Hennessy Catholic College want to get the best out of their students and staff, so they’ve turned to a coach in the United States to learn how.
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Gary Bloom - who specialises in supporting teachers and developing coaching cultures - travelled from his hometown of Santa Cruz in California to Young for three days this week meeting with the school’s executive staff, academic coordinators, the education community and civil leaders.
Hennessy’s principal Dr Peter Webster first learned about coaching and Gary’s work after reading his book, Blendid Coaching. He said he connected with it.
“I emailed Gary and we’ve been in contact since then,” Dr Webster said.
“I was fortunate enough to go over to the US twice, in 2010 and 2013 for my professional learning and observe other schools.
“It was very enlightening, it was something really special to me.”
This week the tables turned and it was Gary who travelled to Australia, arriving in Young on Sunday.
On Monday he sat with the executive staff before attending a special dinner and opening of the new hall and hospitality centre that night.
The dinner included members from Young’s school community, local principals, the mayor and general manager.
“The dinner was also to introduce Gary and introduce the community to the powers of coaching,” Dr Webster said.
Gary said his meetings at Hennessy were all about developing teachers’ ability to supervise and support people to be the best they can be.
“Hennessy appears to be a cutting edge school with a developing coaching culture... they’re similar to us in many ways,” he said.
“The staff and students are very wonderful and positive.”
The school’s growth coach coordinator Nicole Morton, who’s been in the role for two and a half years, said their aim was to get the best possible learning outcome for their students.
“To get the best out of our kids, we need to get the best out of our teachers,” she said.