QCT TEACHER STORIES
  • Home
  • TEACHX AWARDS
    • 2019 TEACHX Winners
    • 2019 TEACHX Finalists
    • 2019 TEACHX Nominees >
      • Beginning to Teach Award Nominees 2019
      • OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO SCHOOL COMMUNITY AWARD NOMINEES 2019
      • Excellence in Teaching Award Nominees 2019
      • Innovation in Teaching Award Nominees 2019
      • Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning Award Nominees 2019
      • Outstanding Contribution to Teaching Award Nominees 2019
  • Teacher Stories
    • Teaching graduates meet tough standards
    • Rachel Downie
    • The importance of teachers
    • Marsden State High School has the answer to keeping beginning teachers in the classroom
    • Exceptional support for early career teachers in Far North Queensland
    • QBECT
    • 2018 Awards >
      • 2018 Winners
      • 2018 Finalists
      • 2018 Nominees >
        • Excellence in Beginning to Teach Award
        • Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning Award
        • Excellence in Teaching Award
        • Outstanding Contribution to Teaching Award
        • Outstanding Contribution to School Community Award
    • 2017 Awards >
      • 2017 Winners
      • 2017finalists
      • 2017 nominees >
        • Excellence in Beginning to Teach
        • Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning
        • Excellence in Teaching
        • Outstanding Contribution to Teaching
    • 2016 Awards >
      • Excellence in Beginning to Teach
      • Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning
      • Excellence in Teaching
      • Outstanding Contribution to Teaching
    • HAT and LT >
      • Meet the Assessors
      • Ruth Graham
      • Tracey Peden
      • Helen and Dwayne
      • Carly Sopronick
      • Jessica Roberts
      • Jessica Roth
    • OAM >
      • Kathryn George, OAM
      • Keith Graham, OAM
      • Dr Judith Grimes, OAM
      • Michael Goodwin, OAM
      • Steve Parle, OAM
      • Dr Lyn Bishop, OAM
      • Dr Catherine Day, OAM
    • Taryn Gollshewsky
    • Vanuatu
    • NAIDOC >
      • NAIDOC Week 2017
      • NAIDOC Week 2016
    • QLD Day >
      • Bundaberg East State School
      • St Catherine's Catholic College
      • Mornington Island State School
      • Queensland Week 2016
    • ANZAC
  • Anxiety and trauma―an expert’s advice

Michael Senior
Ambrose Treacy College

Picture
Faced with losing one-quarter of his students, Michael Senior led his community through a transformation that will see Year 12 boys graduate for the first time this year, from what is now a thriving college.

Ambrose Treacy College (ATC) has become a much-loved and highly respected Catholic school for Years 4 to 12 boys in Brisbane’s western suburbs, with parents and teachers saying it’s Mr Senior’s extraordinary care for and valuing of his students that makes ATC so special.
​
Mr Senior, who is set to retire this year after about 40 years of working in Catholic education, is a finalist in the Queensland College of Teachers Outstanding Contribution to Teaching TEACHX Award.
ATC was once Nudgee Junior College, but when the state government announced Year 7 would be moving into secondary, the Years 4 to 7 school faced losing one-quarter of its pupils.
​“It was a chance of saying, ‘Do you want to try and survive or do you want to try and thrive?’ – and in everything in life you should always be trying to thrive,” Mr Senior said.
ATC parents and staff have praised Mr Senior’s expertise in working with and understanding boys and how they best learn, including by allowing learning to happen outside when feasible.

“You have got to work with the energy of boys and not against the energy of boys,” Mr Senior said. “It’s a simple law of physics: there is energy, and if you don’t allow it to come out it will come out when you don’t want it to. Boys like to be challenged in a productive way … and if boys are interested in something they will work. Boys do like to learn by doing, so wherever you can, you need to ask, ‘What are the practical applications that we can allow boys to learn with?’. They like doing things in groups—there’s a number of very simple areas that I think work with the energy of boys.”

Mr Senior is known for the interest he shows in all of his students. His kindness, compassion and passion to make a difference through service is inspiring.

