Category Archives: Open House/Entrance Testing

Focussed On The Next Few Months

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I think the only way you can describe this week as “spring weather” is if you call it “weather that occurred after the first day of spring”. I was glad that someone talked me out of taking the snow tires off of the school vans over the March Break as it doesn’t look like we are out of winter’s grip yet!

The last 12 weeks of school are a succession of exciting events with behind-the-scenes hard work. Our elementary students do not get the applause and laughter at the musicals and drama productions without practicing lines and songs at home and at the many rehearsals. Grade 8 students are continuing to work hard at their studies and anxiously looking ahead at their first opportunity to “choose” the courses they take next year in high school. Our Grade 12 students are even more focussed on their studies in the next few months as they see the value in obtaining good results in order to get the letter of acceptance (or do they just email now?) from their favourite post-secondary institution.

And when you add a whole bunch of assemblies, field trips, banquets, games and tournaments to the regular school day, it makes TEAM School and Mentor College an even more exciting place to be in the final few months of the school year. You are going to be part of the experience next year again so if you haven’t returned your registration package for the 2015-2016 school year yet, please do so immediately as our second major entrance assessment cycle begins next week!

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College/TEAM School

A Thankful Community

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A thank-you card was delivered to the school last Friday.

Now cards of appreciation and thanks are not unusual at our school. Teachers receive them routinely from parents and regularly send them out to students (and they are usually mailed to the house so you as parents can see how proud we are of your kids!). Principals, students and teachers are both givers and receivers of notes of appreciation and Director Mr. Macdonald is an active part of this wonderful community of thanks as well.

This thank-you card was a bit more unusual, though. First of all, the card was addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Philbrook and it was written in appreciation of their vision of the school (over 30 years ago) and for how they put all the pieces in place to make it work so well. Specific teachers, coaches, principals and classmates were not as important to the author as the comfort level that the family felt in coming to the school every day for 10 years. Even more unusual was the fact that the card was written by a student who has not only graduated from high school, but is now finishing up a second university degree.

During our presentations for prospective families, we always tell them that they need to feel that perfect “fit” for their child in our school. We are a great fit for most families and the fact that parents, students and alumni are recommending us to most of the families who come to us means that you are getting that same feeling about the school as our alumnus did.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

“People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.”

– Maya Angelou

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

A Real Family Affair

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At last Saturday’s VERY busy Open House at our three campuses, we noticed that families are thinking much further ahead about their child’s education these days. 10 years ago, parents were looking for their school of choice for “next year” but we are seeing more and more that parents are investigating well in advance. Families with Grade 7 students are looking for high school options and parents pushing a toddler around in a stroller are looking into our kindergarten programme.

The other thing that has become more obvious in the past decade is that men are more and more involved in their child’s education. I am in the Primary Campus parking lot each morning and today, there were 6 cars in a row with a “Daddy Dropoff”. One of the benefits for our students is that they have the chance to have either parent dropping them off or picking them up each day. I know that when my girls were in the elementary grades, I would try as much as possible to get them to ask me to sign the homework book (and teachers tell me that families now are doing a better job of this than I did!).

I also don’t want to forget the grandparents who are helping with our students’ education. Some are part of the morning and afternoon chauffeuring, some provide after-school care, and some (like my parents) subscribe to this email update and have a point of conversation with the grandkids the next time they phone/email/text/Skype/Facebook (insert level of grandparent tech-savvy here).

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College / TEAM School

PS: If you are going to be at the Osler Health Centre fundraiser on Saturday night, make sure you come and say “hello” to the Mentor/TEAM contingent.

Friends With No Plans This Weekend? We Are Open!

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Over the holidays, we got LOTS of winter weather. The ice storm claimed a number of branches of our trees but our schools were pretty fortunate in losing just one tree (one of the birches) when the weight of the ice sent it toppling. The winter weather continued this week with more snow and a “polar vortex” that put the thermostat in the minus 20s. For the most part, everyone bundled up and our school week went on as normal (with the exception of a day of indoor recess). We might not feel fortunate, but the schools in my hometown of Goderich have been closed all week. Ironically, there are 20 tractor-trailer-loads of salt from the Sifto salt mine in town sitting in the Canadian Tire parking lot who cannot go anywhere because all the roads in and out of the town are still closed because of snowdrifts up to 10 feet high!

As Canadians, we love variety in our weather so the next few days should be a wonderful, slushy mess. If you know of a family whose skiing weekend plans have been thwarted by 8 degrees and rain, let them know that we are having an Open House on Saturday so the weekend won’t be a total loss! Entrance testing (the first of the year) will take place at the Main Campus and families interested in Primary Campus or TEAM School admission can visit on Saturday and sign up for an entrance assessment later in the month.

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College & TEAM School