From the Principal
Dear Friends,
As I write this mid-term editorial, I am reminded of just how engaged students are in excursions and the other extra-curricular activities like camps, athletics and musical performances. Indeed, this dimension of schooling plays a key role in contributing to a well-balanced formation of students. Events that are held at venues other than the College make for a richer experience in education, and we are pleased to record student commitments and involvement in these programs. In addition, it is exciting to see the landscaping and addition of pathways connecting buildings on site. Our Junior School play equipment will be installed this month.
In this editorial, I remind families that the College does not tolerate violent behaviour, bullying and harassment, or bringing to the College anything that could be used as a weapon or anything considered to be illegal for students under 18. This latter category includes alcohol, tobacco products, vapes, and any illegal drugs. The College will not hesitate to ask parents to withdraw students from Oxley if they bring such items onsite, which we have done recently and will continue to do.
No doubt families will also have heard the news that the state budget has included the plan for a payroll tax on some independent schools. This was unexpected and will face some scrutiny as it reaches the Upper House in Parliament. The details of its effects on school budgets are yet to be realised, and Oxley will consider its options when these are known in the coming months. At this stage we are not privy to the arrangements that will affect our College, if any.
However, on those occasions that we experience unexpected impositions, constraints and frustrations, we are encouraged to focus our attention elsewhere. Paraphrasing the apostle Paul’s words to the church in Phillipi:
The Lord is at hand so do not be anxious about anything. Rather, let your prayerful requests be made known to God, and His peace will be yours. Focus on whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable; and if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Phillipians 4
It is no accident then, that the values we promote under a Christian framework for education are those of truth, goodness and beauty. While people would largely see these as subjective experiences, the classical understanding is that truth, goodness and beauty draw on objective qualities. C S Lewis in The Abolition of Man wrote that truth, goodness and beauty are underpinned by an inextricably linked and embedded cosmic order. That is, these things come from God. The classical Christian educational project has therefore viewed us as having particular divine obligations around truth, goodness and beauty in life. To flourish, and to engage in a spirit of inquiry, the Christian understanding is that the vertical relationship with the transcendent realm is crucial for these College values.
At the recent Christian School’s policy forum in Canberra, the Federal Shadow Minister for Education concluded her speech to the gathering with these encouraging words.
I want to finish on this message – religious schools are not a threat to our children, but a gift to their future. They are not a threat to diversity, but proof of its success.
The continuing presence of religious schools is also a reminder that the purpose of education is more than just the satisfaction of metrics and standards, student employability, or some other measure of material success.
They are a reminder that education also has a higher purpose—the cultivation of wisdom and a love of knowledge for its own sake.
They are a reminder that the purpose of education is, as Plato said, to teach us to love what is beautiful. … (and) we will be doing everything to ensure that religious schools will be able to continue their great work in this country for many, many years to come.
Warm regards
Douglas Peck