What does culture mean in a school?

‘What does culture mean in a school?’

This was a question asked by one of our Year 6 students in response to the School Survey this year. It is a good question and, for that student, rather than answer the survey question it became something to clarify. What is a school culture? How is it reflected and what does it say to the students and staff in our community?

Last week our primary learning support teacher, Mrs Honey shared the thinking of some of our Year 2 students with me, students aged 7 or 8 years old. For them, culture is simply “the way a group of people think and act”. I like this definition, the consistency of thought and action is an important way of differentiating personal preference from the type of deep culture that guides us whether we are aware of its effect on us or not.

“For them, culture is simply “the way a group of people think and act”.”

However, it was what came next from our Year 2 students that answered that question of culture in our School in a way that highlighted the heart at work in Calvin Christian School. Our Year 2s reflected that “in our School culture, we are allowed to talk about God and pray.  We can pray to God and pray for each other”.

What a beautiful way to describe a culture of care and concern for others built from our central relationship with God. It expresses a feeling of privilege that, to talk about God and to God is something quite unique and not the experience for all students in our state. For our students, responding to the question of whether Calvin had a ‘strong Christian culture’, ranged between 80-90%. One of our parents described this culture as a “Caring culture and strong Christian values (not just nominal, but part of school life)”.

This is the heart of Christian Education, a concern that our children not just learn the ‘head knowledge’ of what Christianity is but have the opportunity to learn it and live it in an environment where faith is valued. Experiencing this as part of a Christian learning community, we pray, is a transformational experience in the lives of our students. As parents, we invite you again to join in this journey of passing something of eternal worth onto our children, a faith and hope that leads to a life of meaning and purpose.

Scott Ambrose - Principal