Special Report: Supporting Student Success at the Senior School

Being a teenager is daunting: all those physical and psychological changes, a shifting social landscape and the challenge of achieving academic success. But at TFS’ Senior School, the support systems are comprehensive and interconnected, and provide assistance to students in myriad ways.

On Wednesday, January 20, 2010, Senior School Principal Heidi Gollert hosted a special breakfast for interested parents. Parents were introduced to staff from the Guidance Department and The Learning Centre, and heard about the many approaches used to support Senior School students – socially, emotionally and academically – from Grade 6 through Level V.

As Guidance Department Head Angela Philips explained, one exceptional element at TFS is the depth of guidance staff, unusual for a school this size (the Senior School has about 500 students). Along with five guidance counsellors and an administrative assistant in the Guidance Department, The Learning Centre is staffed by a learning strategies teacher, psycho-educational consultant and educational assistant.

Students in Grades 6 & 7 and Level I attend a guidance class once per eight-day cycle; topics include organization, peer relations, decision making and problem-solving, and identifying learning styles. Students in these grades can also make individual appointments over their lunch hour to meet with guidance staff.

During Level II and III, counsellors assist students, and their parents, grappling with the increased need for independence. This is also the age at which students first feel significant pressure to make decisions about their future. Students must take the compulsory OSSD career studies half-course at this time, opening discussions on subjects such as what they might like to study at university three years hence, whether they want to stay at home or move away, and encouraging the exploration of the vast career choices open to them.

Said LizAnn Kliewer, the guidance counsellor assigned to Levels II and III: “It’s also an age when students are looking for an adult opinion from someone other than their parent.  I spend a lot of time listening to them trying to figure it all out.”
Level IV and V is a time of great intensity for students at TFS; they undertake the IB Diploma program, while also making critical decisions, such as choosing a university and selecting an area of study.

Each student in Level IV and V is assigned a dedicated guidance counsellor who they meet once per eight-day cycle in small groups along with other students. They also receive a high level of one-on-one counselling. This individual approach is key, given the diversity of the students’ interests and their international mindedness, which can make the assessment of post-secondary choices seem overwhelming.

In addition to personal counselling, TFS hosts over 70 universities at the Senior School per year. Students from Levels III through IV also spend a day visiting a university campus as a group, usually meeting up with TFS alumni who give them the inside scoop. Other activities include advising students of experiential programs offered on various campuses, helping organize individual campus tours and preparing students to write the SAT or PSAT. Finally, each student receives instruction and extensive support in applying to universities world-wide and in applying for and going through the process to secure scholarships.  In the end, the goal of the Department, as often stated by Alison Uys, guidance counsellor, university relations, is to ensure that “university is a match to be made, not a prize to be won.”

From Grade 6 through Level V and onto university, TFS is dedicated to creating a learning environment that supports and guides each individual student to achieve their academic and personal best.

Watch for an article on The Learning Centre to appear soon on Communiqué.