This term in HASS (Humanities and Social Sciences), Year 5 have been learning about what makes communities thrive.
As part of this unit, classes were recently visited by some of our school’s leaders to explain the responsibilities, joys and challenges of guiding our community. We were also privileged to be joined by some of the students’ parents, who talked about ways in which they volunteer in their own communities.
Here are some reflections from Year 5 students on what they learnt from these visitors!
What Year 5 learnt about what it means to be a leader:
Anvi: I learnt that many of the leaders had a focus of helping others learn about God.
Libby: I learnt from Mrs Harvey that leading is about building other people up so they can do a good job but also having to make decisions for the betterment of the students and so that the school is better off.
Michaela: Mr Grace said a good leader’s traits should be to be honest and kind, to be fair and not biased, and to be slow to anger.
What Year 5 learnt about the joys of being a leader:
Ann: Mr Grace really enjoys his job! He described it as fun.
Eva: Mrs Harvey likes when she gets to work with young people and from her perspective, they are fun to work with. Her passion is education and that is why she is doing something she loves. She loves the fact that she also gets to work with intelligent people (teachers and students all over the campus) and she told us herself that they help her improve.
Sreya: Mr Grace likes talking to all different people.
What Year 5 learnt about challenges of leadership:
Anora: Some challenges Mrs Harvey faces is that she can't always make every person happy, and she gets a lot of emails each day. She also has long hours of work, so that makes her very tired, and principals don’t get all the school holidays like we children do.
Ethan: Something I didn’t know about Mr Ross Grace is that he has to report how the school is going to the Heathdale board every month! What a huge responsibility!
Michaela: Mr Grace met up with an executive coach every few weeks and would discuss what went well and what didn’t go well and learn from the errors he might have made.
What Year 5 learnt about leadership that they can take into their own lives:
Aidan: Something that I have learnt is when I have a conflict, I can go to the person and sit down with them and try to work out a win-win. I could use it in a community that I am part of as I sometimes get angry at my brother and so I could sit down with him and ask why he did that instead of scolding him.
Stacy: Something that Mrs Harvey told the class was that her old friend told her to give Heathdale a call, and she said she wasn’t good enough, but her friend encouraged her, so then, after asking, she got hired! So, maybe I can do it before I doubt myself.
What Year 5 learnt about why people volunteer:
Aarvi: Because Jesus came to serve, not to be served. God came to serve in the form of Jesus Christ. We follow his example. That’s the main inspiration. When you volunteer to help others, you feel good too.
Alannah: Ms Hardyanto’s first inspiration was Jesus, and she wanted to help the church.
Mehrem: To make a safe happy place.
What Year 5 learnt about values and qualities of volunteers:
Ava: Some of the traits about being a volunteer are seeing joy in other people. As a teenager, Andre liked having fun and doing what he liked, but when he found Jesus, he realised it wasn’t just about him. He stepped out into doing things that were sometimes a bit more difficult for him.
Vivaan: Some of the goals and values of these volunteers are helping people, following the values of Jesus and helping all the people they can. They also value being graceful and merciful no matter how annoying or upset people are and always trying to help people and be like Jesus.
Kyra: Ms Hardyanto wanted to be really helpful and kind with everyone she volunteered with.
What Year 5 learnt about some challenges of volunteering:
Cadence: Sometimes you have to deal with people you don’t get along with. It's very challenging to deal with angry people who can't control their anger. It's best to try to calm them down and get along.
Zoe: Isla’s dad and her family need to clean up the house to get ready for Bible study.
Ethan: The challenges can be rude people or grumpy people, and they still try to be nice to them and they try caring for them still.
What Year 5 learnt about volunteering that they can take into their own lives and communities:
Brandon: I can learn to help others even when I don't feel like doing it.
Ryan: I can show kindness even if people are mean.
Spencer: Even if I am young, I can help and volunteer at home or at school by either washing my mum's car or helping someone if they are hurt.