Community

Faith, Learning, Community -  The words of our School Crest. But what do they mean? And how, as a school, do we live them? Faith is self-explanatory and obviously represents the faith we share as an Anglican School. Learning is also quite obvious and central to our core business. However, Community is something that is accepted as a part of a school but its meaning is not always considered.  Well, community has been on my radar the last few years and I was fortunate enough to see it in action just this week. 

It was the day I had three very excited Year 1 classes visiting the Design Technology Centre to further test and expand their knowledge of materials and their properties. I was rather pleased with the planned activities - 6 different stations for kids to work through. However, just minutes before the arrival of the Year 1s, I realised that I had forgotten to organise people to man those stations. 

In a slight panic I flew into the workshop to see if there were any volunteers to help me out.  Luckily, there was a Year 12 Manufacturing class in the workshop and, after some serious pleading, four boys agreed to help. Now, these fellows are best described as diamonds in the rough and, in fact, a couple of them have pushed some boundaries over the years. But like I said, I knew them and, to be honest, I didn’t have much choice at this stage. 

Considering I had very little time to explain what I wanted the boys to do, I had to just place my trust in them to do the right thing. The next one hundred minutes was fast paced. We rotated 3 classes through 6 stations per class - laser cutting, vacuum forming, 3D printing, drilling wood, bending metal, safety inductions and after-session debriefs - rotating 5-6yr olds in and out of rooms and in and out of the building - hectic!

I was manning a station, so I didn’t get to see and hear exactly what the boys talked to the Year 1 students about. However, as one class rotated out and a new class entered, I was reassured that my faith in those Year 12 boys had been vindicated. The Year 1’s were giving the big fellas High 5s and hugs. There were lots of ‘thank yous’ and goodbyes. It was as if they had known each other their entire lives. What was even more pleasing to see was the way in which the older boys accepted these greetings and reciprocated. The following day I had a chance to drop in to some of those Year 1 classes to discuss the previous lesson. I loved that all of the sentences started with ‘Jaydan said...’ or ‘Jaydan showed us how...’  and ‘when Jaydan...’. These kids had learnt about materials and their properties but more importantly had got to be part of a school community and a vertical learning system in its truest form. 

I think back to my school days (memories are vague but still there) and I remember some of older kids and how cool I thought they were. The kids that drove to school, the kids that were captains of my house, the kids that were in the 1st sporting teams or in the top bands. I was in grade 8 looking up to year 12’s in awe! I can only imagine what Yr1’s were thinking as these big fellas guided them through a wonderful learning experience and I don’t just mean the testing of materials. Rather the experience of what it means to be part of a community. But I don’t think the Year 1s were the only ones to get that message that day. Somehow those Year 12s walked a little taller knowing that they had been a part of something very powerful.

As a PP-12 school we have a wonderful opportunity to use our ‘community’ to build ‘community spirit’. We have an opportunity to develop a shared learning culture by letting the younger students interact with those who go before them. This week I have seen the gleam of admiration in young eyes and the pride in older eyes as they learnt from each other.