Page 3 - HCC Connect Vol 24 Issue 10 Nov 3 2023

From the Head of Senior School
Mr Scott Carson
Unveiling the Uniqueness:
How Does Christian Education Set Itself Apart?
I recently started thinking about what should be the hallmarks of Christian Education. What should set us apart as a Christian school and how should a Christian teacher be uniquely different? The answer was clear: LOVE. Love should be at the core of everything we
do here at Harvest Christian College. When we are teaching our classes, love should be the driving force. When we are disciplining a student, love should be the guiding principle, guiding us to restore. When we are writing reports, love should guide us in both celebrating achievements and in suggesting improvements that need to be made. Put simply, love should be at the heart of everything we do as Christian teachers and as a Christian school.
The Bible has a lot to say about this. Romans 12:9-13 says:
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practise hospitality.
Or there is a very famous passage from 1 Corinthians 13:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
The staff at Harvest desire our College to be a community of love, and this is on display in many different areas. Naturally, we always strive for improvement, but I am encouraged when I observe the way that some of our students care for each other and how they also care for our staff. Just recently, I received a lovely message from a student, filled with gratitude,
and it warmed my heart to see that our students
have this capacity to act from a place of love. Our students regularly get the chance to display gratitude and encouragement towards their peers and staff through a website called Pulse. Pulse is a system that lets schools collect data that is frequent, timely, and able to be acted on quickly. It works by asking a small number of questions regularly so schools can quickly build and maintain an up-to-date picture of wellbeing and engagement. On my most recent reading of the data, 77% of our students had expressed gratitude at least once during the year. This is most encouraging and helps us to see that a culture of love is being built throughout our College through having the chance to give encouragement and express gratitude.
This dovetails nicely with the mission statement of the College, which reads:
To share the
light of the
Gospel through
a Christ-centred
education within
a loving and caring Christian environment, giving students the opportunity to grow a Christian faith and develop their God-given gifts and talents, equipping them for a life with hope, meaning and purpose.
May we never shy away from our mission, and may we all continue to grow into it, educating in love.
3 SERVING the Yorke Peninsula for over 20 years