EDUCATION = celebration

I want to be known - to be understood, respected, valued and treated kindly by the people around me. Don’t you?

Living and learning together in an inclusive ‘belonging’ community is found at the heart of any good school. This is one of the things I love about education, and why I love my job ...it’s a privilege being a School Principal.

A great school values connection and relationships, embracing and celebrating the wonderful diversity that is found in the mix of all those who form part of that community. This is why I love my school! In schools we celebrate birthdays, significant achievements, national days, religious and cultural traditions, and so much more. Schools are places of excitement as we come together to learn about each other, celebrating people and the things that are individually and collectively important to us all. A school community I believe, provides us with opportunities to teach children about how our wider community can and should be. We are providing them with a powerful model packaged with the tangible experiences to learn about how our world can be ...a world we all hope and pray for.

Our seven ‘Project Help India’ schools are filled with much cultural diversity, and we value, embrace and celebrate this. Just this week it was a privilege to share the message of the Easter story with all of our students. They especially loved the egg painting. In a few weeks we will celebrate alongside our Muslim staff and the many students from the Muslim Jungle Villages and slums, who on 1st May, will finish their Ramadan season. Then later this year in October we will celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, with those of Hindu, Muslims, Sikh and other faith backgrounds.

When we celebrate alongside one another we show that we value, respect and have an openness to learn and understand from each other’s stories. And as we do this, we find solidarity in the things that we have in common, the things that our world so desperately needs ...love, empathy, compassion, unity, safety, peace, acceptance and so much more.

Regardless of our race, religion or creed, let’s work and strive together for a world that we all pray and hope for …for our communities, our families and children, and for generations to come.
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I want to thank the supporters of Project Help India for your generous giving - you are indeed changing the world by changing the lives of some very special kids in Northern India, through their attendance and education received at one of our schools. Don't also forget about the impact you can have by volunteering and helping out at your child's local school. They need all the support, and especially the encouragement they can get ...especially the teachers (and I reckon your principal too!)

If you liked this story, please share it on your social media. The link is here. It would really help us. Thank you.

I wish you a Happy Easter – may the hope, peace and love of Jesus be yours this Easter.