Term 4 of our third year has begun and what a whirlwind start to the term it has been! Students returning from Japan,Year 11 and 12 students sitting their exams and a number of new students starting at IFS/ITS. Welcome back!
Over the student vacation period Julie, Greg and myself returned from a research tour to the UK and Europe where we visited many football clubs, football academies and tennis centres. The trip was invaluable and one of the most significant revelations for us was that we are right on the cutting edge of youth development.
Yes there is more money in sport in Europe, particularly around youth development, however I would argue that this is primarily due to history and in time, we will also have similar facilities to those we saw on our trip. The main point of difference is the structure that supports young people in their endeavour to achieve sporting greatness. After visiting some of these world-leading institutions in development, I truly believe that IFS/ITS has something very special. Our model is not something to be dismissed or belittled. Our ‘whole person’ approach whereby we incorporate the young persons’ academic pursuits and their sporting aspirations is truly world class and on the cutting edge of innovation.
Last Friday all IFS/ITS staff attended a professional development morning were I reiterated the vision of IFS. The priority for all of our staff is to support each and every one of our students to achieve their dreams. Our focus is on their success! It is imperative that we continue to develop genuine relationships with our students so that we can understand what makes them tick, how to motivate them when they are down, know when to back off when they are highly emotional and be there to support them when they need it. I challenged the staff at IFS/ITS to make themselves available when our students need them and to be the guide that our young people so desperately need in their lives.
This has led to a small change in work spaces for some of our staff. Ever since we started the college I have worked hard to avoid creating separate departments within our program. I did not want to have an English department, a History department etc. I have seen this create division within colleges and feel it can lead to poor outcomes for students. The goal is to have a team of staff who support particular groups of students; for instance, our Stage 4 teachers who work predominately with this age group have their workspaces in the same space as these students and they work together. This also now applies to our coaching staff with our coaches now joining the classrooms. Our coaching staff have been dispersed throughout the college and have joined the teaching teams to form a super- group of support for each stage within the college. I personally am very excited about this update to our approach and look forward to the outcomes it will bring.
Looking forward to another exciting term…
Lee bailey says
Sounds great we are excited. We love our college and love what’s its about.
My son is thriving and loving life. 🙂