A Great Little Display

I thought I would milk the PNG Education Directors trip to Brisbane SDA Schools just one more week, if you don’t mind. Towards the end of the trip I saw a great little display that for me stood out in its simplicity. The room was a prep room and it was a piece of art work as you can see below.

It was with dye and painted pasta bits. I like it for a number of reasons. First it stood out, as should all of our displays in the classroom. Secondly, it was children’s work that was displayed. I get a little sad when I see great displays that consist of a poster, or some other work obviously done by a teacher but nothing of the students’ work up on the walls. They do enjoy seeing their work displayed. It helps them take ownership of their classroom and develops pride in doing their work. Thirdly, and I believe the most important, is that it promotes the special character message of the unit. I wish that every unit of learning that is done in our classrooms would have a special character message. To quote the great Graham Baird of Northpine Christian College fame “Special Character is the total environment of the school.” In other words it needs to be present and seen in every aspect of our school’s operations.

To give an example, we saw a very nice display of students’ self portraits strung across a classroom. The display was quite impressive in its own right. But what would have made it more so would have been a special character statement along the lines of “God has made each of us special” or unique or whatever. Now this begs the question as to whether this idea was even touched on in the lesson or unit. I would hope that it was, otherwise what difference has the lesson been than one that could have been taken down the road in a good State school.

Now I know that some will be tempted to say “But the difference is this teacher is a committed Adventist and I’ll guarantee that they had personal devotions this morning as they do every morning.” And yes that is part of special character, a very important part. But my argument is that we should be promoting our special character at every opportunity we can get and put it out there so that the message of God’s love and grace and who He is, is never missed in anything that is undertaken in our schools.

I know it takes time to develop such a culture. But it is worth striving for and creating in each of our schools. Now to be fair, this picture I’ve put up is not the only example we saw of special character being embedded in the instruction and displays in a classroom. There were many excellent examples in each school that we visited.So here is the challenge for you as Principals and to the others who get to read this blog. Take a visit to your classrooms – do a 4 minute walk through if you like! – and take time to focus on the displays. Ask yourself if each of them has some special character statement? If they don’t, then try to work out what a suitable one could be. That won’t be as easy as you think it will be, trust me. Now if it isn’t there, the next question to ask and seek information on, is whether it was ever taught as part of the unit or lesson? And if it wasn’t, could it have been, should it have been, considering we are an Adventist school?
These aren’t easy questions or answers to seek I know. But I can assure you that a huge impact is made on student lives as well as the community when each classroom consistently presents high quality displays that promote the special character of our system.

For those of you who are approaching holidays, I do hope you get to take some time out for rest and relaxation and family time as well. For those still looking forward to the holidays, don’t despair, they will arrive.

God bless you each as you continue to work with your learning communities.

Ken Weslake

Associate Director, Education,

SPD

News about the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific.

Ragiampun School June 16

Last Wednesday afternoon the education directors of PNGUM (Joe Ponduk and Jim Yawane) and Morobe Mission (Lamech Sokoripa) took me to see two contrasting primary schools in Morobe Mission whose office is in Lae. One school, Ragiampun, was needy and poorly resourced while the other, Gabensis was comparatively well resourced. It was a fast ride in the mission van because the poor school, Ragiampun Adventist School was 150 kilometres from Lae.

First the students gave us flowers. For me it was a bamboo vase of magnolias thrust into my hands by a nervous girl. Then the school choir of all 200 Grade 1-5 students welcomed us in a well rehearsed a cappella number that summarised the occasion. Following the item the students sat patiently on the ground watching the mysterious party of dignitaries for the duration of the visit. After the speeches we posed for photos with staff, and inspected the classrooms. As you can see the rooms were bare, showing scarcely any books. Students sat on thin wooden slats attached to ancient desks, if they were lucky. Class 2 sat on the floor. There were at least chalk and boards, chalk covered with neat writing of maths tables, spelling and other matters.

I was moved by the support of school board members and parents who gathered, smiled continually and occasionally drew close to chat with us. One mother photographed the occasion, while a teacher sidled up and whispered “we really need readers”. They sure did. Then there was the table spread with their refreshments consisting of water melon, pineapple, raw peanuts, mandarins and coconut drinks. As we chatted and ate I had a feeling that beyond the ceremony we were all here cast together in a precious moment in time. Students, teachers, parents and board members had all gathered around the visitors in close community, in desperate need, and in high hope. It felt as if they were saying “we have done our best and now we are here together to honour you, and we are hoping you can do something for us”.

As students, teachers, parents and friends watched me intently I felt God watching through their eyes for I was here as the shepherd. Here I stood with 42 years of experience, with some resources, with the good will of hundreds of able teachers in the home unions behind me, and with an aching heart. If God had spoken aloud I am sure He would have said “Barry I brought you here for a purpose. Can you see it?”

