Message From the Principal
Welcome to the New Year! Another year that has started with some adjustments and restrictions but we’re not letting that get in our way! We are full steam ahead in so many areas, excited to be moving on and continuing t grow!! Two key focus areas for us as a community are the two Association of Independent Schools (AIS) working groups that we are a part of – firstly the Compass wellbeing review of our College and secondly the Deep Learning. We have just commenced Deep Learning this year and it will look at our current teaching and learning framework to redevelop and strengthen it, and to more deliberately integrate faith and wellbeing into it. This is based on the International network New Pedagogies for Deep Learning developed by Canadian Michael Fullan.
We are much further ahead with our Compass Wellbeing review, and at a really exciting phase! An enthusiastic “core” team has been working with the AIS to review our current offerings and look at how we can enhance our wellbeing P-12 to make it a more seamless and robust development of our students and staff. We know that a key element of good mental health and wellbeing is not only support structures but the protective aspect of proactive and explicit development and discussion of skills and understandings in our community.
Our starting place, after the analysis and identifying of key areas to address, has been developing a Shellharbour Anglican College definition that takes into account all the research in this area, but applies it to who we are as a unique community, and can be easily understood.
This definition has been workshopped by our core team, led by Jodie Liddiard our Pastoral Care Coordinator in the Senior School and assisted by Matt Low, our Coordinator of Pastoral Care in the Junior School, then taken to our student leaders to get some student voice and feedback and then the broader staff body. We now present it to you, our families and community. Please take a read and let us know what you think –
As a Christian learning community, wellbeing is at the foundation of who we are. Wellbeing is flourishing through:
- Healthy relationships, minds and bodies
- Hope-filled futures of purpose and resilience, and
- Hearts of compassion, justice and mercy
Having a common understanding of what wellbeing is and what it looks like is the first step in building a positive and thriving community where students have a sense of hope and purpose, and can face the challenges before them.
Please let me know your thoughts about our new definition or any comments / questions you might have! We are open to your ideas – email principal@shellharbourac.nsw.edu.au
