Deputy Principals

LANCE RYAN

Deputy Principal -

Teaching & Learning

Recently, I had the opportunity to address our Middle and Senior School students around the power of purpose. Recalling a story of three stonemasons working on the same building, each identifying their purpose, from getting through the drudgery of the day to feeding one's family to the last, as building a cathedral for the glory of God. Each stonemason was doing the same work, but their attitude and ‘big picture thinking’ gave greater meaning and purpose to their work. Much is the same for our workplaces, and especially for the young people within our School.

It is common to hear students asking if a particular task will be on their report. Alternatively, whether they will need to know some particular knowledge for an upcoming test or assessment. As much as this might give the illusion of comfort to the student, it narrowly defines their education and learning to mere numbers and ‘tick-a-box’ result. The reality is that education is not necessarily found in the result of student work but in the process and engagement of ideas, thoughts and understandings. Each student’s experience at School, although concurrently measured in standardised outcomes, must be a reflection of building up for themselves a ‘cathedral’ of their own life. Attitude, engagement and creativity matter as much as skill and knowledge, and perhaps even more so, as artificial intelligence and information systems continue to take over the mundane process-oriented tasks of our world.

Students need to grasp that how they approach their learning and school life is as important as the content itself. Each young person in our School is encouraged to find purpose in the small things they do in class and at School, which may not seem to be very important or even relevant, but they fundamentally contribute to the larger building that is the beauty of their flourishing life.