Educational Excellence – A Question of Values Address to the Scholarships and Student Leadership Assembly 18th March 2009
The purpose of the scholarships and awards is “to promote a culture of achievement and aspiration”; to quote Barbara Stone, Chairman of AHISA, to encourage diligent and sustained effort from all students. For the Scholarships winners, they are a just reward for determination and hard work. Through the sheer breadth of our awards, we want students to know that excellence is within reach of all and may be pursued in the Visual and Performing Arts, in the technologies, in Hospitality and in the Human Values that enrich everyone.
St Spyridon College programs are based on the Four Pillars of Education identified by the UNESCO Report on Education for the 21st century. The first pillar, Learning to Know, is the knowledge mandated by the BOS and that which as a GOC we believe you should know for your social development and spiritual edification. This knowledge enables students to engage with the world of ideas and the world at large with confidence and success. The second pillar, Learning to Do, is the meaningful and creative application of that knowledge for a worthwhile purpose. The third pillar, Learning to Live Together, is an essential pillar, since all that we think and do impacts on those around us as do their thoughts and actions. For us, learning to live together goes beyond tolerance – which we would utterly reject as arrogant and patronising of others. Rather we