Barry HillDirector of Education SPD

News about the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific.

A Most Enjoyable Week.

One of the aspects of my work that I really love is the opportunity to take groups on tours, showcasing our Seventh-day Adventist Schools. I have done this on a number of occasions through New Zealand with a special character emphasis. Last week I had the privilege of hosting a week’s tour for 12 Education Directors from Papua New Guinea Union Mission and the Head of Teacher Training from Sonoma Adventist College, through South Queensland Conference, visiting 5 of their schools and dropping into NSW briefly to visit Tweed Valley College.

The contrasts between visitors and schools couldn’t have been greater. At one school one of the Directors said “I feel like I am in heaven when I visit this school.” Another followed by saying “I am just trying to see behind the high quality facilities and get a feel for the principles and soul that drives this school.”

Some of these men are responsible for looking after up to 20 schools in their missions with up to 4,000 students and that does not include the Elementary level which is equivalent to our Prep to Grade 2s. One Director shared that he had a sole charge school in his mission with 200 students! You are probably asking the same question that I did. “Why don’t they cap the roll?” And the answer always comes back, “Then who else will show them Jesus’ love?” In another school, the roll has climbed from 400 to 600 in just this year. No extra classrooms or teachers to handle the increase in that school and when I visited them last year they were already jammed in on inadequate furniture. And still in another school of 800+ primary students ie Grade 3 – 8, some have only just started meeting in a classroom this year. Up until now they have been seated under mango trees, or for the lucky ones under a ‘sort of’ marquee. So it was no wonder that they clicked their tongues and wagged their heads to see a class with 5 students running with 1 teacher – granted it was a special class that ran for 1 period each day, but a luxury nevertheless for these men.

So what did they see of special character? A pleasing amount I must say. From attractive entrance ways and foyers displaying open Bibles, Signs magazines and Steps to Christ for visitors to take away with them to classrooms with bright displays with a special character emphasis. They listened intently as Principals articulated their view of special character. Ideas that came out of that were “It has to be in the heart of each teacher or it doesn’t happen.” “It is the total environment of the school.” “It’s about leading each student to Christ.” It was gratifying to see and hear.

The men were especially impressed by the well developed chaplaincy programs that many schools were running. The range of activities that chaplains were engaged in to reach the students was very impressive. And while many were student focussed, we discovered a number who were staff focussed as well and one who emphasised being parent and family focussed with a couple of Bible studies operating.

One school was very focussed in their approach to special character. We all picked it up in the morning assembly but didn’t appreciate where it all fitted. We noticed that children receiving an award were encouraged to look the teacher in the eye when receiving the award. We discovered later that the whole school is focussed on a range of behaviours that exemplify special character in the life. The impact it was having on the student body was readily visible.

It was wonderful to hear of the lives of students being changed by the impact of a teacher’s life. They had never seen or heard of Weeks of Prayers being conducted for primary kids. That’s something that they will try and introduce back in PNG. The whole concept of chaplains is another idea they are keen to introduce. They’ll even resort to volunteers if the missions can’t find the budget to support their cause. And I suspect that that is just what will happen for many of them. The impact of well designed and attractive school signs was not lost on them either. Neither was the lack of the Seventh-day Adventist name in many of the schools. But after some discussion they could see the reasons for the lack. PNG is a different country to Australia when it comes to the standing of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the community you understand.

On the weekend we spent Sabbath afternoon visiting Mrs Melva McClintock at Victoria Point Retirement Village. A couple of the Directors had been closely associated with her and her late husband Wilfred at Sonoma College. What a beautiful reunion that was. And what stories. It is so true that often the biggest ratbags in the class rise to leadership positions in a community and in this group it was no different. Melva finished the visit by playing ‘Rock of Ages’ for us. I found it very moving, and thankfully mine weren’t the only eyes with tears when she had finished. On the way back a number of men in my Tarago said “I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for Mr and Mrs McClintock’s love and concern for me while at Sonoma.” The transforming power of a Christ committed life. It can’t be beaten.

I received an e-mail from Jim Yawane today thanking me again for a wonderful trip. He said that he and his Director at the Union were still talking about all that they had seen and had presented a full report to Presidents Council and they were delighted to hear of the trip. Just wait until they hear of the recommendations that these men have worded for them!

To the schools in South Queensland and Tweed Valley College, along with Tony and Royce, thank you again for such a great week of visiting. I can highly recommend it. As principals can I seriously encourage you to take time off and go visit your colleagues and ask them to brag about special character in their school. You will find it will give you ideas that will help each of you to develop this vital aspect in your school.

There is so much more to write about but this blog is long enough now and I know for the Aussie schools you have Queen’s birthday weekend waiting. Enjoy the weekend and the Sabbath.
God bless and thanks again for all the hard work you put into your school on a daily basis.

Ken Weslake, Associate Director Education, SPD

News about the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific.