Sketcher's Scoop

Junior Secondary Camps & Activities

The Junior Secondary School has been a much quieter place this week with most of our students away on camps. Our Year 9s have been in the city all week enjoying a range of experiences that include going on a tour of either the Arts Centre or the MCG, visiting the Magistrates Court and enjoying the delights of the South Melbourne Market. Meanwhile, our Year 8s have travelled to Golden Valley Lodge in Flinders. Finally, our Year 7s have been involved in a range of activities throughout the week designed to forge a sense of ‘togetherness’ for the year ahead. Thanks to all our teachers and learning assistants who make these camps possible! We look forward to sharing some of their stories and pictures in the newsletter next week.

Update on recent threats to Christian Schooling

On 4 November 2022, the Attorney General, the Hon Mark Dreyfus, asked the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) to review religious exemptions for educational institutions in Federal anti-discrimination law. 

Prior to the release of the Consultation Paper, the ALRC conducted targeted consultations with religious school leaders, faith leaders, academics, legal bodies, government agencies and LGBTQ lobby groups. As part of this process, the Australian Association of Christian Schools (AACS) – to which Mount Evelyn Christian School and all other CEN schools belong – was invited to a private, in person, consultation with the Hon. Justice Stephen Rothman (ALRC Chair) in December 2022.

In that meeting, the Chief Executive Officer of the AACS provided an overview of our member schools in terms of their mission and ethos, as well as the fundamental legal protections our schools require, including:

• the ability to choose to employ staff who share the school’s religious values and beliefs, as outlined in governing documents and policies at the point of employment.
• the ability to maintain their distinctive Christian School culture and ethos through teaching a Biblical worldview in the curriculum.

Through these AACS representations on our behalf, Justice Rothman was made aware of the increasingly precarious legal protections in discrimination law, especially in Victoria with the recently introduced Victorian Equal Opportunity Amendment Act (2021).

Furthermore, in this meeting the ALRC was asked to recommend stronger legal protections to ensure Christian schools can continue to employ Christian staff, teach Christian beliefs, and maintain a ‘community of faith’ through their staff codes of conduct and student behaviour policies.

The subsequent release of the ALRC’s Consultation Paper following these targeted consultations is extremely disappointing for all religious schools (Christian, Jewish and Islamic). It recommends the removal of vital protections our schools rely upon and shows a complete misunderstanding and disregard for the delivery of (in our case) authentic Christian education.

Although this is not the final report, given the narrow terms of reference, it will be very difficult to change the proposals as it heads back to parliament and relevant legislation is drafted. As we have been doing for some time now in relation to this, and other similar issues, we will continue to support the advocacy work that is done by AACS on our behalf and work in partnership with other like-minded schools to present unified messages to those who will ultimately be responsible for making such decisions.

In the meantime, our greatest protection is to maintain and strengthen our authentic approach to Christian education. A strong history at MECS of being committed to the National Institute of Christian Education, the fact that all staff are members of our Staff Association, having clear policies outlining the nature of our school and the curriculum we deliver, maintaining practices that ensure that all members of our staff are part of the ‘faith life’ of our school and having a warm, welcoming ‘Inclusion Policy’ are just some of the ways we seek to be authentic and if required, provide evidence of who and what we are as a Christian school community.