Chaplains’ Chat

At the Staff Chapel service last week, we reflected upon one of our strategic pillars at Shore which is excellence in teaching and learning. In so many ways it is the main reason why schools exist, to educate the students! Of course, education involves more than just knowledge and getting a good mark in the exams. As one Headmaster in a Sydney school for over 30 years used to say: “the heart of education, is the education of the heart.” We certainly want our students to learn much and learn well, but we also want them to be people of great character, not only at School but for the rest of their lives. Indeed, in this regard, for all of us, education never stops!

Proverbs 22:6 says: “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” While we have heard the phrase that it takes a village to raise a child, certainly the family unit is also crucial in developing the child. The education of people will certainly involve different people at different times in life. At Shore, we want to continue to encourage our students with the wonderful Christian virtues of truth, selflessness, honesty, hope and love for others (to name a few!) that Jesus so wondrously shows us. Of course, this is an ongoing process in everyone’s life, and we don’t always get it right. But as we look to Jesus, we see in his life, his death on the Cross and his resurrection, the great news that we are so wonderfully loved by God. It is because we are so loved by God that we can see that our lives matter and, therefore how we live matters. 

Rev Anthony Benn
Chaplain