2020 Term 4, Week 7

The question to consider is, “have the students thrived during our 60^th year?”

In 1888, German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote “Aus der Kriegsschule des Lebens – Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker,” which can be translated as “Out of life’s school of war – what doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger.” A broad statement and perhaps a little crass for the current times, but nonetheless there is truth to be found in those words: we only develop resilience when faced with adversity, and it is resilience that enables us to thrive.

What this year has done, more than any year following the Second World War, is to show us that there is more to life than materialism, wealth, status or achievements. The events of this year have caused us to refocus our lives and value what we previously took for granted: our health, family, relationships, our surroundings; small blessings that we often overlook.

The year has brought a strong message for education and schools. The events have highlighted that an education worth having is not one that is solely focused on grades and marks, but one that teaches resilience and character, that values community and instils a strong sense of moral purpose. An education worth having is a holistic one, but we knew that already. This is what St Paul’s School seeks to provide when it says we prepare resilient global citizens, who are innovative thinkers with a heart for servant leadership.

I would argue that our students, your children, have learnt more this year than any other year prior. They have realised how much they value their family, their friends, and their School. They have developed greater self-discipline, independent learning skills and organisation. They have found ways to keep on top of their studies while away from the classroom. They have bounced back from the many disappointments the year has caused: isolation, cancelled overseas tours, disruptions to sport and cancelled or modified events. Our students, your children, have had the opportunity to become stronger for the experiences we have had this year.

“I learned about the importance of the smaller things, such as going for walks and embracing the little things in life that we normally take for granted.”

While we could not gather in person for the 2020 Celebration of Achievement, we innovated on that traditional event, as we did for many other events throughout our 60^th year. We have still marked and celebrated the remarkable achievements of our young people, albeit in a different way, but in a way that records what has been a year in history that few will forget in a hurry.

Congratulations to the award winners for 2020, but congratulations to you all. We have done more than survive, we could claim that we have thrived. We look with hope to 2021, taking with us the experiences that have further shaped our individual characters and community on our journeys of becoming.

Dr Paul Browning

Headmaster

I use this line frequently, when talking with students – “It’s the little things”. I might be talking about the need to pull up their socks, or tuck their shirt in, or willingly conform to the conservative hair style required by our uniform code. Or, I might be encouraging students to always put their rubbish in the bin, or to say ‘Thank you’ to the teacher at the end of each lesson.

In a famous graduation address at the University of Texas, Admiral William H. McRaven said –

If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.

(You can see the full address here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esoQKkFQoIQ)

I found the same idea reinforced in a description of Mother Theresa I read recently, written by Bill Hybels. He writes that she –

vowed to God that she would be faithful in what she deemed the ‘little practices’ – little practices of love, which meant treating every person who crossed her path with dignity and deference, every day, in every situation; and little practices of sacrifice, which meant always going to the back of the line and always volunteering for clean-up duty after others had eaten dinner and left. She talked as well about the ‘little fidelities’ to scripture that involved guarding her words and actions very carefully and honouring God, even when nobody was looking.

There is a great truth in there. As Charles Caleb Colton has said “The true measure of your character is what you do when nobody is watching.”

You have heard me say before that we believe character really matters at St Paul’s School. We aim to prepare young men and women of character, which is why we have a copy of our Character Framework poster in every classroom. Developing character is a long process, though – arguably, the work of a lifetime, a lifetime of consistently making good choices in even small matters. Which leads me to one final quote, variously attributed to a number of different great thinkers –

Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions;  watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.

Mr Nigel Grant
Executive Director of Faith & Community

To ensure our young people stay safe during this time, parents and carers are encouraged to have the alcohol discussion – no matter how difficult or overwhelming it may be. It is important to outline the rules and boundaries around age-appropriate alcohol consumption and what the legal implications may be.

