Values Statement

This foundational philosophical statement has been developed to encapsulate the values which underpin Concordia College and St John’s Lutheran School.

First, the schools must take into account the foundational beliefs of both our Church and our Church schools; second, they must accept the opportunities and the constraints of the present situation (temporal, social, legal, and environmental), and third, they must work towards goals for the future that will set the directions for development.

1. FOUNDATIONAL BELIEFS include:

Grace and Faith: that God is at work in the world as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who creates, saves, and makes people new, as the Bible makes clear and the teachings of the Lutheran Church reflect.

Witness: God’s call to Christians to bear witness, both corporately and individually, to their faith in his grace, by regarding all people as beings who are created in God’s image, with unique gifts, talents and abilities, and by valuing them as individuals for whom Jesus Christ died and is risen again.

‘Whole person’ education: recognition that education must address the intellectual, spiritual, physical, social and emotional needs of students.

2. THE PRESENT SITUATION recognises:

External body commitments:  the need to meet requirements arising out of the schools’ relationships with external bodies, such as the Lutheran Church of Australia (SA/NT/WA District), Lutheran Schools Association, Lutheran Education Australia, St John’s Lutheran Church Unley, government educational authorities, and the International Baccalaureate Organization.

The centrality of family: the paramount importance of the family, and the need for close and transparent communications between schools and parents/guardians.

The social context: realities, such as those of social and cultural diversity, the increasing secularisation of the surrounding world, and the fact that students from many different religious and cultural affiliations are part of the schools’ communities.

Articulated education: the need to support actively the implementation of the current Middle School Program as the bridge between primary and secondary years and the transitions from stage to stage of formal education.

3. FUTURE EMPHASES encourage:

Ongoing foundational values: teaching that continues what is best from the past, but is innovative and responsible, aimed at developing each student to his/her full potential, with an emphasis on fostering enduring Christian values such as faith, hope, love, forgiveness and repentance, and learning-based values such as inquiry, critical thought, creativity and excellence.

Multi-faceted education: recognition that schools are increasingly responsible for many aspects of student development, such as the promotion of a healthy active lifestyle and participation in a wide range of extra-curricular and co-curricular activities.

Students’ sense of themselves in the world:  development of students who see themselves, and are willing to serve others, as citizens of a global world, with a responsibility to the environment, and to other peoples, including our indigenous population.

Early Childhood – Year 12 vision: the development, in order to achieve all of the above, in a highly collaborative way, of an Early Childhood – Year 12 learning continuum that articulates the teaching/learning needs of all students, incorporating the values that have been identified.