The personal development of our young people is dependent on many influences. They grow through their communities, and through the nurturing of their families, friends, teachers and mentors.
The St Paul’s Collegiate School community provides a unique environment for your child’s development. It offers personal growth through achievement, participation, spiritual awareness and adventure. It provides pastoral care during a crucial time of teenage growth and development.
An education at St Paul’s Collegiate School will prove to be one of the key foundations of your child’s growth.
Most schools aspire to nurture the development of the “whole” young person. They want to produce students that are able to think critically about academic and intellectual issues, but also on ethical spiritual dimensions such as abortion, genetic engineering, sex-before-marriage, as well as the societal challenges of the seemingly widespread use of illegal substances and ecological importance of sustainable practices.
Citizenship involves acquiring the knowledge, values and skills to be a responsible member of our community. In many respects, schools are expected and often are required, to add more than a character veneer – they need to affect a personal transformation if many of their young people are to be successful citizens.
The question we must ask then is whether this is a fair or reasonable expectation and what do we need to do to adequately try and address this expectation.
As a School, we are competing against an enormously well-funded, commercially driven influenced model that is sending out messages such as that provided by Nike – “JUST DO IT”.
This particular message to me, typifies the stance that society encourages young people to adopt at present – “Don’t worry about others – if it is right for you, just do it.”
We see it in families today, where parents place their own personal enjoyment/pleasure over the needs of their teenagers. Rather than doing things together as a family, such as shared weekend activities, eating dinner at the table or being prepared to make hard decisions over where our children are going to be on Saturday night, we as adults often opt for things which give us personal enjoyment or avoid conflict or confrontation. Many of us focus too much on our jobs and careers and hence are not available or even at home when the real work needs to be done with our teenagers.
What then should be our response as a St Paul’s community? How does a school deal with the tenets of Christianity, Love, Compassion and Justice in an effective and consistent manner? Especially given that it goes against the tide of the messages given out by society on the television, internet and at times in the home. The answer is by our actions; the way we treat students and other staff; the positive reinforcement we provide for our students; the messages we give within our School about what is important.
In simple terms, what young people need from us as a society are “Harbours”, “Hospitals” and “Hilltops”.
“HARBOURS” – these are the safe havens to retreat to, safe anchorages to flee to. We need families and a School where our people are nurtured, loved, respected and cared about. Departure points from which teenagers can get a sense of destination when setting out for more distant harbours. The distance between different harbours provides our youth with the challenges and journey they in turn, take on in life.
“HOSPITALS” – this is where we care for the youth on their journey. Where their wounds can be honestly and realistically diagnosed. Individuals and institutions need jointly to make a contribution here.
“HILLTOPS” – we have all climbed many hills and first hand seen the trig stations at the top. These trig stations are the reference points – the standards that can be achieved. The standards that we give to our young people need to be those that have passed the test of time. They aren’t just those that are in current vogue – like the “Nike” slogan. They are those that are worth living and dying for. The hilltops or reference points we give our young people help guide them to their vision and goals.
Perhaps the Nike slogan would be more acceptable if we changed it so that it read, “Just do it, but together”. In society today we have forgotten that our young people cannot do it alone – they need our help and guidance. As a School, the implication of this makes our Christian Dimension all the more important. If we can help provide the harbours, hospitals and hilltops, then we should get below the character veneer and have a long-lasting impact on many of the lives at this School. If we continue to short-cut many of our tried and true standards, then the value and the quality of life for many will lack the depth, rewards and the real meaning it has the potential to offer all of us.
Life is all about maximising our talents and ability. As a School community we want to help our girls and boys to achieve this goal while they are in our care – but we want them to do it while developing a healthy respect for the importance of teamwork, citizenship and values.
Grant Lander
Headmaster
