From the Head of Secondary's Desk

This term I have found a few different ideas coming together in a way I probably didn’t expect.

Over the holidays and into this term, our family has been rewatching The Mysterious Benedict Society. One of the main ideas in the show is “The Emergency”, where people are constantly bombarded with messages designed to create fear, anxiety and a sense that everything is going wrong.

At the same time, through our CSA learning we have been looking at the idea of cultivating joy, including the impact of our thoughts and the messages we repeatedly say to ourselves. As a staff, we have also been reading Adam Voigt’s Restoring Teaching and Thinking about restorative conversations and the importance of the way we speak with young people.

For me, all three ideas have landed in a similar place: what we continually hear has an impact on us.

Our young people hear many different voices every day. Friends, family, social media, culture, school and their own internal thoughts are all shaping the messages they receive about who they are, what matters and where they belong.

As parents, teachers and other significant adults in their lives, we are part of those voices too.

That is an important reminder, particularly in the harder moments. We all need to set boundaries, correct behaviour and sometimes have difficult conversations, but the way we speak matters. Our words can add to frustration, embarrassment or anger, or they can bring calm, dignity, truth and hope.

Proverbs 15:1 says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

We may not control every voice our young people hear, but we do get to choose the voice we are. My hope is that, as a College community, we continue to be voices of truth, grace, calm and hope in the lives of our students.

Chris Simmons

Head of Secondary