‘A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline. Take action to make your goal a reality’. Harvey Mackay.
It has been a great joy to be conversing with members of the St. Peter’s Community about the potential of growing our ‘little’ school into a full Prep - Year 12 school. There has been much speculation about the where, the how and the potential impact on Broughton Anglican College specifically.
Simon Sinek advocates starting with the ‘why’. I have been incredibly impressed with members of the Schools’ Council who have determined to undertake a full Feasibility Study to determine how this might become a reality in the near future.
So why is the Council considering this expansion? From my perspective, as Headmaster, parents have been asking for the expansion of our school for many years. We have an ideal base for the establishment of secondary and our vision certainly encourages reaching a larger group of students. Parents prefer one school for their family and those that have left St. Peter’s in many cases, have done so reluctantly, but necessarily, for convenience.
The introduction of the International Baccalaureate, Primary Years Programme (PYP) as our learning framework, provides great opportunities for inclusion of the Middle Years Programme (MYP) and the Diploma (DP), catering for students who learn in a variety of ways.
It’s certainly an exciting prospect.
The greatest fear I have personally about the expansion of St. Peter’s, is that the benefits of being a standalone Primary School, become less as the focus shifts to the secondary years. We have utilised the phrase ‘purposefully primary’ and anyone who has encountered a K-12 or P-12 school, knows full well that secondary is usually the tail that wags the dog. Primary is often considered after Secondary.
My focus, as Headmaster, will very much be on ensuring that this does not happen. Our school, our community and our offerings are tailored to ensuring our students are central. We need to ensure that the primary section of the School does not become ‘secondary’, as in an after-thought.
I believe that St. Peter’s needs to expand and I am excited to have the privilege of being the Headmaster of our school. My commitment will be to retain the great benefits of being a standalone Primary School and expanding those benefits to cater for the needs of those who will join for secondary.
Please continue to pray for the Council as they fully consider and look to making a firm decision on the expansion, early in the new year.
A dream is developing into a series of goals. I look forward to the potential reality of what St. Peter’s will become.
Feedback, questions and suggestions welcome.
