I have just returned from an odyssey: our first Democracy Run expedition.  Leo Baker, Jo Hoy and I took away 23 students from Years 9 and 10 on an epic journey around NSW.

This is a point of difference for Living School.  Our Stage 5 program offers challenges via big learning expeditions.  Going out into the field is memorable and creates a “lived” experience for learning in context.  There is also the social dimension – managing the eating, sleeping and logistics of time can draw out the very best opportunities for patience, persistence and positivity.  I commend all our students – there were lurgies, tiredness, accidents, weather!

How impressive is it to watch a totally committed and caring staff work together as a team for the benefit of raising ‘good’ children?  Going away for seven days, sleeping on floors and in tents, driving others’ children on long roads is a full commitment.  This desire to give so much to the lives of others needs to be highlighted and celebrated – or else we run the risk of just taking it for granted.  Caring is such a key element of all that I have discussed this year.  Caring is it.  That is the most fundamental element that underpins all our 3Rs.

Respect requires an understanding and a sense of urgency, the selfless desire to care: to care for others, to care for property and to care for ourselves.  This is healthy.

Responsibility feeds off care.  We take responsibility because we care for the importance of rules, we care for the importance of others to be different, we care that it is important we place our wants and needs after those of other people.

And how fundamental is care to positive and productive Relationships?  Care is the ingredient that allows relationships to be nurtured.  Care overcomes the hardships when there are disagreements.  Tension is a catalyst of change.  Care is the cement that allows us to appreciate differences.

Our teachers and staff truly care – I know all schools do say this, but we offer exceptional care in so many trying situations.  We care for the individual – and we must care for the collective.  This was my key message at our school assembly on Monday: Individualism versus Collectivism.  I highlighted the cultural differences – how our European upbringing is directed to the individual; how more Asian cultures have a collective understanding.  Being selfish is not an option if you are thinking of the whole.

Imagine a school that did not have care?  What a horrible thought!!  Although, on very rare occasions, I have heard this comment.  I have heard mention at times that “They don’t care” or “They couldn’t care less!”  Fortunately, these utterances are very few – and they really imply something a little more about the person who feels hurt.  I, and all true teachers, believe that care does not mean giving in to the ‘needs’ or the ‘desires’ of others whenever there may be some instant of hurt, upset or emotional worry.  That isn’t caring.  That is copping out.  Teaching is sometimes a profession that has to make decisions with regard to children’s needs, character, attitudes and behaviour.  Good teaching requires understanding and empathy but it also involves discipline and firmness, to ensure there is a direction.  These moments when lines are drawn and expectations set, these moments are just as important for the direction of developing ‘good’ children into ‘good’ adults as are times when we high-five, praise and smile.  Care means responsibility.  Care means respect.  Care means creating good, nurturing relationships.

Kind hearts are the gardens,
Kind thoughts are the roots,
Kind words are the flowers,
Kind deeds are the fruits,
Take care of your garden
And keep out the weeds,
Fill it with sunshine
Kind words and kind deeds”

– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow