Catholic Identity & Mission News

Each year I am asked to speak with the Year 11 students on their Leadership Training Day about ‘Servant Leadership’ and this year was no exception. Servant Leadership is a secular leadership model but has been enthusiastically adopted in Catholic workplaces because it so obviously reflects the leadership style of Jesus. As Jesus said in Matthew 20:26, if you want to be ‘great’, you must first serve. 

Armed with a new ‘improved’ presentation for 2024, I got personal right from the start! “People will always remember HOW you lead them”, I told the Year 11 students, and once I encouraged them to think about their own experiences of teachers over the years, I could see I had them hooked! Leadership, like teaching, isn’t easy! Skilled leaders (and teachers for that matter!) make it look easy, but it isn’t. Servant Leadership requires vision, drive and resources. It also requires ‘buy-in’ from those you’re aiming to lead and so a servant leader does well to have emotional intelligence, that ability to identify and meet the needs of a wide range of individuals. These are reflected in Catholic Social Teaching in tenets such as the dignity of the human person and subsidiarity – where those being impacted by a decision should get a say about it.  

Taking a more personal approach with students this year appeared to have a greater impact on them. There were nodding heads and some knowing looks like they related to some of the personal experiences of leadership I relayed, especially around the idea of feeling ‘known’ at school. This is something we really try to foster at St Peter’s, that all students should feel known and valued: from individual enrolment interviews to our House system and Tutor Group system, our Learning Enrichment programs and so much more, it is essential that at our school, students feel known and valued. 

Our College Leadership program honours student voice and agency while promoting service and the common good. Current leaders are lighting the way forward for their successors with actions like the ‘Music for a Mission’ Benefit Concert which took place on Wednesday night, an upcoming ‘Day of Silence’ on August 27 where participants will remain silent for the school day in solidarity with those in our world who are not afforded ‘voices’ to speak, and our Tinnies for Vinnies campaign ramping up in support of the St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal.  Our Year 11 students are now in a period of discernment where they will consider the contribution they can make to the College community and it’s my hope that their overall response will be a generous one, with a focus on Catholic Social Teaching and the servant leadership with which it goes hand in hand. 

Ms Fiona McKenna

Deputy Principal - Catholic Identity & Mission