Category Archives: In The Classroom

Thanks For The French, Mom!

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Every time we have an Open House, we learn that 90% of the prospective students are coming to us on the recommendation of a current or former Mentor/TEAM family and this past weekend was no exception. We appreciate this continued support from you and it reinforces our belief that we have an excellent school filled with motivated students, dedicated teachers, and parents who believe in the value of a solid educational foundation.

I was quite pleased to hear from one family on Saturday who had been recommended by a current family for Mentor’s Intermediate Division for next year. The family has been in a French immersion programme in the public system for a few years and is finding that the quality of education has diminished over that time and that the top students in the class are not being challenged at all in their studies. The parents told me that the recommendation came because of our challenging academic standards in general but in particular because we have a highly-regarded French programme. When you think about it, students who start in our junior kindergarten classes will have five years of French instruction before their cohorts in the public system begin French language instruction (usually in Grade 4) so it makes sense that Mentor is a recommended destination for those in immersion programmes who want to keep up their French skills.

I continue to be grateful to my parents for encouraging me to keep studying French through high school. I knew when I was in Grade 6 that I wanted to be a teacher and my mom (a teacher herself) told me that French would make the difference in my career. Like our Mentor students, I had a great teacher who motivated me to even get a minor in that subject in university! (footnote: having French did help me get my teaching job here but for what I know NOW about French, I would probably have trouble being a student in Grade 4 at Mentor, let alone teach it!)

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College/TEAM School

The Best Students & The Best Possible Education

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I have believed for quite a long time that our school is the best possible education but there have been a number of things happen over the past while that have cemented that realization.

It was Chris Hadfield that got me thinking about this again. We sometimes take what we have for granted but when he told the students that they were in a great place (Mentor/TEAM) to learn in a great country, it was a great reminder. There are students right in our neighbourhoods who do not have the same opportunities as our kids do and there are many countries in the world where sadly, education is a privilege at best (and where simply seeking an education can make you a target for terrorism).

Last Wednesday night, I had the opportunity to hear a homeroom of Mentor Grade 10 speeches. And while only one of those speakers will get the opportunity to say their speech again (at tomorrow’s Speech Contest), every one of those students will be asked to speak in public dozens of times in their lives. The experience with Speech Night every year puts our students at a competitive advantage in post-secondary education and long into their employment years. If you need proof, just click on this CTV news link to see how polished our students are in front of the camera!

Over the past two days, I have heard from perfect strangers how wonderful our kids are. At yesterday’s HS wrestling tournament, guests (parents) commented on how helpful some students in the front lobby were in escorting them to a washroom and the coaches glowed about the efficiency and teamwork that our 30 student volunteers exhibited in keeping the tournament flowing. Today, it was satisfying to hear the students leading the HS Business Conference speaking with the guest speakers in the room next door to mine. They were businesslike (but in a good way, if you think that is a negative connotation) and friendly and I could tell by the responses of the guest speakers that they were impressed with the professionalism of both the afternoon’s programme and the poise of the students.

It will be interesting to hear from prospective parents this Saturday at our Open House what they know about the school and more importantly, about our students. I am confident that if these families have any experience dealing with our students, our school (like a good business product or service) will “sell itself”.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

Focusing On The First Four Years After High School

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Starting next Tuesday, the Class of 2015 and 2016 will start on their journey of post-secondary education as they attend our very own University Fair in the gym. 25 schools will be onsite to distribute information and to answer questions from our Mentor students and parents from 6:00 to 7:00 and to then host three breakout sessions in classrooms from 7:00 to 9:00. Later in the month, our Grade 11 and 12 TSS students will attend the Ontario College Information Fair to start the process of finding that perfect educational “fit” for college (that same “fit” they found for their secondary school years).

Tonight, however, we will be welcoming back the high school Class of 2014 for their Commencement ceremony. This year’s graduates have spread themselves out over Ontario (at 20 different schools), Canada (in half the provinces of the country) and the globe (in the US, China and England just to name a few countries).

There are 172 members of the Class of 2014 – the largest graduating class in the history of our school. This may not seem like a huge number, but consider this: when you look at the portraits outside of the school office, you need to get to the 7th year of our high school’s existence to find the 172nd graduate!

The interests of the Class of 2014 vary from Arts to Architecture, Biology to Business and Commerce to Computer Science. They are studying unique programmes like Technoculture and Urban Planning. They are our future doctors, lawyers, engineers, police officers, teachers and politicians and even though they may have stopped listening to their parents about 5 minutes into Frosh Week, we had all better be nice to them. They are the ones who will be deciding what happens to our pension plans!

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

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