A year in review: Chaplain Paul Whitfield

A year in review

Paul Whitfield Chaplain

Having attended a co-educational High School and worked at one previously, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first started at Penrhos College. I was encouraged to watch the movie ‘Mean Girls’ if I wanted to understand teenagers and, to be honest, it made me a little afraid.

‘Mean Girls’ follows the journey of Cady Heron, who moves from the wilds of Africa to the even wilder environment of North Shore High School in Illinois, in the United States. Here students compete to establish themselves in the most popular cliques and then fight to rise to the top. I began wondering if this would be the culture, I would find at Penrhos College?

Sitting in my first School Assembly, my fears were quickly put to rest. School Captain, Charlotte Gibbons took to the mic and interviewed the 2022 Student Council about their portfolios and passions. When quizzed about her favourite song, Chapel Captain Amber Du Plessis agonised over the difficult choice between Shine Jesus Shine and the School Benediction. Charlotte’s interest was genuine, and it started to dawn on me that Penrhos was a very different place to North Shore High.

Being a newcomer to these parts, I can’t pretend to know how we got to such a healthy place. What I can offer is some observations of how I think Penrhos has stayed this way. Most important are the students themselves – I’ve attended two camps this year, first with the Year 10s at Wooleen and then with the Year 9s at Waroona. Wooleen wasn’t easy. The group carried all their own equipment and hiked for seven nights straight. Students got tired and I saw firsthand the dangers of speaking when you’re “hangry” but when the pressure was on, they still showed compassion, kindness and stuck together.

Whenever things get stressful at Penrhos a quick chat with one of our Early Learning Centre students will brighten your day. Their welcome is unconditional, and enthusiasm is contagious. What is unusual about Penrhos College is that this is consistent across the entire College. When the Head of Junior School tours the campus with prospective families he invites any students to share what they think of the School (and doesn’t need to give them lines to say). When I invite students to share their thoughts in Chapel, I can give them the microphone and I am confident that they will use it for good rather than evil. The kindness and respect students consistently show has a ripple effect. It is normal to be enthusiastic and acceptable to stand out from the crowd.

How do the staff help in this? Again, I can’t pretend to be an expert, but a couple of things have struck me in particular. It seems staff are quick to praise students for showing kindness to each other. For every time I’ve seen staff call on students to change their behaviour, I’ve also seen staff ‘catching students being good’ and praising them publicly for the positive things they’ve done. I’ve also observed how hard staff work at making students the star of every show. In a busy College, that’s not always easy and certainly something I’d like to grow in personally.

The students at Penrhos are responsible for their own behaviour and are a credit to themselves. But they’re also a credit to the wider community. Parents and grandparents play a huge role in communicating a love of learning and shape their kids’ values in a way no one else can. Parenting is one of life’s biggest challenges but is also the most important job.

The culture at Penrhos is something worth celebrating and certainly worth working hard to maintain.