The school’s business manager Stephen Jennings said it was decided on a new initiative this year for Year 7s embarking on the start of a six-year high school career, and a journey from childhood to adulthood. 

“Tomaree High decided as part of welcoming these students, it would be appropriate to invite community members to help celebrate and explicitly confirm what it means to be part of the Port Stephens community,” Mr Jennings said.

“We believe that the more community involvement we can draw upon to support this process, the greater our chances will be of developing well rounded, productive young people who will go on to live and work in the community.”

Some of the groups to be represented at the inaugural assembly included NSW Police, Aboriginal education, government, industry, tourism, sporting and retail sectors from Port Stephens.

“Our collective, key message to the students is that they are being welcomed into high school, and that part of growing up is being responsible for the choices they make not only in class but also outside the school yard,” he said.

“It is hoped that they can understand the positive messages which would help them acknowledge the fact they are on the path to adulthood and responsibility.

“It is also our hope that if all members of the community were to collectively reinforce these values, we will have a positive impact on how our young people behave.”

On February 28, students will participate in a SALT (SkillWomen Workshop), which identified back in 2012 that the majority of women who were succeeding in apprenticeships had been taught to use tools at an early age.

“Many employers where also saying that women did not apply for the jobs that they offered so SALT decided to take on generating social change,” a spokesperson said.

“We felt that women did not generally have the basic knowledge of generic tool use, which are used in almost all trades, but they also didn’t know that they could easily do this type of work either. It was a classic case of not knowing what you don’t know.”