“If we walk in the light, as he is the light, we have fellowship with one another.” 1 John 1:7
To the family and friends of St Edmund’s College,
This week we welcomed back Year 11 and Year 12 to face-to-face learning, and next week (on Monday 25 October) we welcome back our students in Years 6, 9 and 10. I am so thankful that the buzz is gradually returning to St Edmund’s College, with all students back on board on Monday 1 November.
It is a very important week for our Year 11 students. Not only do they return on campus, but they are actively participating in the process to determine our 2022 student leaders. Those students who have been nominated for College Captain / Vice Captains will be presenting their nominee speeches to Year 11 and the College Leadership Team on Friday of this week. I wish those students all the very best in their presentations.
The student leadership positions for next year have had a new, important component added to them – we will now incorporate the EREA Charter Touchstones into leadership positions. The College Captain will have stewardship of the Touchstone of Inclusive Community; the Academic Vice-Captain will have stewardship of the Touchstone of Liberating Education; the Mission Vice-Captain will have stewardship of the Touchstone of Gospel Spirituality; and the Service Vice-Captain will have stewardship of the Touchstone of Justice and Solidarity. These positions will not be solely responsible for promoting their respective Touchstone, but will have stewardship of the Touchstone in working with others to clarify and promote the Touchstone with students, staff and our community throughout the year.
The Touchstones gives *EREA and its schools ideals authentically linked with the charism which underpins the ministry in EREA schools and educational endeavours. They help us set our direction and define our goals as, following Blessed Edmund’s vision, we continue to reflect and seek to make the Gospel a living reality in our communities. (*EREA – Edmund Rice Education Australia).
Our student leadership at St Edmund’s College is centred on the significant and valued concept of servant leadership. The phrase “servant leadership” was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in 1970. Greenleaf writes that the servant-leader is servant first; it begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the “top of the pyramid,” servant leadership is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible. This is servant leadership in a secular sense. Our sense of servant leadership is very much in a strong Christian context.
Jesus is the model servant leader. He submitted his own life to sacrificial service under the will of God, and he sacrificed his life freely out of service for others. There are many practical references to servant leadership in the New Testament, with the most well-known being John 13:1-17, where Jesus washes the feet of his followers, which was properly the responsibility of the house-servant.
Jesus often talks about this sense of servant leadership. Last Sunday’s Gospel gives us a beautiful example of this. When we get to Mark 10:35-45, Jesus has informed the disciples many times of what will happen to him and has explained to them the nature of the Kingdom of God. Yet we have the sense that they still don’t “get it”. At one point James and John turn to Jesus and ask him if they can sit on either side of him, thus showing their status and importance amongst the disciples. If we were put in this position, I’m sure our eyes would be rolling with frustration at James and John’s ignorance. Who knows, perhaps Jesus did roll his eyes at them. What the Gospel tells us though is that Jesus demonstrates patience, and once again explains to them the idea of status and authority,
Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Servant leadership is to serve the needs of others, which is quite a liberating experience. It implies recognising others’ needs (without judging them), and then doing what can be done, in line with the higher purpose of serving God first, to help satisfy that need. A servant leader is Christ-centred in all aspects of life; committed to serve the needs of others before their own; courageous to lead with power and love as an expression of serving, consistently developing others into servant leaders, and continually inviting feedback from those that they want to serve in order to grow and flourish. It is with strong and vibrant hope that we are fostering this sense of leadership in our students.
School Zone Update
I have received communication from the Director of the School Safety Program that the issue of a 40kph school zone on Canberra Avenue is now part of a wider consideration of traffic in the local area, “Roads ACT has requested further advice from the consultant about potential treatments on Canberra Ave to increase safety for students, including how any future improvements at Hume Circle may impact the traffic flow and vehicle speeds in the area. The consultant is currently investigating this further and will provide recommendations to Roads ACT to consider” (5 October 2021). The Hume Circle is the large roundabout near the school connecting Canberra Avenue, Wentworth Avenue and Sturt Avenue. Whilst on one hand this is encouraging, it has now been well over a year that I made my initial enquiry about the school zone, and it concerns me that we now have students returning to school after lockdown who will be attempting to cross Canberra Avenue and we are in absolutely no better or safer position than we were a year ago except that we are part of a wider traffic study. This is extremely frustrating. I will keep you informed of any further progress.
EREA Child Safeguarding Standards
This week we continue exploring the Standards by looking at Standards 5 and 6.
Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA) and St Edmund’s College Canberra are committed to creating an environment in which the safety, wellbeing and participation of all children and young people are paramount. We have zero tolerance of child abuse and all allegations and safety concerns are treated very seriously in line with our robust policies and procedures. EREA and St Edmund’s College have legal and moral obligations to contact authorities when we are worried about a child’s safety, which we follow rigorously.
