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Principal's Reflection - 7 March

Welcome to the third Principal's Reflection for Term 1, 2025.

Global Perspectives

"We believe that the humanity cultivated through moral education will be the foundation for academics, sports and all other educational activities."

These words, from Principal Shouji of Teikyo Junior and Senior High School, stuck with me as I left this impressive school in Tokyo last year. Teikyo is one of the schools we engage with for our International Program, and despite it not being a faith-based school, I was impressed by just how well their values align with St Luke’s. Their school emblem is a bee resting on three cherry blossoms. The cherry blossoms represent intellectual education, moral education, and physical education, and the bee represents hard work and diligence. Teikyo’s practices, and what we see in their students, very much model these ideals.

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It is not a happy accident that Teikyo Junior and Senior High School have values that are compatible with St Luke’s. Indeed, the international partnerships we cultivate are carefully selected for their alignment with our own view of education. We currently maintain four existing, strong partnerships with Teikyo, Toyo High School, also in Tokyo, Choi Kou Anglican in Macau, and Macau Baptist College. In addition, St Luke’s is commencing a new partnership with Clover International School, a school one hour from Nagoya, Japan.

The students who travel from these schools to St Luke’s experience tremendous benefits from their international experience, but our students benefit greatly as well. Broadly, our students are able to experience different cultures, expand their world view, make connections across the globe, and sometimes, by participating in one of our international cultural tours, visit our international guests in their own schools. In fact, the Senior students who joined our Japanese Cultural Tour in December 2024 were treated to a traditional tea ceremony by students from Teikyo during their day spent at Teikyo.

My family regularly hosts students from our international partner schools, and it is a very rewarding experience for our children. Last year, we hosted two students from Macau, for 12-day study tours, and currently we are hosting Momoka from Teikyo on a 10-week immersion program. Our family stays in contact with each of the students we have hosted and it is a delight to hear their stories as they finish school in their home countries and head off to university and work. I can absolutely recommend being a homestay family. If it is something you would like to consider, please reach out to our Registrar, Caroline Warnock (caroline-warnock@stlukes.qld.edu.au). Beyond the generous weekly payment, there are many wonderful memories to be made.

Thank you for your ongoing support of our School.

Matthew Hughes

Principal