Sometimes as parents, we feel so familiar with our own children that it takes a while to stop and realise that they are growing and maturing in ways that can be obvious or almost imperceptible.
I have heard friends talk about the sense that ‘one day they turn around and their child had grown up’. What they mean, of course, is that they have suddenly realised that all of those incremental changes have transformed their child.
As parents, my wife and I have always recorded the annual growth in stature of each of our children, measuring their height at each birthday and recording the information. They love to see how they have grown and to compare their own height to each of their siblings at the same age (and looked forward to overtaking their parents). Somehow, for children, the idea of growth and change is a given, whereas as parents, we often get the sense that it has ‘crept up on us’. For both my children and me, it is something to celebrate.
How have your children grown and developed over the course of this year or the last few years? In what ways are you beginning to see transformations in their lives, big or small?
If you have visited our website recently, you may have noticed the Christian Schools Tasmania wide vision adopted this year, “to be a transformational Christian learning community”. The word ‘transformational’ is a key element of this vision as we both see and plan for learning and growing opportunities that will transform our students, staff and school communities. In its deepest sense, this transformation is part of the work of God in our lives, ‘conforming’ us to the person of Jesus in such a way that it transforms our lives, hopes, and perspectives, increasingly reflecting Him.
“At a school level, we actively plan for opportunities to bring about growth and change that we pray will ultimately be transformative. ”
At a school level, we actively plan for opportunities to bring about growth and change that we pray will ultimately be transformative. This is part of the promise and hope of Christian Education, that we will, in partnership with parents and recognising the work of God, prepare our children academically, socially, physically and spiritually and that they ultimately will be engaging with our society and culture in ways that transform our communities. Luke 2:52 records the growth of the boy Jesus in exactly these terms, “and Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man” and he ultimately transformed and continues to transform our world.
Scott Ambrose — Principal