EREA has responded proactively to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse by developing a set of Child Safeguarding Standards. The EREA Child Safeguarding Standards Framework is designed to further enhance a culture within St Edmund’s College and all EREA schools wherein protecting children and young people from abuse and other harm, and the promotion of child safety, participation, empowerment and wellbeing, are embedded in the everyday thinking and practice of our leaders, staff and volunteers.
The EREA Child Safeguarding Standards ensure accountability for the protection and safety of the children and young people under our care. St Edmund’s College and all EREA schools and entities are held accountable to the Child Safeguarding Standards and we will regularly report to EREA on how these standards are being addressed here.
The purpose and intent of the Standards contained in this Framework are to embed a culture of child safety and wellbeing by demonstrating values in practice, nurturing the wellbeing of all children and young people, respecting their dignity, ensuring their safety and protecting them from abuse and other harm. This we do, at all times, by acting in the best interests of children and young people under our care. The Framework should be read alongside the EREA Child Safeguarding Policy which can be found here, and the St Edmund’s College Canberra Commitment to Child Safety which can be found here. The entire EREA Child Safeguarding Standards Framework can be found here.
STANDARD 5: ROBUST HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT. People working with children and young people are suitable and supported to reflect child safeguarding values in practice.
Rationale: Each EREA school implements robust, child safe human resources policies and work practices that are designed to reduce the risk of child abuse and other harm by Staff, Volunteers and Contractors.
The core components of child safe human resources management at St Edmund’s College are:
- Recruitment of Staff and relevant Volunteers and Contractors, including advertising, pre-employment screening and selection, emphasises child safeguarding.
- Relevant Staff, Volunteers and Contractors have Working with Children Checks (or equivalent background checks).
- Staff, Volunteers and Contractors receive an appropriate induction, or relevant information, so that they are aware of their Child Safeguarding responsibilities to children and young people, including reporting obligations, while at the school.
- Ongoing supervision and people management is focused on child safeguarding.
- The school has targeted programs for the screening, induction, professional supervision and development of overseas church personnel.
STANDARD 6: EFFECTIVE COMPLAINTS HANDLING. Processes for raising child safety concerns and complaints are responsive, understood, accessible and used by children and young people, families, carers, relevant communities, and staff.
St Edmund’s College has developed, communicated and effectively implemented child-focused processes to respond to child safety-related complaints and concerns.
Rationale: Ensuring that processes for receiving child safety related complaints, and for responding to child safety incidents, complaints and concerns are effective is an important strategy for helping and encouraging children and young people, families, staff and others to raise any concerns about child safety. Policies and procedures for responding to child safety incidents, complaints and concerns should be clear, comprehensive, accessible, and responsive to and understood by children and young people, families, Staff, Volunteers and Contractors. The College Leadership Team needs to be aware of any and all incidents, complaints or concerns of abuse, harm or other child safety concerns that involve the school and/or school Staff, Volunteers and Contractors, and all Staff, Volunteers and Contractors must be supportive of children and young people, parents/carers and others who have made a complaint or raised a concern, or who have witnessed a child safety incident.
What is St Edmund’s College expected to have in place to comply with Standard 6? The core components of effective complaints handling processes for and responses to child safety incidents, concerns and complaints are:
- St Edmund’s College has effective Child Safeguarding and complaints handling policies and procedures which clearly outline roles and responsibilities, approaches to dealing with different types of child safety incidents, complaints and concerns, reporting obligations and record keeping requirements.
- St Edmund’s College has a child-focused complaints handling system that is understood by children and young people, families, Staff, Volunteers and Contractors.
- All child safety incidents, complaints and concerns are taken seriously, and responded to promptly and thoroughly.
- College policies and procedures address reporting of incidents, complaints and concerns to relevant authorities, whether or not the law requires reporting. The requirement to cooperate with investigating authorities is also explicit.
- College policies and procedures for responding to child safety incidents, complaints and concerns ensure that the school, and its Staff, Volunteers and Contractors, meet their external reporting, privacy and employment law obligations.
- St Edmund’s College has mechanisms in place to support parents/carers or adults who are former students and who make complaints about child safety incidents or concerns involving the school or its Staff, Volunteers and Contractors.
- St Edmund’s College has mechanisms in place to monitor and support Staff, and relevant Volunteers and Contractors, facing child safety allegations.
Next week we will explore Standards 7 and 8.
From now on, when an initiative or program is raised in Vortex or any other College publication or communication, we will explicitly make the connection to the relevant Child Safeguarding Standard so the whole community is aware of how we are meeting our expectations. We will also post the ways in which we comply with each Standard on our website.
Prayer
Loving God,
As we discern the meaning of our call to servant leadership,
help us recognise the ways you seek to minister through our lives.
Inspired by the knowledge of your abiding presence,
may we have the courage to reach out and support one another,
to stand firm in what is true,
to decrease when others should increase,
and to lead with vision and compassion,
as faithful followers of Jesus, your Son.
We make this prayer to you in his name.
Amen
Blessed Edmund Rice, pray for us.
Live Jesus in our Hearts, forever.
Joe Zavone
Principal
Christus Lux Mea