Junior School, South Plympton
Shepherding our Children's Hearts
One of the memory verses my class learnt this week comes from Proverbs 4:23. It says, “Watch over [guard] your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.”
This echoes the core theme from a podcast I recently listened to. In the episode, Tedd Tripp is interviewed to share his approach to parenting from a biblical, Christ-oriented perspective, and the importance of heart-training over behaviour modification.
As teachers, we work alongside our parents and families to shape our children’s lives to model the values and attitudes that are exemplified in Jesus. It is our prayer that our children grow to become kind, friendly, inclusive, generous, sincere and helpful. All these traits should come out of a real desire to live as God would want, not because we have been coerced or learnt to enjoy receiving external praise.
Our natural inclination is to think about ourselves and live in a way that is not God-honouring. Yet we are called to a better life filled with the opportunity to experience joy in service, to love others, generosity, and hospitality. And that is why Jesus came down to die for us; so we can really experience a change that comes from the heart – a change that is brought about from the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus’s life.
This ultimate sacrifice allows for a true heart change. A heart that seeks peace instead of arguing, restoration instead of discord, sharing instead of taking, compromise instead of insisting on my own way or giving and serving instead of receiving.
In our Zones of Regulation lessons, we talk about how we can read our body signs if we are feeling anxious or worried. We can identify when someone has done something that caused me to go into the ‘red zone’ and makes me feel frustrated. We are starting to notice when we feel sad and tired and are in the ‘blue zone’. Taking it a step further, we have been considering how we experience a variety of emotions throughout our day and respond to triggers in ways that can hurt or help others.
How can we as teachers and parents shepherd our children’s hearts when they feel these big emotions and don’t know what to do with them, so that they can grow in godliness?
We can talk to them and offer support by telling them we are there for them. We can offer to pray for them when they are feeling anxious or worried, encouraging them to offer their cares to our Lord who loves them deeply. We can help point out the unhelpful ways we may respond to triggers and, again, pray with our children to ask God to help us when we feel overwhelmed or angry. We can point them to God’s word and read about what God says about anger, forgiveness, selfishness and service. Because when we point our children to Christ, by modelling for them our own need of his life-saving grace and praying for His help, God can use that to show them their own need of Him and they can be encouraged to start seeking His help when they need it.
We as teachers and parents have the privilege to shepherd of our children’s hearts daily. Taking note of the verse from Proverbs that begins with a verb; “guard” or “watch over,” highlights the importance of taking action to protect our hearts. Through daily practice and a life-long process of learning, we can find ways of guarding our hearts. What tools can we put into our toolbox that can help ‘guard our heart’? What strategies can we add in that can help us respond to a whole host of situations throughout our day in kind, helpful and thoughtful ways? Hopefully included in our toolbox would be prayer, talking to God, asking for His help, and thinking about what Jesus would do.
Morgan Venter
Junior School Pastoral Coordinator
Grandparents' and Special Friends' Day - South Plympton Campus F-6
Wednesday 12 April
9:00am - 11:00am
Dear Grandparents and Special Friends,
On behalf of our Foundation – Year 6 Junior School Students of our South Plympton Campus, we are excited to invite you to visit our school, spend some time with us in our classrooms and listen to us performing some musical items.
As a College, we recognise that for some families, this may be difficult as some Grandparents will not be able to attend. For these families, we wish to extend the invitation to those Special Friends who step into this important role for your family.
We are looking forward to hosting you for a wonderful morning of sharing and community.
Tour our Middle School!
Junior School families are invited to attend a Term 2 or Term 3 Principal's Tour of our Middle and Senior School at South Plympton. All graduating Year 6 students from Brooklyn Park and South Plympton have guaranteed entry into Year 7 in our Middle School.
This is a fantastic opportunity to meet key leadership staff, tour classrooms and facilities, and learn more about all that your child will be able to experience in Middle and Senior School.
