Welcome to Saints!

At St Stithians we talk regularly about the journey of personal development and growth of our students. The same journey is just as important for our 400 plus staff.

On Friday 10 January, 45 new staff began their employment journey at St Stithians when they attended our annual staff induction.  This day creates an exciting opportunity to build relationships and synergies across the campus when new staff, from the various schools and campus departments, spend a morning together getting to know our campus and each other.

The day begins with a welcome by the Rector in the Chapel where staff gain insight into the College’s strategic intent and the importance our people play in achieving this. Storytelling is a wonderful way of learning about each other and our College and we explore this opportunity by taking staff on a walk around the campus, sharing the history of the school and certain buildings and also talking about future facility plans. This is a perfect opportunity for staff to experience and inhabit each other’s schools' spaces which can be difficult during the busyness of term time.

At morning tea, new staff have the opportunity to meet and greet members of the College Executive and to spend time building connections with their new colleagues in other schools and campus departments. 

As this day is the one time when we can have all new staff together, the focus is on explaining the workings of the broader campus. This includes presentations by the Heads of Operations, ICT, HR and the College Communications and Branding Officer. The passion that is shown by these people is clearly evident as brand ambassadors for our amazing school.

Much time is spent helping staff to acclimatise to the magnitude of our campus and the logistics of working in a structure such as ours. In all organisations we tend to use jargon and at St Stithians there is no difference. One of the tools that was developed by the HR team a few years ago is a jargon booklet to assist new staff to better understand the “Saints lingo”. 

Induction always includes the obligatory administration and the morning ends with staff enjoying lunch in the Boys’ College boarding house.

Although the day involves a lot of information and can be very overwhelming, the HR team remain on call for the first few weeks of term to answer any questions and or queries by new staff. Each school also identifies a “go to” person who is able to assist new staff to adapt to their new environment.

We are excited to welcome all our new staff to the Saints family and wish them a long and fulfilling career at the College.

Article by Kim Urquhart, Head of Human Resources