I wanted to share a little bit more with you about our core purpose, our deep hope at RCC for your children and you, their family.
We are passionately committed to creating students who know they have been intentionally created to do great things, who believe they have a God-given purpose and who live with a resilient hope as a result of knowing this.
On these strong foundations of identity, purpose and hope, we partner with you to educate our students, your children, in such a way that they become contributors in their world; young people who know how they intend to leave their fingerprint, their unique mark, on their local and global world.
It is funny though, as I grow just a little bit older, the more I realise Ecclesiastes 1:9 is so true. Ecclesiastes is a book in the Bible that forms part of what is called Wisdom literature and though this book can be a difficult read because he is very real and very honest about the state of his world, some even argue a little too dark or bleak. I love it because it doesn’t shy away from honest truths, particularly 1:9: What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun (1:9).
I was pondering this reality as I was reading an article the other day about some influential people in our world who have decided they are going to build their own schools – Elon Musk and Richard Branson.
Elon’s school is basically small, highly selective and tech and you have to be able to afford it…
Branson, on the other hand, has released the first course of the University of Dyslexic Thinking on the educational platform Open Education. This course, called Changemakers and Activism, seeks to educate its students about Dyslexic Thinking and the vital role it plays in creating powerful changemakers. It celebrates the unique set of thinking skills that people with dyslexia have and promotes the role this will play in a changing world.
The course teaches these fundamentals of thinking:
- Creative thinking
- Communication and Interpersonal skills
- Adaptability and resilience
- Complex problem solving
How awesome, right? Is it important? Absolutely. But, not because of the thinking skills it teaches, because of the foundational premise that everyone has gifts worth contributing to their world, they just have to believe it, understand it and live it. However, is this new? I don’t think so.
I shared at the commencement ceremony – not just my failings as a skier – but our desire to partner with you to continue to enable our students to achieve their God-given purposes and dreams.
To do this at RCC we have 6 principes for education that we believe if we adhere to, we will be able to achieve this goal for every student. One of these key principles (4) says:
All students possess unique experiences, abilities and motivations that influence how they learn well. Therefore, every student deserves to be understood, catered for and celebrated.
Branson’s idea is not new to education, nor is this idea new to the concepts God outlines for how we should treat one another. What I always love to see is the rest of the world catch up to God’s ways – and it is exciting that this is what we are seeing through Branson’s Virgin Unite educational company.
Our world is starting to act on, even celebrate, the keys that God has long given us to adapt to and make a mark on our world. Together, our responsibility, be our students neurodiverse or not, is to give everyone the opportunity to understand who God made them to be and their God-given gifts. We must then take every opportunity to empower them to live out this understanding with a deep sense of purpose that leads to unrelenting hope.
I had more to say and celebrate on the night, but for now I will leave it here. I hope that Solomon’s idea that ‘there is nothing new under the sun’ inspires you to realise that when we partner with God and each other we understand that we have the keys to unlock a life of deep purpose and great hope in our kids.
Good tidings,
Jonno
