Parent Connections Group
I have been reading an interesting book by Thomas Friedman, “Thank you for being late” (2017). Nigel Grant passed it to me and I have since encouraged others to read it.
Freidman, a renowned foreign affairs journalist with The New York Times, shares his insights of the rapidly changing world in which we find ourselves living. His observation, which I am sure you can attest, is that our world is transforming at an ever-increasing rate and it is incredibly hard to keep up.
The key influencers on that rate of change are technology, global warming and globalisation. He uses the theory of Moore’s Law to plot the rate of change. It has got to the point that we cannot possibly keep up. We are at risk of being overwhelmed.
However, it isn’t just those three drivers that are causing change. Another example is COVID-19. A pandemic has disrupted the world overnight and each day things change again.
Sadly, it has taken a pandemic for us to realise just how fragile the world we live in can be, and has caused us to stop and reflect on what is actually important in life.
One of the things we have realised is important is resilience. How we come through a challenge, such as COVID, is largely influenced by our resilience and outlook on life.
Another of the things that has been vital is the notion of community, one of the School’s three core values.
Friedman proposes that a key thing that will help us cope with the ever-increasing rate of change, which he likens to a hurricane, is community. “When people feel embedded in a community, they feel protected, respected and connected” (page 391).
For St Paul’s School, the concept of connectedness is not just for students, but also for the families who are part of our community. There are many ways you can be part of this community, but we are exploring new ideas that may meet your needs and connect you to others in our School.
The Parent Connections Group is a committee of St Paul’s School parents whose focus is building community for our parents. They have plenty of ideas, but would like to hear what your interests are, to help them decide which ideas they should develop further. It would be great if you would complete this short survey, responding to some of their ideas: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/S8TKX9P
