Friends Schools place a priority on teaching the values felt necessary for leading a life of service in the community. We seek to encourage our children to explore their individuality and their responsibility as school community members in the framework of a person of faith. Friends School staff seek to permeate the whole of our school life in each classroom with these values. The school staff seek to reward those who enhance the life of our school community and to encourage better behavior from those whose actions or words are unacceptable to us.
One method we use to teach those values is through our Ethics Program.
Allied to the Ethics Program is the Community Service Program which aims at helping students to develop a strong sense of affiliation to their community. As a child progresses through each school campus, he or she is encouraged to learn from and support those who are less fortunate than themselves and to expect to play a part in service to the community. The International Baccalaureate program includes this element as a necessary component for the successful completion of the Certificate or Diploma.
We also hold Silent Meeting throughout the school program as an important part of a Friends School experience. These periods of quiet are given to remind us all of the presence of God in our lives and in the community. They provide a little time to learn to lay aside the business of our lives and relationships and be still.
Our Meeting for Learning program each fortnight is designed to provide an opportunity for students to share in the celebration of the life of the school and the gifts that students bring to life in the School community. It may also be used to manage or reflect upon events which affect our lives together. The program may from time to time re-inforce the history of our school and our land, hear directly from our graduates about their successes and failures, learn something of our Quaker culture and tradition and reflect any aspect of our life and times together which is best heard as a gathered community. Friends School makes every effort to make these occasions special and memorable.
