Christway College Connection

From the Head of Campus' Desk

Dear Parents/Guardians

During the recent school holidays and into the first week of this term, I had the very special and unique opportunity to be part of an international tour group that visited a number of innovative schools (and universities) in several European cities. This tour group consisted of school leaders from NZ and Australia, a school furniture designer and a University of Sydney education professor – quite an eclectic and interesting group! Over the course of 2 weeks, we visited Helsinki, Copenhagen, Malmo (Sweden), Barcelona, Edinburgh and London looking at both school programs and their designs. Whilst a busy trip there were many opportunities to have very rich discussions with the staff and students of these schools, plus with the other tour members as we debriefed on what we were seeing in the educational places we visited as well as comparing what was taking place in our own schools.

 

There were so many fantastic programs, passionate school leaders, teachers and students and well designed and highly functioning learning spaces. I will warn you in advance that this is a longer than usual newsletter article – I hope it is of interest to you.

 

A common feature of all the schools that we visited, be they government, private, large, small, religious or secular, was that they are all wrestling with wanting to move schools from a very traditional, 'factory-based' model with passive modes of learning, into a model that will help equip students with the skills, mindsets and knowledge to help them thrive beyond school in an ever-changing society. Improving student health and wellbeing, and developing skills such as the 4 “C’s” of Communication, Creativity, Collaboration and Critical thinking, are also common desires across the globe and these are also things that we are and will continue to seek to improve on here at Heatherton.

 

As well as new thoughts and ideas from the trip, there was an affirmation of many things that we are doing well here, including a number of our own innovative programs that interested others. We are clearly not a 'broken' school but we also clearly have areas where we want to and need to improve in. Our new strategic plan will include areas of focus including further developing our core value of growing Christian faith and improving student learning, as well as improving student wellbeing, and developing greater student leadership and enterprise/ entrepreneurial skills. Pleasingly, a number of our 'flagship' programs that we are currently running are in line with this and also gathered a lot of interest from the leaders of other schools in our tour group. Things like the 'I love reading' program in Prep and Grade 1, our Grade 4 'Year in the yard' program, the Grade 5 and 6 'Benson bucks' financial literacy and business enterprise skills program, the Grades/Years 5 to 8 Technology and Robotics program, the Year 7 and 8 electives program, the new Year 8 mentoring program, our long-running Year 9 'Year of Challenge' program, our missions trips at Years 10, 11 and 12 and the Inquiry-Based Learning Projects that run throughout the school, are all examples of positive programs that develop relevant skills, faith, character, wellbeing and improvement in student engagement.

 

The central platform of our school being based on our common faith in Jesus Christ is also a very unifying feature of the school, something that is lacking in many schools throughout Australia and the world. We want to continue to develop an even clearer sense of purpose around the programs that we are running, particularly ensuring that we are building on the skills developed at each level.

 

And what were some of the main takeaways from my trip?

 

Takeaway number 1 was a reinforcement for me that whilst we need to help students find and know their God-given strengths, passions and purpose, they also need to see how these can be applied to making a difference to others in our world. A school in Barcelona uses a Japanese principle called 'Ikigai' (this roughly translates to a reason for being, encompassing joy, a sense of purpose and meaning and a feeling of well-being). This is shown in the diagram below where it is not enough to just find your passion or what you are good at (strengths), but to also identify what the world (others) needs and what you can get paid to do – putting God front and centre in this combination sounds like a powerful way to be living life.

 

Takeaway number 2 is that students do not just learn from textbooks or from the internet but can and should be learning from others, from their experiences and from the environment around them. This reinforces the notion that we should be seeking to make student learning as real-world as possible, providing them with opportunities to develop skills that can make a difference to others. I'm looking forward to seeing a number of student lead lunchtime clubs take shape over the next year where students with common passions can meet together and develop those interests and passions and deepen their learning and connections with each other.

 

Takeaway number 3 was the notion of creating more spaces and places in our school that are useful,  functional and, even better, inspirational places of humour and 'beauty'. A number of the schools had cleverly designed, sometimes 'quirky' spaces for students to work and create in – some for individuals, or for pairs or teams. There were a variety of flexible spaces that can be easily changed, both indoor and outdoor spaces. As we look to further develop the facilities and learning spaces here at Heatherton there are so many opportunities to not just follow the traditional 'box' classroom shapes or corridors but to think and be more creative in the design of these spaces.

 

Takeaway number 4 was how important a strong sense of community and human connection is. The Finnish and Danish schools seemed to have a sense of calmness about them and also a strong connection with their community. Heatherton does share much with these schools but they had an even stronger sense of being part of their local community. There the schools are seen as an essential part of the community, both physically and emotionally (harder for us with our lack of physical neighbors and people traveling to school by car). There are no private schools in Finland so all students go to their local government schools, mostly riding and walking. Many of their schools are public hubs containing things like public libraries, shared community play spaces and usable indoor and outdoor spaces for the community. Whilst this would be tricky for us, we have an opportunity to further tap into the rich community of 'human' resources here at the school. This could be through things like;

  • Parents and grandparents acting as assistants in practical classes or as mentors in our Year 8 mentoring program
  • Parent run businesses offering to host student visits, work experience or community service students or take even on student internships
  • Utilising the skills of our families in school improvement projects such as developing outdoor play and learning spaces (a step up from the current working bee clean up jobs)
  • Utilising our learning spaces of an evening for adult learning classes or community-building events and courses

Does any of this resonate with you? If so, I would love to hear from those in our school community who would have some ideas around any of these or other things – either to get involved or offer their support or assistance!

 

Thanks for reading - it has been a special trip and the challenge, as ever, is to help inspire others (students, staff, parents, grandparents), to partner with us to make Heatherton an even more unique, special and God honouring learning place into the future.

 

Phil Eastman

Head of Campus