VALUING OUR WORDS

A little trick I used when working in Community Relations was that every time I had a new leader/Principal, I listened carefully to the words they used over a few weeks and compiled a list of their most popular phrases. It gave me a good glossary of their passion areas and led to some great conversations about the storylines they wanted to build to help their school thrive. One such list defined the chat I had with Sacred Heart College Sorrento's then Principal Peter Bothe around the essence of the College's 50th and led directly to our award-winning "Stories from the Heart" bus-stop project and the Alumni tagline "Heart for Life."

I love the power of words and I love understanding the words that workplaces use to articulate their vision and their core. So I spent a few hours deep-diving into the words 50 WA schools use in their school mottos and in the values stated on their websites. As important as excellence and #success are in many schools, more and more schools are seeking humanity at their core. There were some transformative ones including Perth College's "Be Brave Not Perfect" celebrating our common humanity. Schools have started to include mindfulness and stewardship, embracing priorities that the young people themselves tell me are important to them. Many schools see their motto as one of a journey and vitality, "A place where learning comes to life." (Kingsway Christian College).

As a new Stanford Ambassador for Applied Compassion, it was gratifying to note that many WA schools have compassion as one of their core values - nearly 20% across the school sectors. Schools are wanting to foster compassionate leaders for today and into the future amongst their student bodies. And yet, with 3448 Kindness Challenge participants last year, there was not one participant who felt that they could adequately define what compassion actually is. Some got close as they described kindness, #empathy and looking out for each other. One Year 11 at Corpus Christi College described compassion as "everything" - possibly the best description of the year! 

By the end of workshops, participants were able to not only recite back the Stanford definition of Compassion, but also engage with each element to bring compassion to life. And bring it to life they did, from the Young Pressies at Iona Presentation College who started a 'Compassion is the New Fashion' campaign to the Santa Maria College parents who engaged deeply, then had #compassion conversations around the dinner table. Teachers loved hearing younger students incorporating this new terminology into their daily classroom activities.

You see, once #students know what this common school value Compassion actually is, they understand its power to address issues in their own lives. They know what it is to suffer, to want to belong and to feel deeply. The words we know so well as our #school values do matter to the students - and when they truly understand these values it changes their lives.