This week’s newsletter is an edited version of my remarks at the recent Investiture Assembly for our Year 12 Captains and Vice-Captains. Our student leaders also addressed our Secondary community. The text of these remarks will feature in future newsletters. At that assembly, we also announced a number of other community leaders, and this will also feature in the coming weeks. I hope that my remarks from this occasion develop your understanding of and appreciation for the significant role of our student leaders in the life of the school.
"On this occasion, it is valuable to clarify what the role of Co-Captains and Co-Vice Captains is at the Melton Campus.
The Board of Heathdale Christian College establishes strategic imperatives for the College. These exist to grow the school from its past to its future. As the current Board Chair, Mr. Wilson notes, “We stand here today because our founding families invested in our College, and we aim to invest in Christian education for generations to come.”
We are all simultaneously standing in the traditions of yesterday, the reality of today and laying the foundations for future years.
The Board's strategic imperatives are currently:
- Nurturing Christian culture and identity
- Leading the education of tomorrow
- Developing vibrant and purposeful spaces
- Thriving communities
- Growing for our future
These are the priorities that provide focus for the endeavours of Mr. Grace as the Executive Principal, the Senior Leadership Team, and me as Campus Principal. These priorities will also be the guide for the efforts of the student leadership team and the student committees that serve through the school.
There is considerable scope for innovation and initiative within these strategic initiatives.
There are four elements I want to mention here to frame this freedom to innovate as student leaders:
1. Christ-centered
This is the most central element. It is our anchor point.
2. Spirit-led
We believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. We acknowledge that there is no junior Holy Spirit. His spirit can move through young and old alike. We believe in revelation as a central element of a Christ-centered community. This revelation forms a necessary part of visioning our future.
3. Representative
The leaders of the school have the privilege and responsibility to connect with and represent the rest of the student community.
4. Generational
Each generation captures a new sense of God’s consistent message. In the language of the world, this is referred to as Boomers, Gen X, Gen Z, Millennials. Each of these terms describes a way of seeing the world that captures a new ‘sound’ to Christ’s message and priorities. As students who have worked through the various year levels of our school, our leaders will have a different experience that, when expressed, maintains the vibrancy and relevance of the community spirit.
These are expressed in combination with the leadership of Mr. Kopitschincki, our Coordinators, and me, ensuring that there is institutional continuity over time and our student leadership brings a fresh and current expression of contemporary ideas.
That is the strategic and operational framework within which our leadership will operate.
We have the expectation that the leaders in whom we invest today will bring a Godly revelation to their plans and will have a measure of freedom within our culture to express their vision for our campus.
In this initial year of this leadership program, we will grow quietly and deliberately into understanding the full impact of this framework, its power, and its impact for good. In this space, we will allow the understanding of the roles and the vision within the people to grow, emerge and develop.
It will be a year where we establish traditions and grow the school in some of its most important ways.
The investiture process will take the form of me reading to our leaders a charge of office. In this context, a charge is both the exhortation and commitment to accept the challenges and responsibilities commensurate with their role.
I would like to invite our leaders to join me on stage:
- College Co-Captains: Juan Mathew and Natasha Lakra
- College Co-Vice Captains: Jye Schofield and Laura Cook
In accepting the role of Campus Captain or Vice-Captain, I charge you to accept the responsibility of respecting and maintaining the Christian ethos of the College for the benefit of all students, and to undertake the required work to lead, influence, and represent the students in ways that make our community a better place for all.
I charge you as leaders to acknowledge the imperative of serving God and serving others by placing your own needs as secondary.
I charge you with the responsibility to work closely with the teaching staff, be an example and active voice in making the students in this College safe, and then to help them become all that they can be."
Our leaders accepted these responsibilities, and we now look forward to working with them to foster their vision.