Stoyan Kosteski - Peakhurst Campus
For the last nine years, Stoyan Kosteski has enjoyed teaching Science at GRC across all three of the years 7-10 campuses. For the last six of those years he has been involved in a series of initiatives at the Peakhurst Campus of the College. He began his teaching career as a casual teacher in PDHPE but has since been appointed to a permanent position in Science.
He is very proud of his Macedonian heritage. His migrant parents strongly emphasized the importance of the educational opportunities available in their new country for Stoyan and his sister. Anthony Adams, his year 10 Science teacher at Hurstville certainly made a lasting impression on the young Stoyan in 2004. His mother encouraged him to become a teacher and he has never regretted his choice of career.
After graduating from school and while at university Stoyan achieved a black belt in Brazilian Jujitsu. He has continued his involvement with the martial art throughout his teaching career and has found ways to incorporate some of the skills into his programs to support students. His role as Boys Mentor at Peakhurst has created opportunities to provide close support to those students who may be facing some overwhelming challenges in their personal lives, at home and/or at school. Stoyan spoke fondly of the “Man Cave” initiative with year 8 boys this year as an opportunity to provide that more intensive support and he is looking at ways to extend the program to year 9 in 2023.
Stoyan is currently Head Teacher Science at Peakhurst. He welcomed the return to face to face teaching this year after two very challenging years of lockdowns and remote learning while the world struggled with a once in a 100 years pandemic. The challenges have continued this year with student and teacher absences because of Covid 19 isolation. As the Science faculty leader, he spends time each week assisting casual teachers with planning and the organization of resources for lessons so that the learning of students can be maintained in difficult times.
Stoyan is committed to the powerful concept of lifelong learning. He has been energized this year by the arrival of four new teachers and enjoys working with them. His own love of teaching is a powerful motivator in building collegial relationships with the new teachers. Stoyan is strengthening his leadership skills by his involvement in the Middle Leaders Program through the Queensland Educational Leadership Institute which is aligned with ACEL. He has enjoyed the academic readings about strategic and tactical leadership in an educational context.
Just recently, Stoyan volunteered to attend a weekend music camp at Port Stephens when there were not quite enough teachers available from the CAPA faculty. He seeks opportunities to extend the learning opportunities for students as well as being involved in opportunities to further his own learning as a teacher.
Stoyan has been involved in some of the programs in the School Action Learning Teams (SALT). The various Peakhurst teams focus on Literacy, Numeracy, Student Wellbeing, Staff Wellbeing, Classroom Practice, High Performance (G and T) and Collaborative and Continuous Learning. His previous role as Year Adviser gave Stoyan plenty of opportunities to support student wellbeing. He has continued his work in this area with the “Man Cave” initiative this year.
Stoyan is an excellent role model for both students and young teachers. He is a valued member of the GRC staff for his commitment to lifelong learning, his strong interest in effective teaching and learning and best practice in the classroom and his willingness to create extracurricular opportunities for young Australians.
Story by Judy King