“Here at Ambrose Treacy we have had a big call on wanting to make sure that we are an inclusive school. Being inclusive is a lot harder than being exclusive, because we are obviously taking on boys who sometimes find the learning process, or just coping in the community, more challenging,” he said.

“I’m proud that we are probably being more overt than other schools in what we want our graduate to be, and we just want our graduate to be a good young man. Obviously, as all schools will do, we want a good education, we want university pathways, we want vocational pathways for students, but in the end we have just determined that we are not going to be a school that is defined by the number of OPs or the number of ATARs that we get,” Mr Senior said.

“I have a mantra that the world just needs better people; we don’t need better doctors, or better carpenters or better salespeople, we actually just need better people in the world, so we have had a really strong direction and push towards that.

 “We have got this little acronym where we talk about trying to form men of courage, where our courage is about people having the courage to make a difference. Our ‘courage’ is an acronym: Caring, Optimistic, Upstanding, Respectful, Accountable, Grateful and Empowering, so we work on those values.”

The school’s students logged 25,000 hours of community service last year. There are bursaries for Indigenous students, with Mr Senior setting an aspirational target of having 3.5 to 4 per cent of students who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander at the college. He is particularly proud of the community ATC has developed, and he has loved teaching.

“It is just in the daily difference and the yearly difference you can make to a young child—that is the reward. It’s a profession that just keeps on giving. It is such an important part of the world,” he said.
​
Queensland College of Teachers
Level 5, 601 Coronation Drive
​Toowong Qld 4066
Call (07) 3377 4777
Search the QCT Teacher Stories website
Visit the Queensland College of Teachers website 
Privacy Policy
Disclaimer

    Do you or a registered teacher you know have an inspirational story to share?
    ​We'd love to hear about it!

Submit
  • Home
  • TEACHX AWARDS
    • 2019 TEACHX Winners
    • 2019 TEACHX Finalists
    • 2019 TEACHX Nominees >
      • Beginning to Teach Award Nominees 2019
      • OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO SCHOOL COMMUNITY AWARD NOMINEES 2019
      • Excellence in Teaching Award Nominees 2019
      • Innovation in Teaching Award Nominees 2019
      • Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning Award Nominees 2019
      • Outstanding Contribution to Teaching Award Nominees 2019
  • Teacher Stories
    • Teaching graduates meet tough standards
    • Rachel Downie
    • The importance of teachers
    • Marsden State High School has the answer to keeping beginning teachers in the classroom
    • Exceptional support for early career teachers in Far North Queensland
    • QBECT
    • 2018 Awards >
      • 2018 Winners
      • 2018 Finalists
      • 2018 Nominees >
        • Excellence in Beginning to Teach Award
        • Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning Award
        • Excellence in Teaching Award
        • Outstanding Contribution to Teaching Award
        • Outstanding Contribution to School Community Award
    • 2017 Awards >
      • 2017 Winners
      • 2017finalists
      • 2017 nominees >
        • Excellence in Beginning to Teach
        • Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning
        • Excellence in Teaching
        • Outstanding Contribution to Teaching
    • 2016 Awards >
      • Excellence in Beginning to Teach
      • Excellent Leadership in Teaching and Learning
      • Excellence in Teaching
      • Outstanding Contribution to Teaching
    • HAT and LT >
      • Meet the Assessors
      • Ruth Graham
      • Tracey Peden
      • Helen and Dwayne
      • Carly Sopronick
      • Jessica Roberts
      • Jessica Roth
    • OAM >
      • Kathryn George, OAM
      • Keith Graham, OAM
      • Dr Judith Grimes, OAM
      • Michael Goodwin, OAM
      • Steve Parle, OAM
      • Dr Lyn Bishop, OAM
      • Dr Catherine Day, OAM
    • Taryn Gollshewsky
    • Vanuatu
    • NAIDOC >
      • NAIDOC Week 2017
      • NAIDOC Week 2016
    • QLD Day >
      • Bundaberg East State School
      • St Catherine's Catholic College
      • Mornington Island State School
      • Queensland Week 2016
    • ANZAC
  • Anxiety and trauma―an expert’s advice