Shaping People of Character
Because the world needs people of good character who pursue truth.
Pastoral Care at Emmanuel
The Emmanuel College pastoral care program is lead by our Directors of Student Welfare. It is a comprehensive program, developed with respect for the ages of the students from Prep through to Year 12.
Our Pastoral Care program is designed to protect the rights of every individual child and to ensure somebody is always looking out for the needs of each child; emotional, academic, personal, relational and so on. This includes a College-wide commitment to meeting the full requirements of the law in regards to child protection. Emmanuel College has strong policies over all areas of child protection, abuse, at-risk children, bullying and harassment. Copies of these policies are accessible to current families in the resources section on Schoolbox.
At Emmanuel College, we strongly believe that "no student has the right to make another student feel unsafe, or hinder them from doing their work." We are passionate about this and we do as much as we can to ensure that we protect these rights.
Our Pastoral Care team coordinate a range of camps, leadership programs, service mission opportunities (Connect Program), and a wide range of activities designed to build community in the life of the school.
Chaplaincy
Chaplaincy is a vital and vibrant part of the spiritual life of Emmanuel College. Our Chaplains minister to the spiritual and practical needs of our community, ensuring our staff, students and families receive the best possible support.
All of our Chaplains are also practicing teachers engaged in classroom teaching. This is part of our commitment to demonstrating to our students that Christian faith should be embodied in our everyday lives and not separated from the real world.
Our Chaplains are also responsible for praying with students, running chapel services, and assisting students in articulating their spiritual needs in ways that are relevant to their own faith journey.
The Emmanuel College Chaplains are Mrs Ella Shembri in the Junior School and Mrs Jess Mobbs in the Senior School.
National School Chaplaincy and Student Welfare Program (NSCSWP)
Emmanuel College acknowledges the continued financial support from the Australian Government under the National School Chaplaincy and Student Welfare Program (NSCSWP).
The program provides ongoing support to student welfare issues and chaplaincy programs, and assists the development of relationships within the Emmanuel community.
The level of service provided to the College community is enhanced through the financial support provided by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.
The Emmanuel Compass
The Emmanuel Compass represents the eight essential character traits required to help students find the best direction for their lives.
Faith: Faith is our North Point; just as the North Star is the one star that does not move in the night sky. To have confidence in any journey, we need to have a firm reference point from which we can begin to navigate. Faith in God is our unchanging reference point.
Hope: As the sun rises in the east, we have placed Hope in the east quarter of our moral compass. At Emmanuel College, we are convinced that we have the historical and intellectual basis and reason to believe that through Jesus we can live lives of meaning and joy, even in death.
Compassion: Inspired by God's love, and driven by our belief in the sacredness of life, we live our lives in genuine expressions of love for others. Compassion is founded in the love that Jesus demonstrated in the New Testament.
Justice: This sits between Faith and Compassion. Justice without compassion is harsh and legalistic. Justice without Christian faith is arbitrary, resting on popular opinion or totalitarian edict. We believe children should learn from school age how justice is established in the world, and how they can work to assist it. This is the heart of the work of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Self-Control: This character quality is opposite Integrity which is impossible without Self-Control, and between Justice and Courage, which are its parents. Self-Control is an essential quality in a child's or a teenager's life.
Courage: Courage is found opposite Justice; we need Courage to fight for Justice. Hope and Wisdom are its immediate neighbours as both support Courage.
Integrity: A person with Integrity will always do the right thing; they will stand up for truth; and not be afraid to admit when they are wrong. Integrity is who you are and what you are when no-one is watching.
Wisdom: Our strong South point, opposite Faith. Recognition of the Truth of God is the beginning of wisdom. It is both the basis and the outcome of all the others. At Emmanuel College we believe in the value and importance of graduating young people with the grounding of Wisdom on which they can construct their lives.
The Journey Program is designed to aid our students in establishing and developing essential values and virtues, and to develop the strong character traits essential for a successful life. Since then, we have seen the powerful impact The Journey has had on our students in terms of character development and their desire to embody the values of the ideal Emmanuel Graduate.
The Emmanuel Graduate ought to be: A compassionate human being, unafraid to be, competent and willing to navigate life using their moral compass to make wise and just choices; a strategic participant in a global setting, a person of faith and integrity, aware of an eternal destiny.
Accompanying The Journey is the Emmanuel Compass; a prominent symbol displayed and referenced throughout the College. The Compass represents the essential character traits our students seek to develop to find the best direction for their lives.
Emmanuel College staff are committed to embedding these essential character traits across our curriculum and in our co-curricular programs. We intend for our students both to be directly aware of, and also subject to the cumulative effect of years of practice of these character traits.
We are confident that this program will continue to have long term positive impacts on our school.
