Be Brave, Be Kind.

The dawn of every new term brings the prospect of new challenges and new opportunities and, as we look forward to Term 4 of our first year, the opportunities that lie before us are not only relate to the rest of this year but are also linked to preparing for 2018 and the challenges of growth and adding a new cohort to our College.

One of our important roles over the rest of this year is in preparing our current learners to grow into Year 10’s and growing our staff to the point where we can successfully induct our next group of teachers into Rolleston College.

It is all very well to talk about being role models and leaders and ‘stepping up’ but for many of us we don’t really know what that look or feels like in a new environment. Establishing what in fact ‘stepping up’ looks like for us will form an important part of our development as a community over the rest of this year.

All of us have been used to being the first wave and embracing the opportunities that this blank canvas presents, but what does it mean to now share our spaces, to welcome in new members of our community, to make them feel part of our environment and ensure that they feel safe and supported during this process.

What has almost naturally emerged as the key idea in this process can be captured in two very simple phrases;

Be Brave

Be Kind.

 

Putting those two phrases together, what matters is empowering our current community to be brave enough to be kind and be brave enough to care.

These two phrases work for us because they capture the importance of individual choices and individual decisions. Be brave enough to be the individual you know you can be, be brave enough enough to stand up for what is right, to do what is right.  Be brave enough to listen to your gut and not do something when your gut tells you that it is not right.

Be brave enough to be true to yourself, to not follow the herd but to be an individual, brave enough to stand tall and proud as an individual.

If we can get our learners to be brave then they will be in a position to be kind, to care. If we can get our learners to a stage where they are standing tall and proud as individuals then they can stand strong and tall for others.

This is not always easy as young adults often see themselves as the centre of a universe that revolves around them, they are, at times, quite self centred and so developing a social awareness is not always easy or natural. Having said this I firmly believe that most of our learners are developing their individual identity and bravery to the point where they will be ready for 2018, they are ready to be kind and to care.

I see how they proudly displayed their personal character strengths on our Character Day. I listen in awe at how they talk at our celebration assemblies about growth and benefit mind sets and kindness. I see how they show a growing sense of responsibility for environmental issues and how enthusiastically they ally themselves to external care related organisations and events like Pink Shirt Day and Red Cross.

It is not easy being a teenager and they need to be brave to stay true to the values that will get them through.

What is interesting is that in this digital world the very same values that we want our learners to display in their face to face interactions are identical to those that they need to have when interacting in the cyber world. Both are real worlds and our expectations of appropriate behaviours need to be the same in both.

Being brave and being kind is just as important in the ‘on line’ world as it is in the face to face world. This is an important part of our Be Brave, Be Kind initiative. Be the person ‘on line’ that you are’off line’ and be proud of your actions in both of those worlds because both are linked by the same individual… you.

The kindness we are referring to is linked to helping others, standing up for others and keeping an eye out for others. In short treating others as you would want to be treated. To do this though we have to be really comfortable with who we are. The strong individual can create the strong community.

The concepts of bravery and kindness work well for us as aspirational traits that once acquired will arm our learners with the skills to face all challenges as opportunities not obstacles. I see evidence of them doing this every day but that does not mean that we can’t all get stronger, get braver and develop our ability to be kind further.

These two simple phrases also link to our school vision of growing individuals with an awareness of community and the skills to influence our futures.