The importance of traditions

Schools that are many years old have often developed a number of traditions - things they do every year; at certain times of the year. These traditions are important to a school community as they foster stability, create a sense of belonging, and allow a school to move forward by creating memories to look back on.

Two of our Student Leaders at the Dawn Service

Our school is just four years old (actually, not even four yet!) and we have begun to create our own traditions. Some of these are Meet your Teacher Afternoon (just before school starts for a new year); weekly Assemblies with class performances; the Run Walk Challenge; our ANZAC Pre-service (including wreath making in the classroom) and attendance at the Dawn Service at the Coolum-Peregian RSL in April; the Mother's Day Stall; the Year 7 Theatre Excursion; the Talent Show; Under 8's Morning; the Book Week Assembly; the Book Fair; Year 7 Graduation, and even some of our camps and excursions.

These events are reminders that everything is 'as it should be'. Regardless of staff turn over and how big we grow, there is a sense of the familiar. There are things that stay the same.

Our developing traditions create a sense of belonging and connectedness within and to the group. New staff and students take on these traditions as their own and then look forward to them each year.

Traditions also mark the passing of time and become milestones, especially when the tradition belongs to a particular year level group - for example, the first camp in Year 4, and the Year 7 excursion to Brisbane to the theatre. These milestones give something to staff and students to look forward to and create feelings of continuity and stability.

Traditions are memory makers - already I hear staff say things like 'Remember our first Dawn Service in 2010 - what a small group we were'.

Traditions can have long lasting effects and survive all kinds of changes. We will continue to develop them for our school and add to them over the years as it is traditions that keep our school community strong.

When we focus on things bigger than ourselves

Many years ago I learned to scuba dive and whenever we are on holiday I love to explore the underwater world. When Maddie was nine an old sea salt of a diver in Cuba took her under his arm on his 'occy' to spy on the lobsters on the wall off Maria La Gorda. She was hooked, and as soon as she was old enough she learned to dive. The two of us have never looked back. Over the years this pastime has led to connections with the people of remote Fijian, Indonesian and Thai villages, and most recently with Project AWARE and the quest to 'save' our sharks and rays. This 'work' or interest has given us a sense of purpose and immense satisfaction. It's an aspect that enriches our lives, creates deeper connections and helps us feel we are touching the future in some way.


When we encourage children to get involved in things bigger than themselves it expands their world view, creates empathy and understanding and gives their lives a purpose.

A recent story of two children in our school demonstrates this brilliantly.

Poppy is a little dog from Fiji. She was brutally injured in a hunting accident and then left to starve. Poppy somehow survived for months on her own, before a good Samaritan saved her and drove her several hours to the Animals Fiji Clinic & Adoption Centre, in Nadi, Fiji. Despite having no funds, no medical supplies and no vet, the Clinic cared for a fed Poppy and kept her safe until help arrived. Poppy’s plight came to the attention of animal lovers in Australia who began fund raising to bring her to Australia. Channel 10’s Bondi Vet Team filmed Poppy’s airlift and several reconstructive surgeries to finally give Poppy a new nose and aired a 1 hour special all about Poppy in March this year.

India Davies (a student in our school) has been visiting Fijian communities since she was a few months' old. In 2012, India was so touched by hearing about Poppy that she began a personal journey to raise funds in support of Poppy's care and welfare. In just a few months, India conducted many fundraising activities (including selling her own toys) and raised over $3,000 Fijian which she presented to the team at the Animals Fiji Clinic & Adoption Centre, in Nadi in July 2012. Poppy is now visiting with the Davies family and will feature again on the Bondi Vet TV Programme on 27 April. She is now the mascot for the 'Poppy’s Sponsor A Vet Appeal' for the Animals Fiji Clinic & Adoption Centre. The aim of her Appeal is to ensure the Clinic can afford to pay a permanent vet to help little animals in distress in Fiji - http://www.animalsfiji.org/

I'm so proud of the Davies family, India and her sister, Sienna, for their care of this little dog, and for getting involved in something bigger than themselves. The learning, the personal satisfaction and the skills India and Sienna now have will stay with them a lifetime.

Conversations about life, learning and growing up

The school holidays always afford a wonderful opportunity to spend quality time with our children. Gone is rushing out the door with brief cases and brief kisses goodbye, with a sandwich hastily made, and the cats protesting about having to spend the day outside. And in its place are long sustained conversations over breakfast and the paper or morning coffee in a cafe - or in the case of this last holiday, midday rests between hitting the underwater world for Dive No 2 of the day.

Stories anchor children to their futures

During one such conversation, Maddie, my daughter, suddenly said 'well, you know, it was never an option about whether or not I would go to uni - the conversations about post high school always included a certainty I would have a degree.'  And she's right -  our conversations and discussions since she was the tiniest thing were about creating a picture of what her future could be.

Parents are very powerful and influential in helping to create the stories that children see in their heads about a lot of things - not just their future possibilities but also about their self-worth, their capability and their attitudes to school, learning and life in general. If we know this, then we need to take care with the stories we tell and the conversations we have. Which ones will be the most powerful in helping our children develop an overarching life story of positivity and fulfilment; one in which they embrace learning and change as a natural part of life?

I think we could tell stories about taking risks, persevering, setting goals, planning for success, personal organisation and leadership. These are far better stories for anchoring the future than those stories about school results, getting good grades and doing homework.

The stories could be about ourselves succeeding or failing, about other positive role models in society (who our heroes are and why), about what's in the news and what we think about it, about our observations of daily life, and about what life could be like.

Maddie's comment got me thinking about the conversations I've had with her for the past 18 years - these conversations have already taken her to some pretty special places (both physically and metaphorically); she has learned to set goals and persevere and manage her time well; she's prepared to try for things I would never have thought of when I was 28, let alone 18, and I believe she will be a great leader in the future. As far as personal organisation goes - by the look of her room, I need to lift my game with these particular stories. I'm not sure which ones I was telling but they have not resulted in tidiness. Last year she won an award at college for having the cleanest room at the end of the semester (so clearly it's possible) - anyway, this provided an endless source of amusement for my husband and I who have never seen a clean and tidy room we haven't orchestrated! And perhaps herein lies the answer - the story we were telling wasn't often about success in the area of a tidy room - and more about how like my brother she is!