Middle Years

Teamwork and team synergy 

The last two weeks have been a busy time for Middle Years students. The Year 7s completed a high ropes day at Yeodene among the trees and fully embraced the social aspect of bus travel. Our Year 9s completed their local experience at The Outside Inn, at Wannon Falls. This experience focused on working well together and developing empathy. A key idea that flowed through both the Year 7 and Year 9 trips was teamwork and I was pleased to see multiple examples of our Middle Years students working well together, supporting each other, and also supporting their teachers! 

Josh Bell, one of the hosts at The Outside Inn, spoke to the Year 9s about the concept of team synergy, which is the enhanced performance and productivity that results when team members work together effectively, leveraging their diverse skills, strengths, and perspectives. 

• the collaborative dynamic of team synergy creates outcomes that are greater than the sum of each individual’s contributions. 
• team synergy accelerates goal achievement by fostering innovation, improving problem-solving, promoting open communication and mutual support. 
• more than just teamwork, as it requires teams to actively and persistently assess their individual strengths and weaknesses in order to understand how they can best utilise each member, compensate for their shortcomings, and cohesively work towards something bigger. 

The Year 9s embraced the idea of team synergy and in their groups showed synergy in action on the Surrey bikes activity. The Year 7s also showed team synergy in the way that students worked together and utilised each other’s strengths to get their small groups through the high ropes course.

I’m excited to see what the Year 7 and Year 9 cohorts can achieve this year, as they were both impressive in their attitude towards their out-of-the-classroom experiences.