What community consultation revealed about our school values

Ros Curtis

Principal

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Most schools espouse certain values. They are meant to be both reflective, practical, and aspirational. Values shape our expectations of members of the school community, and they represent the deepest beliefs and sentiments to which all members of the community can aspire. Given the influential roles of schools on students over a long period of time, values that help students adopt appropriate behaviours are an important part of their education as citizens of good character. At St Margaret’s, our core values are the foundation of the nature of the interactions in the school, and they are educative. Core values help develop social skills, and they are used when lapses occur to remind people what is at the core of the St Margaret’s Way and, therefore, at the core of creating a sense of belonging and security in any community. St Margaret’s has had a long history of using its values to help communicate our school’s story – its mission, standards, and desired outcomes. Promoting these ideals provides the foundation for building the type of school climate we wish to foster. These values reflect the standards and the ways of thinking informed by the Philosophy of the Sisters of the Society of the Sacred Advent. In 2002, 107 years after its foundation and a steadfast commitment to the SSA philosophy, St Margaret’s chose to embark on a reflective exercise about the nature of the St Margaret’s experience. Three very important questions were asked:

• What do we value at St Margaret’s? • What makes St Margaret’s different from other schools? • What makes a St Margaret’s girl immediately recognisable whether she left school two years ago or 20 years ago? From a consultation with key stakeholders, including students, staff, parents, and Old Girls, they were able to identify six key values: • Spirit • Faith • Integrity • Courage • Respect • Passion A descriptor accompanied each value, and in 2016, there was a slight tweaking of each value’s description, so they read more like an outcome statement for each girl upon graduation. Essentially though, the commentary remained unchanged, and these values continued to be used in classrooms, on assemblies, and promoted in banners around the school. They have served the school well, and this was evident in 2021 when the school undertook a survey and/or consultation with staff, parents, and students to explore if these values still had currency 20 years on. Many other options (which were the result of consultation with staff) were provided to parents and students, and they had to choose those they thought were the most important and relevant for today. The results of this ‘temperature check’ showed a remarkable alignment of key stakeholders with the current school values and provided a ringing endorsement for them in the school context.

However, the value Faith, although still ‘scoring highly’ was overtaken by Inclusivity. In today’s world, being overt in our teaching of inclusivity is more important than ever, but for our school, simply replacing Faith with Inclusivity was not an option until it was decided that all our values sit on the bedrock of Faith and perhaps the Faith dimension needed to be reflected more in each value’s descriptor rather than being a stand-alone value.

As a side note, it was interesting that the current descriptor of Faith reflected Inclusivity: ‘A St Margaret’s girl welcomes and embraces all in sharing the Christian message, the spirit of love through example, compassion, hope and charity. She demonstrates the faith by service to those members of the wider community who need assistance.’ A comparison of our current values with the proposed changes is listed opposite. These values will continue to shape our school, our staff, our students, and our wider community. They will be continued to be ‘taught and caught’ through explicit teaching, the provision of good example, influential role-modelling, expectation, and publication. Their importance should not be underestimated as they shape the mindsets and ethical behaviours of our future citizens and leaders.

CURRENT VALUES

Our Values

The school’s six core values of spirit, faith, integrity, courage, respect, and passion are embedded in every endeavour that the students undertake.

Spirit: A St Margaret’s girl will value and demonstrate an enthusiasm for the school, our heritage, and our environment. The St Margaret’s spirit is in all students and is there for life. It is a thread that connects St Margaret’s girls with each other.

Faith: A St Margaret’s girl welcomes and embraces all in sharing the Christian message, the spirit of love through example, compassion, hope and charity. She demonstrates her faith by service to those members of the wider community who need assistance. Integrity: A St Margaret’s girl is known for her honesty, trustworthiness, loyalty, courtesy, understanding, reliability, and ethical behaviour.

Courage: A St Margaret’s girl has strength of character and confidence in doing what is right. She has the courage to embrace challenge and change.

Respect: A St Margaret’s girl has respect for herself and others. She understands that she is a member of a diverse community and she takes responsibility as a team member to care, support and cooperate with others. Passion: A St Margaret’s girl expresses gratitude for the gift of life. She has a positive outlook on life that drives the commitment and persistence necessary in learning and achievement.

PROPOSED NEW VALUES

Our Values

The school’s six core values are born from our Christian faith through our Anglican tradition: spirit, inclusivity, integrity, courage, respect, and passion, and are embedded in every endeavour that the students undertake.

Spirit: A St Margaret’s girl will value and demonstrate an enthusiasm for the school, our faith tradition, and our environment. The St Margaret’s spirit is in all students and is there for life. It is a thread that connects St Margaret’s girls with each other.

Inclusivity: A St Margaret’s girl knows that every single person reflects the image of God and deserves to be treated with dignity. She demonstrates inclusivity by acting with compassion and charity, celebrating the gifts of every individual.

Integrity: A St Margaret’s girl is known for her ethical behaviour. She is honest and reliable and acts with integrity.

Courage: A St Margaret’s girl has strength of character and confidence in doing what is right. She is a part of a long line of women of faith who have had the courage to embrace challenge and change. Respect: A St Margaret’s girl has respect for herself and others. She understands that she is a member of a diverse community and she takes responsibility as a team member to care, support and cooperate with others. Passion: A St Margaret’s girl expresses gratitude for the gift of life. She has a positive outlook on life that drives the commitment and persistence necessary in learning and achievement.

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