Acting Principal
Kindness, acceptance and inclusion
Many parents and boys have completed surveys about the College over the three months. Surveys conducted included:
- Year 12 Exit survey
- Parent exit survey
- Year 5 transition survey
- Year 7 transition survey
The data will be used to underpin school improvement practices and inform our priorities aimed at improving the quality of holistic educational practices at the College.
Overwhelmingly, the feedback the College has received is positive and supportive of what we are doing. I want to congratulate everyone for that. We are a wonderful community and we have much to be proud of.
However, we also need to keep improving to recognise that we are not perfect and there are actions we could take that would make us better. There is a concept in business that talks about going from good to great. This means that the comfort of complacency must be overcome. A culture of listening to feedback from our community must be in place.
There were two main areas of improvement repeatedly suggested throughout all the survey data. The first is, in my opinion, a simple one to fix. Maybe your son has already come home and told you how, on assembly, I spoke about respecting our toilets and using them correctly. I am sure many parents are already nodding knowingly at what this is about. Put simply, we have asked the boys to be considerate, and leave the toilets clean, the way they found them. Such a simple change can, from all the survey comments, make a significant difference to our community.
The next change is not as simple but it is a challenge that, to be true to our mission, we must be prepared to address. It also has to be student-led. Some respondents spoke of a form of bullying that can occur at the College. It wasn’t physical bullying or even bullying using social media. There was a suggestion that our most prevalent form of bullying is one that centres around exclusion. I have spoken at an assembly earlier in the year about the concept of being a diverse community, challenging the boys to make us a truly inclusive community.
Taking this into consideration I have challenged the boys to look at themselves and ask the following questions:
- Are we kind to each other?
- Do we accept each other?
- Do we include everyone?
Kindness - this is very evident and easy to achieve. It simply means each person is going to be polite, say the right things and treat each other nicely. This includes a simple hello, and saying please and thank you at the appropriate times. It includes helping a classmate with their work or answering a question when they ask or simply doing anything that is going to make someone’s day a little better. Kindness takes little if any effort and it is a minimum expectation of every Nudgee College student.
Acceptance - this goes further than simply being kind. It involves the boys recognising that we are all different and there is just not one form of ‘cool’ or ‘normal’ that we accept. This means if other boys have different interests, strengths, challenges or quirks, as an accepting community, we embrace their uniqueness. I think we can be better at this. I know we are a diverse community but are we always accepting? Do we acknowledge that every single member of the College community is valued and makes an important contribution to our community. Do we honestly see every person the way God sees them - wonderfully and perfectly made in his image? Do we see that our role is to build each other up, not tear each other down? If we are accepting, then we don’t care that someone is different. We look for their gifts and talents rather than focusing on the things that make them different to us. It’s easy to reject someone - it takes strength to accept.
Inclusion - Inclusion and acceptance go hand in hand. The challenge for all Nudgee gentlemen is to break the mould of that stereotypical, ‘too cool for school’ mentality that can seep into friendship groups. True inclusion means you are well aware of how your action or inaction may make someone feel excluded, alone or basically, sad. When you deliberately ignore someone, or exclude them or target them with negative attention, then you are not showing understanding of something that is at the core of Edmund Rice traditions. You are not showing what it means to extend dignity to every person, to be an inclusive community or to be a tolerant, caring and just society.
Being kind is easy. Accepting and including take real strength and real courage. Being able to accept and include is what separates the Nudgee student from the Nudgee man.
My hope is our boys can show self-respect as well as respect for their peers and College property by keeping the toilets clean.
A tougher challenge is to embrace not just kindness but acceptance and inclusion. As parents and teachers, we need to help our boys develop understanding, consideration and empathy. We owe it to them, and to every member of our diverse community, to guide them, challenge them and encourage them to be better versions of themselves.
Boys who can demonstrate an understanding of and ability to behave in this way are boys who are true signs of faith. These are the boys we want to lead the school.
Mr David Johnston
Acting Principal