Young people are at greater risk of alcohol-related harm than adults because their brains continue to develop until their mid-twenties. The safest level of alcohol consumption for teenagers, is no alcohol at all, but this may be difficult to enforce and may not prevent them from experimenting. However, parents and carers can influence sensible drinking habits and help minimise the risks.

In this Special Report, a series of discussion points are offered to help make the conversation about alcohol consumption a little easier. We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this Special Report, and as always, we welcome your feedback.

If you do have any concerns about the wellbeing of your child, please contact the school for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to your special report https://stpauls.qld.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-having-alcohol-discussion-au

The opportunity: St Paul’s has approximately 40 acres of under-utilised land at the Northern end of the campus. The area includes our excellent cross country course and an area used for mountain biking. Apart from that, much of the area has become over-grown with weeds in the past 20 years. Before that, the School had an active Rural Youth club, and the area was used to run the St Paul’s School Jersey herd (dairy cows).

What if we could utilise the land to offer our kids new amazing outdoor experiences including…

• Campsites suitable for primary-school aged children and visiting international tour groups (and, possibly, school families)
• Outdoor education facilities (including canoeing on the river)
• Environmental education studies facilities with a special focus on riparian ecosystems (also alternative building and power sources)
• Sustainable agriculture / ‘hobby-farm’ / ‘city farm’ / paddock to plate, for visiting groups and weekend workshops
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education.

Join our 3 X 1.5 hour workshops to develop:

1. PROBLEM STATEMENT & IDEAS – how can we use the space – (Venue: CIE – above reception)
2. IDEA VALIDATION – taking the top ideas and validating against what are we trying to achieve as a School Community (Date flexible TBC)
3. BUSINESS CASE – How can we fund, what resources and skills are needed and what are the pros and cons (Date flexible TBC)

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
This project will need the skills, energy and enthusiasm of a wide variety of parents, students, staff and wider community members to be successful. For these initial three workshops we are not after particular skills, rather open mindedness, curiosity, innovative thinking and creativity.
If you and/or your kids are keen to be involved (separately or jointly) in the planning phases for this innovative and exciting project, please confirm attendance by email to [email protected] or contact Larissa Mearns – 0409435118.

Last week Thursday the Office of Fair Trade announced the winners of the Buy Smart Competition and Amaya Mearns (7B) received a Highly Commended (HC) award and $50.00 in prize money for her entry.

Please see below for a link to the entire online presentation where this was announced.

https://www.qld.gov.au/law/fair-trading/buy-smart-competition
https://youtu.be/BTlpWsslwow

The two companies were RACQ’s Free2Go Program, which specialises supporting 16-24-year-old Queenslanders take on life’s big adventures, and Anti-Ordinary, a startup which has designed a beanie as safe as a helmet.

The students formed two teams (to work on a client each) and went through a Design Thinking process that was borne out of the School’s Realms of Thinking teaching and learning model. The process included extensive client consultation, market research, ideation, prototyping, revisiting ideas, and solution finalisation. The process this moves into the St Paul’s Centre for Innovators and Entrepreneurs territory designing an implementation plan, sourcing costs and delivery schedules, and ultimately presenting ideas to both clients that potentially transform their entire businesses.

The Anti-Ordinary Team created an Invention Identity creating the potential for Anti-ordinary to branch out beyond snow sports and into other sports like bike riding and skateboarding.

The RACQ Free2Go Team renamed the program to better represents how it supports young people and came up with an entirely new business engagement strategy aimed at building brand loyalty for 16-24 year olds.

According to the CEO of Anti-Ordinary, “We’ve engaged professional consultancies and universities for this work and it hasn’t been half as impressive, practical or useful as the ideas put forward by the St Paul’s School students.”

The School is potentially creating a whole new market in professional consulting by tapping into an unrealised market – youth. Uninhibited by years in the corporate sector, the students aren’t afraid to dream and challenge preconceived norms. One of the key dispositions that Realms of Thinking seeks to develop is a students’ comfortableness with ambiguity. Rather than trying to get a specific answer in a specific timeframe, the tolerance for ambiguity helps students wrestle holistically with challenges and often leads to really innovative solutions.

