… from the newsletter notes of Head Teacher John Boyce
When the Ministry rewrote the National Curriculum for schools they incorporated a number of changes that Catholic schools take for granted.
It was good to see United World Colleges looking at Nelson-and interesting to see their “emphasis on service to the arts, environment and community” (quoted in the Nelson Mail).
New Zealand has gone through a very secular period where education has focused on information.
Catholic schools have never believed that. Our Curriculum Policy contains a quote from BF Skinner:
Education is what is left when what was learned has been forgotten
… and we have always believed that. In the big scheme of things the information students learn is not as important as what they learn about being good people, good citizens, and good parents.
These things do not rely on information. Good parents and citizens do need to know things-and definitely need to be confident in their ability to find important information-but an ingrained awareness of right and wrong, and strong values like love, compassion, fidelity, hope, hospitality-as well as a sense of our responsibility to leave the world a better place-are crucial if we are to have a happy and fulfilled life.
And we need a range of competencies like being able to think and base our conclusions on principles rather than self, to be able to communicate, to be able to take responsibility for ourselves and our lives, and the ability to get on with a wide range of other people.
These are the things we stand for. These qualities are what we look for in our staff when we employ them. And at the end of the year we will look for growth in these areas when we make our awards.