Wise Words With... 

Kindness

My last 4 weeks have been filled with interviewing preschoolers for next year’s Kindergarten. It has been a delight. Current families, new families, bashful preschoolers, extroverted preschoolers. It has been a pleasure to get to catch up with current parents and equally to meet new families. It has also been a delight to hear everybody’s story.

Today has been a reprieve from interviews and there was time to catch up on news from the Year 10 camp. Activities included camping on Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour, watching a live production of Macbeth, riding on the ferry, preparing meals for the homeless, attending the Jewish museum to learn about the holocaust from a survivor and scavenger hunting around Sydney. I was so very pleased to hear reports of how our students conducted themselves with the public. From engaging in conversations with the public during the ferry ride to their impeccable behaviour, our students have represented themselves, the school and their families admirably. 

I need to be careful that we do not have an attitude of triumphalism, but I do want to encourage us that our students are operating well. Circling back to hearing the story of families as they look for a place for their children to begin school, I was struck by a family that were looking for kindness. It reminded me that some people have had to deal with difficulties in their schooling, and that an environment of people who treat others well is not something to take for granted. I shared this with some of my family who were staying with me in the last week and it was remarked that I cannot control other people and how they will respond to this family and their desire for kindness. This is true but I absolutely trust in the community of Nowra Christian School that we are an organisation that does care for all of our community and I have the utmost confidence that this family will find NCS to be a community of kind people who look out for each other and treat each other with respect. I have that confidence because that is how I have seen and continue to see all the members of our community interact.

My prayer is that we will continue to be a place of kindness and peace where people can find refuge and community and I have great faith that the new families who join us next year will be blessed with friendship.