A Note from Nelson

Do you acknowledge the light in yourself and others?

Recently, I provided a Principal’s Address, as part of the School’s Annual General Meeting weekend.  The purpose of the address each year is to provide an update to the Association on the status of the School. For those who may not be aware who make up the Association, the Association consists of former Board members who are also Quakers. Their membership in the Association is for life or until they otherwise indicate that they no longer wish to be a member of the Association. If the School were to have an 'owner' then the Association would serve in that role.

Within this address, I shared many wonderful aspects and highlights about our School.  An area I’d like to feature in this edition of Rose & Waratah, is the development of the School’s Learning Partnership Understanding.  While the learning outcomes for the School have been well identified through the Purpose and Concerns, the School has worked to identify its educational philosophy. Based upon the work of Douglas Heath’s observations of commonalities in Quaker schools, the newly developed Learning Partnership Understanding states:

‘The School acts on the expectation that each member of our learning community seeks to challenge themself in order to grow and live more fully in the truth. We aim for the development of self-discipline and self-respect within each student that enables them to enter more deeply into their own understandings and ongoing maturation in order to let their life speak.’

This understanding was developed with the assistance of staff and parents from throughout the School and there are valuable questions for us to consider as we ensure the implementation of this educational philosophy.

1. Are we willing and able to commit to maintaining a climate of collective respect on a daily basis?
2. How do we encourage students to become as concerned for the growth of other students and of the teachers as they are for their own growth?
3. What are the skills of caring for others that we need to nurture if we are to learn together?

The implementation of this philosophy on a daily basis is in all of our hands and I believe it speaks to the Quaker Query, recently highlighted in What’s On:  Do you acknowledge the light in yourself and others?

Endicott Self-Study Survey

Late last year, many community members participated in the independent Endicott Self-Study Survey.  Thank you to everyone who provided valuable feedback and insights, which helps the School with its continuous improvement and delivery of our learning programs.  We received a 12% increased response rate from the 2016 survey results and we look forward to sharing an overview and highlights of the survey very soon.

Friends Together 2019

I’d like to thank those in our community who have so far supported the School by making a donation as part of our Annual Giving Appeal, Friends Together 2019.  Community support from this Appeal enable projects, programs and services that directly support students and are outside the operational budget of the School.  I, along with a number of Board members and staff, support this important Appeal and I encourage you to consider doing so as well.  Please visit this link to see a video of old scholar Justin Burns-Nichols talking about his opportunity at Friends’ and how it continues to help him and his community today.

As we pass the halfway mark of Term 2, I hope our students finish the term well and that everyone is able to find some time to spend with family during the term break. I will be part of the Australia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), which the Hobart Regional Meeting will be hosting using th