Wise words with...

Help ensure the future of Christian schools

Nowra Christian School welcomes students from a great diversity of backgrounds. Some students come from religious families, others not. Some students were born in Australia, others elsewhere. Some families enrol their children because of the Christian education they will receive, others for academic reasons, others for behavioural standards and still others because the values of our school align with the values that the family hold. Regardless of who people are and where they come from, NCS welcome a diverse range of students and their families.

We employ staff who have an active Christian faith as this is how we ensure that we remain true to our core beliefs and continue to be the school we claim to be. The Australian Law Reform Commission’s report into religious educational institutions and anti-discrimination laws was released this year and has led to proposed legislation from the Federal Government that would remove the ability of faith-based schools to preference employees who hold to the Christian faith. The author of the report, Justice Stephen Rothman, said the report was “constrained” by the terms of reference set by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and that faith-employers needed a religious discrimination bill that included a “positive right” to hire staff based on their ethos; however, this is not the legislation that has been put forward.

On Monday 6 May, I attended the Christian Schools Australia Town Hall at Regents Park Christian School with our chairman, Mr Paul Dickinson and our Head of Secondary, Mr Nathan Asher. The Town Hall was in response to proposed federal legislation which is seeking to change the way faith-based schools operate, that has sprung from the Australian Law Reform Commission’s report. Politicians from both parties were invited to attend and it was good to hear from Senators Michaelia Cash and Sarah Henderson who attended. On Tuesday 28 May, I attended an evening at Parliament House with Mr Jay de Mel, our Business Manager. Present for some of the evening was our local member, Mrs Fiona Phillips. 

The highlight of both the Town Hall event and the evening was hearing the good news stories of Christian Schooling. I would like to share with you the story by a young man from Africa in Year 10 at Regents Park Christian School. I say from Africa, because whilst his parents were from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, his parents were refugees in Rwanda where he was born. However, he had to move to Uganda and subsequently Kenya and finally has moved to Australia two months ago.  After being in Australia only two months, he spoke eloquently at our dinner at Parliament House about how he has finally found a home and a big part of that has been his school experience at Regents Park Christian School. The love and care that his teachers have shown him has made him feel settled in a way that has been so profound for him and the values that he are being modelled to him are formative in his beliefs. To quote from his address:

The values the teachers have taught me are engraved on my heart.

What a significant statement that every teacher longs to hear. And at NCS, we do hear those sorts of statements. I could write of student experiences from our school which tell of the great support and care that have come from their experience in a Christian School. Support and care that they are receiving for the first time in their schooling experience; yet it is not appropriate to share their personal stories in our Bytes Newsletter. However, what Christian Schools Australia is seeking to do is to explain to our Federal Members how important our Christian Schools are so they will not pass legislation that changes the way we operate and consequently threaten our unique place in education in Australia. To that end, this week we will be providing postcards to send out to our parents that can be sent to our Federal Members. I would ask that if you have a good news story to tell, then you take the time to complete the postcard and send it to Fiona Phillips. We are not at all seeking to advise you which political party to support, rather we would ask that if you feel comfortable, to be a voice to our local Federal representative, telling them of how important NCS has been to your children, and in so doing, entreating them not to pass legislation which would change the very fibre of our organisation.

Graeme Jolliffe

Principal