THE ST PETERS WHY

TIM KOTZUR Head of College

I’m a bit of a fan of Simon Sinek, who writes and speaks a lot about leadership. Sinek is perhaps best known for his work Start With Why – a book about how to explain your organisation’s purpose and the reason it exists and does what it does. Put simply, it helps us understand why we do what we do.

As a College when we were developing our Strategic Intent Plus Ultra 2025 we were very intentional about ensuring we had clarity around ‘Our Why’, the St Peters Why. Informed by our timeless Mission of ‘Excellence in Christian Co-education’, the St Peters Why is ‘Every Child Learns, Every Day’.

It might be only five words, but ‘Our Why’ is not easy. It is challenging. ‘Our Why’ is why we do the work. While it is challenging it is also inspiring and motivating.

Every member of staff at St Peters, both academic and corporate, contributes to ‘Our Why’ - teachers, teacher aides, housekeeping, food services, boarding staff, sports coaches, reception staff, the business office, facilities & services and senior leadership.

Some examples of the St Peters Why include:

• The teacher who helps a student have a light bulb moment when they understand a difficult concept for the first time.

• The Boarding staff member who helps a student feel at home in Boarding by providing a shoulder to cry on.

• The Careers Counsellor who helps a student find the most appropriate pathway to what they want to achieve beyond school.

• The Food Services Assistant who prepares the lunches so that our students are well fed and can concentrate in class.

• The Cleaner who ensures that the classrooms are clean, providing a well-maintained, attractive and clean environment in which to teach and learn.

• The Facilities Officer who maintains our classrooms so that the learning spaces promote student learning.

• The Sports Coach who stays back after training to help a student do ‘extras’ to improve their technique and confidence so that they can make the free throw to win the game.

• The Year Level Coordinator who helps the anxious student turn up each day by greeting them with a smile every morning.

• The Outdoor Education Instructor who helps a student make it through Solo at Ironbark because they listened to the student’s fears.

St Peters is fortunate to have staff wholeheartedly committed to ‘Our Why’. They are committed to ‘Our Why’ because they are motivated to help form and empower young people who use their learning to lead and serve their communities and in doing so, make a difference in the world.

Now that’s inspiring. Enjoy this edition of Plus Ultra and all the examples of the St Peters Why in action.