to be when they give their time, funds and talent to others. Our JK to Grade 8 students took part in the Terry Fox Run today and our HS students were at the school from early in the morning (serving coffee and treats for the Alzheimer’s Coffee Break Day) to late at night (serving a BBQ dinner for clients of the Compass Food Bank).

Thursday, September 25: I am thankful that, after tonight, our students will have seen the two groups of supportive adults in their lives get the chance to see each other at Meet the Teacher Night. The vital role of teachers in education is obvious but the support of parents is critical in student success and we are blessed with a wonderful community of teachers and parents here.

Friday, September 26: I am thankful that we not only have outstanding extra-curricular athletics here but that we have teachers who are willing to organize tournaments. Our HS rugby teams host their annual tournament today on the heels of two HS volleyball tournaments in the past two weeks and our elementary teams will host 7 tournaments during the school year.

Saturday, September 21: I am thankful that our teachers believe they have chosen a career…not a job. Our golf team leaves for Quebec at 6:00am today and are the first of 7 out-of-province trips that our Grade 8 to 12 students (and over 40 teachers) will take in 2014-2015.

I won’t send out a challenge to anyone specific, but if there are any students, parents or teachers who want to send me a list of 7 Mentor/TEAM things for which they are thankful, I will put them in an upcoming edition of your Weekly Update…

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

Looking Forward To Meeting You

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Things around our schools have been so busy that it is difficult to believe that this is only the 12th day of the school year! Students and teachers enjoyed their first dress down day yesterday, everyone has shown off their comfy and crazy footwear and we are even starting to take student photos as the Mentor high school students say “cheese” today. And even though we are only in the 3rd week of school, our new students are pretty comfortable in their surroundings and have adapted to the new routine. I read an article yesterday that a new school year is your child’s equivalent to starting a new job and that parents and teachers need to remember how we felt in that situation! One way to get a better idea of how the year is going is to come next week to our “Meet the Teachers” night.

It is always a great evening because the youngest students are not only eager to show parents their classroom and some of the work they have been doing but they are equally proud of their parents and their teachers. Just as they want to show off their work, they want their teacher to see how wonderful their parents are (and vice versa, of course). Not every parent does a morning drop-off or an afternoon pick-up so it gives the grown-ups the opportunity to put faces to names. Because the regular phone call comes from the homeroom teacher, this is one of the few times in the year when parents get the chance to speak with the rotary teachers and visit those classrooms as well.

As for high school students, if they tell you that no parents or students come to “Meet the Teacher” night then you might also believe them when they say they study best while they are listening to music/watching TV/playing video games/texting/Skyping, etc.! If they say they have too much homework to attend themselves (you can always ask the teachers!), they should at the very least should provide you with a copy of their timetable schedule so you can visit the teachers. The Main Campus especially can be a bit of a labyrinth for even a long-time parent so the staff members in the hallways need to have a classroom number and teacher in order to get you to your destination.

TEAM School parents, we look forward to seeing you next Wednesday, September 25 and we welcome our Mentor families to the Primary and Main campuses on Thursday, September 26.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College/TEAM School

Some Serious Spirit!

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Everyone has lots of excitement for the new school year but next week, we will kick it up a notch with “Spirit Days” at our school. It is a chance for the students and teachers to dress down for a day (or three) and to get to know each other a little bit better before the school year continues.

I remember the HS election speeches when I first started at the school in the early 1990s. Almost every candidate would say “there’s no school spirit” (and then proceed to lay out their platform for increasing school spirit, which, in hindsight obviously didn’t work because the same speech was used the following year!). After the assembly, the teachers would shake their heads and say that we thought there was lots of school spirit but we didn’t get a vote so it didn’t matter what we thought anyway!

I would like to bring some of those election candidates back to the school now. If they watched one of the Play Days, came to the high school mixer, spent just 5 minutes at the Inside Ride or any number of the events on our packed school calendar, I know their reaction would be incredulous but very positive. There are only 15 days in the entire school year where our calendar (link) doesn’t have at least one event listed (including next Monday, oddly enough). We haven’t added in any sports games and many of the field trips yet, so I am guessing that by the end of the year there will be less than 5 days when “nothing” happened (as far as the calendar was concerned at least).

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

The First Day Of School

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The first day of school is an exciting time for all students.

For the Grade 4s at the Primary Campus and the Grade 8s and Grade 12s at TEAM School and the Main Campus, they realize that they are the senior students now and are “mentors” to the rest of the student body. The Grade 5s at the Main Campus have fun exploring the “big school” and the Grade 9s at TSS and Mentor start to see some of the independence (and the responsibility that goes with it) that high school brings.

And as for our junior kindergarten students, this is the level for whom yesterday was the first day at our school for EVERYONE. Vice-principal Mrs. Talarico reports that everyone in JK had a great day but that bedtime might have been just a little bit earlier than usual last night. Getting accustomed to a busy school day doesn’t apply to the students only, of course…I doubt that Mrs. Pengelly, Miss Kane and Mrs. Owens will be awake to see the 11:00 news until next week either!

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College/TEAM School