Weekly comment from our stage coordinators

This week we are considering the final part of the quartet covering the Responsibilities and Rights of the School, Staff and the Students:  Responsibilities come first, as, through the exercise of our Responsibilities, we earn our Rights:

The students rights are:
1 To be aided in the remembrance of the Creator and His fine regulations and to be aided in their search to return to Him;
2 To be provided with an atmosphere which promotes self-discovery, peace and order;
3 To have the best available materials, such as Shakespeare, Mozart and Michelangelo, and appropriate curriculum made available to them;
4To be supported in learning and personal development;
5 To have the school rules clearly explained and justly and consistently applied.

One of the other aspects of this is the right of children to be heard, and also to have the opportunity to express themselves and their understandings as individuals in an appropriate forum.  This of course includes all aspects of the curriculum: academic, artistic, philosophical and sporting:  evidence of this is to be seen everywhere in the school.

In support of 6th Class’s training towards exercising their responsibilities as members of the community (both school and the wider world), they went this week to a Leadership Training course at Homebush.  The speakers were Mike Martin, Executive Director of the Halogen Foundation; Bob Carr, politician; Ita Buttrose, Editor; Andy Griffiths, the author and Coen Ashton, a 16-year-old suffering from cystic fibrosis who had been expected to die, but who refused to submit to this.  He had a double lung transplant, and is still leading a very useful life.

Mrs. Dunn remarked:  All the speakers were excellent, they offered great principles of leadership and shared some of their life experiences.  A leader needs to earn respect through equity, care for others and enthusiasm.    Qualities they embraced were empathy, perseverance, integrity, influence: big things can start small , embrace change and never give up .   Sounds like a useful bag of tricks!