The only limit on what is possible in the future is the students’ imaginations.

Well done to our two DLV Teams and thank you to our clients, RACQ and Anti-Ordinary for the opportunity to work with you. A big thank-you also to our parents and staff for your support of the program.

Dr Jones + Mr Osborne

Generally, boys have more muscle than girls and, with that, a physicality that gets them in strife. There’s also brain research that shows that, while females tend to quickly shift emotions from the brain’s limbic system to the word centres of the brain, males tend to shift them into their bodies.

This is more obvious as our boys become teens as they can be as big and strong as men, but their brains are under construction and their bodies are flooded with testosterone.

Author and counsellor Michael Gurian writes that boys tend to seek external measures of success to feel good about themselves. It is critical they maintain credibility and status in the eyes of the ‘tribe’… that’s their peers, not you.

Inevitably, all this means your son will probably make many mistakes; or hurt himself; hurt someone else; or make a very poor, thoughtless, seemingly stupid or cruel choice.

React with compassion not shame
How you react as a parent can significantly impact how your son recovers from mucking up. Your first reactions may be anger, disappointment or the urge to discipline harshly. However, there are other ways of reacting that can strengthen your bond with your son and ensure he learns from the experience through growth rather than shame.

Listen to him, guide him to see the impact of his poor choice, help him make it right, forgive him and ask him what he might do next time he’s in the same situation.

Break down the old male-code
This code told us that men don’t apologise as it’s a sign of weakness. One of the most powerful things we can teach our boys is that when we make mistakes, we own up to them and we apologise if need be. Teach your boys that saying sorry when they really mean it is a sign of courage and strength, not the opposite. It is also about taking responsibility for your actions, which is important for boys to learn. They need to see the men in their lives – particularly dads – apologise.

Don’t force an apology
Forcing a boy to apologise can be problematic. A genuine apology is very different to a forced apology. A genuine apology has a real sense of remorse attached to it. Coach your son to see the situation through the other person’s eyes. If someone has been impacted, he needs to apologise and make amends even if he didn’t intend for the consequences of his poor choice to happen. It doesn’t mean he’s wrong. It just means his choice affected someone.

Embrace failure
To help your son better learn about failure, have conversations about things you hear in the media where boys and men have experienced failure and recovered. Steve Smith, the former captain of the Australian cricket team who was involved in a ball-tampering scandal, is a great example. He owned his mistake, publicly apologised, paid his dues and went on to have a very successful return to cricket.

Your son is going to make poor decisions repeatedly until he has enough myelin in his brain to be more mindful of the choices he makes. That is just a fact of life. As parents, your job is to, day-by-day, help your son learn a culture of accountability without a need for severe punishment, shaming or ridicule.

Maggie Dent

Commonly known as the ‘queen of common sense’, Maggie Dent has become one of Australia’s favourite parenting authors and educators, with a particular interest in the early years, adolescence and resilience. She has written seven major books including the bestselling Mothering Our Boys and her 2020 release, From Boys to Men. Maggie is host of the ABC podcast, Parental As Anything. For further details visit maggiedent.com

Sourced from: https://www.parentingideas.com.au/schools/insight/the-power-of-sorry/

In this episode we talk with two current St Paul’s students and their mothers explore how education has changed over the years and what kind of opportunities St Paul’s School offers it’s students.

Host: Sarah Gover, PCSG President
Guests: Rani (Year 6 SPS Student) and her mother Mairella, Emmanuel (Year 4 SPS Student) and his mother Danielle (Past SPS Student).

For more information about this podcast, or if you would like to get involved, please contact Sarah Gover by visiting spssa.org.au/.

The Parent Connection Supporters Group at St Paul’s supports family engagement throughout the school by actively seeking ways to increase capacity for engagement and partnership between families and the school. If you would like to be part of a our culture changing supporters group please contact Sarah [email protected]

Listen to the Podcast