Principal's Reflection - 25 July

School Community Input

As we look ahead to the future of St Luke’s Anglican School, it is so important that we engage widely with our School community to ensure we are aware of what students, families and staff believe should be the priorities in the years ahead. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all members of the St Luke’s community who took the time to provide feedback via the MMG survey. The analysis of this feedback is due back to the School this week, and I look forward to sharing it with you in future reflections.  

The return of the MMG feedback allows us to progress to the next stage of seeking community feedback. Parents and carers may recall that the School has engaged Independent Schools Queensland (ISQ) to conduct stakeholder engagement sessions, in order to provide a ‘deep dive’ into the broad priorities and areas of interest that arise from the MMG feedback. ISQ have confirmed with St Luke’s that these engagement sessions will occur on Monday 8 September, and opportunities will be extended to students, parents and carers, and staff. The School has asked for parent/carer sessions to be available both during the day and in the early evening. When session details have been finalised with ISQ, they will be advertised to parents. I ask parents and carers to please mark this day in their calendars, so we are able to reach as many people as possible through the stakeholder engagement sessions. 

What is Dignity?

On Tuesday, I was fortunate enough to accompany St Luke’s students to the Anglican Schools Commission Student Forum with Dr Beth-Sarah Wright, held at St Hilda’s School on the Gold Coast. It was a fantastic day, filled with provocative conversations and creative thinking. During her keynote address, Dr Wright posed the question, “What is Dignity?”. She asked those assembled if humans all had the same amount of dignity and if it could be given or taken away. Dr Wright argued that dignity is the same in every human. That it is the breath of life, or what Christians would view as the spark of the Divine, present in everyone, regardless of where they lived, what their upbringing was, their actions to date or the way they had been treated by others. Dr Wright pointed out that while dignity cannot be given or taken away, it could be not seen by others, and that when humans don’t see the dignity in others, in communities, or indeed in whole countries, that is when people feel empowered to treat them poorly. It is Dr Wright’s firm belief that if people could learn to see the dignity in every human being, it would change the world. I wholeheartedly believe this is true. 

A key part of seeing the dignity in others is understanding their stories. Mr Cathcart has recently challenged Years 10, 11 and 12 students to try to understand homelessness better by taking part in St Luke’s first School Sleep Out for Homelessness, an overnight event that raises awareness about one of Australia’s most pressing social issues. This is not just about sleeping outside. It’s about standing in solidarity with over 122,000 people in Australia who experience homelessness on any given night. Shockingly, 1 in 6 of these are aged 12–24 years. While it will be uncomfortable, students who participate will be safe (something not always available to those experiencing homelessness), with a security guard and staff on hand throughout the night. 

Thank you for your ongoing support of our School.

Mr Matthew Hughes

Principal