From the Head of Junior School

Nothing brings us greater joy than seeing the return of happy children, eager to reconnect with their friends and begin the school year. There is so much to be said about the value of connection and collaboration. In speaking with parents and staff, our Three-Way Conversations between the child, home, and school has been so helpful in building rapport and trust from the very start of the year.

We were able to welcome the Very Reverend Arturo Sosa SJ, the Father General of the global Society of Jesus or Jesuits last week. In a Q&A forum, he posed that the main source of learning in a complex community is dialogue. This dialogue should be framed without judgement. We must learn to listen with an open mind, with willingness to change our mind in learning from the other. This is the first condition of a Jesuit community ‒ openness to dialogue. As educators and as parents, we must be open to dialogue. This allows us to accompany our youth in the educational process. It makes us wise. We must avoid attachment to what is known and remain open to possibility. Remaining open grants us inner freedom: the freedom to accept what is while being open to change in what you think, say, feel, and do.

At Ignatius we are resurrection people, seeking hopeful pathways as we walk together. The road may not always be straight or smooth ‒ no journey is. But the Ignatian community is one moved by hope and trust, finding new possibilities, new ideas and ways of working things through. Jesuit Fr Juan Bonifacio captured the spirit of this in the Jesuit philosophy of education, in that the education of the youth is the renewal of the world. Whatever the journey may be for us this year, may we be open to dialogue and remain open to possibility.

Nic Boys
Head of Junior School

Wednesday 14 February
Ash Wednesday
Maths Pathways Parent Session