Head of Middle Years

Our Pastoral Care Program allows students to learn about themselves, develop a variety of strategies as they navigate life academically, socially, emotionally and spiritually. We value the interactions we have with our students, and staff work hard to support their journey and develop a rapport with them.

An extremely valuable part of our College structure is to assign students to a Pastoral Care (PC) teacher. Each morning, students meet with their PC class and teacher at 8.50am. Rolls are marked, morning devotion occurs, important information is shared, and team-building games occur. Students attend a weekly Chapel Service (Monday mornings Years 6 & 7 and Tuesday mornings Years 8 & 9) and a weekly Middle Years Assembly, held in our Gym, most Friday mornings. Parents/guardians are welcome to attend Assembly.

Our PC teachers play a crucial role in looking after the well-being of students in their PC class. As such, they should be contacted for well-being issues related to your child. All other queries should be directed to subject teachers.

Our Middle Years structure is as follows:

Head of Middle Years - Mr Steven Tkaczuk

Assistant Head of Lower Middle Years (6 & 7) - Mrs Jenni Treanor 

Assistant Head of Upper Middle Years (8 & 9) - Mr Daniel Benjamin

Year 6 PC Team - Mrs Mary Gade, Mr Rizal Ahmad, Ms Hannah Pearce and Ms Meena Berry

Year 7 PC Team - Ms Helena Lippe, Ms Nicky Black, Mr Jothikumar Bava, Mrs Brooke Peters and Mrs Nav Kaur

Year 8 PC Team - Mr Vijay Kumar, Mrs Gabrielle Kaoustos, Ms Natasha Brough, Mrs Gayatri Vivek and Mrs Sandhya Nair

Year 9 PC Team - Mrs Sarah DiStefano, Mr Bo Kelly, Mr Nathan Madden and Mr Simon Bradbury

We are very fortunate to have a dedicated teaching group supporting the well-being of your child. Apart from team creating opportunities and providing specific learning instructions, students attend a weekly single PC session focused on our Middle Years Philosophy wheel.

This year, we have adopted a new PC program for Year 6 - 9, 'Wellio'. Wellio is a leading well-being company that works with schools to create comprehensive, leading edge well-being programs. The programs are developed with input from Monash University researchers, psychologists, trained well-being teachers and teachers to create focused, engaging and meaningful sessions, aimed at building student's skills, strategies and capacities to cope with emotional, social and academic obstacles.

Year 9 students are taken through a program titled 'The Rite Journey' which focuses on their transition from being a young adolescent, to becoming a responsible young adult, who has much to contribute. It is an exciting journey for the students, with four main excursions occurring throughout the year, to support the various stages of the program.

Coupled with our comprehensive PC program, students will attend the following camps:

Year 6 - Canberra Experience (week 5) 27 February - 3 March

Year 7 - The Summit Adventure camp (week 3) 13 - 15 February

Year 8 - Grantville Water camp (week 5) 1 - 3 March

We look forward to sharing these experiences with you.

Should you have any questions related to the camps, please don't hesitate to contact your child's PC teacher or if required, the Assistant Heads.

I look forward to meeting you throughout the year.

Blessings

Steven Tkaczuk