Every Christian school is a not-for-profit business, full of staff who support the efficient running of a school. These are office staff, maintenance and property staff, teaching assistants, canteen staff, psychologists, counsellors, chaplain and registered nurses.
Non-teaching staff are culture keepers. Each one supports the school community in a loving and caring way. Some work with small groups of children, some work with individual children and some on interact with adult staff.
No matter what responsibility you have, we know that we are in God’s service. We are called with our various gifts to serve – Jesus, 1 Peter 4:10
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
Core Values for non-teaching staff to embrace:
Relational – people, God, Jesus, Community
Stewardship – school finances, Government grants, school property
Mission – loving by serving
Spiritual Formation – transforming our Character
Workshops
Teaching Assistants in the Classroom – Dr Tina Lamont
Customer Service – Mr Byrt Mallanyk
Enhancing Relationships in Schools – Mrs Lauren Graham
Trust in Schools – Ms Vanessa Hall
Developing Christian Community – Dr. Stephen Fyson
Communication Skills – Ms Sonya Hemsley
Books
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey
Lead Like Jesus – Ken Blanchard
How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
Honouring The People of God – J I Packer
Serving God in the Classroom – Dr Stephen J Fyson
Awakened by Autism – Libutti, A., McPherson, Australia 2015
Aspertool, Reitman,H., Health Communications, Florida, 2014
Director – Dr Tina Lamont
EdD, MEdLship, BSpEd, BCouns, GDRemEd, GDSpEd,DipTeach.
Dr Lamont has a background in Teaching, Leading, Learning and Serving. Her desire is to equip teachers and leaders to be the leaders God intended them to be as we serve Him in the places God has called us to minister. Dr Lamont is passionate about learning in a Christian environment and was first employed at Pacific Hills Education Limited in 1992. She currently holds professional qualifications in Leadership & Training, School Counselling, Special Education, Gifted Education, Primary Education and Secondary Education. Her teaching experience has been in Public Education, Private Education, and Higher Education. Her doctoral studies were in the areas of Gifted education and Video-conferencing.
Principal Consultant – Dr Stephen Fyson
BA(Hons), MHPEd, DipCS (post grad), PhD (Psychology), MACE, MCAPS.
Stephen has worked in the helping and teaching professions for over 38 years. He has had the privilege of combining his research into how people relate interpersonally, and what that looks like within community, with his work throughout this time. For the last 30 years, Stephen’s focus has been in Christian schooling. He has pursued the themes of belonging, engagement, respect, and the balance of justice and mercy as worship in this context. This has been done with an eye to consider the impact that these relational dynamics have on teaching and learning from a Biblical understanding. (link to full bio – see attached)
Administration, Marketing and Logistics – Sonya Hemsley
BAppSc(HIM), BA, CertCommMedia
Sonya Hemsley, speaker, mentor and writer is a passionate and dedicated disciple of Christ. Sonya is dedicated to the growth and development of others and is passionate about leadership development. Her heart is for all humanity to know who they are and the potential they have within them when they engage their spiritual foundation and created destiny.
Sonya has a Science degree in Health Information Management from Sydney University and an Arts degree in the Humanities from Macquarie University. Her background is in management and education particularly in health related fields. Sonya went on to complete a further qualification in Communication and Media.
Sonya joined the team in November 2015 to oversee the organisation and development of the Excellence Centre. A key focus is assisting the Director in developing Marketing and Communication Strategy and resources for TEC.
Teaching Assistants in the Classroom
This course brings together the shared roles of teacher and teaching assistant in the education of diverse learners. Topics will include: data collection, role expectations, teamwork and collaboration and communication skills. The course will conclude with an action plan for how to implement changes in the local school.
Customer Service
Caring for the school community and the outside community is the mission of all Christian Schools. What we say, how we say it and our attention to detail shows how much we care. This course will examine how attending to the small details makes a huge difference to how we influence the community in general.
Enhancing Relationships in Schools
Christian Education is putting Christ at the centre of our Educational Practice. In supporting the teaching staff, there are many ways that can enhance these relationships. The topics will include: communication skills, time management, collaboration, consultation and conflict resolution.
Trust in Schools
Trust is the basis of any relationship. In earning trust and maintaining trust, there has to be a balance of expectations and needs. Topics in this course will include: teamwork, team roles, dynamics of teaming, leading and following.
Developing Christian Community
While managing for safety and care – this course gives an overview of the commonalities and difference between leading and managing. It then moves onto identifying some common areas that contribute to development or decline in schools, as communities, based on Biblical principles of community building. The course then goes through the ‘seasons’ of the school year and identifies common development and management issues that leaders need to intentionally address if they wish to see their communities stay healthy.
Communication Skills
This course is right for you if you want to improve your personal communication skills to better express your thoughts, opinions and understanding to others in the workplace. Your community will benefit because you’ll be able to identify different communication styles, overcome communication barriers, express empathy, listen and ask questions more effectively, and give and receive meaningful feedback.