By Reverend Dr Katherine Rainger, Senior Chaplain

What does it mean to be an Anglican school? This question is asked by over 160 Anglican schools in Australia where 180,000 students are educated by over 35,000 staff.

Last week around 300 chaplains, principals, board members and staff from Anglican schools nationwide gathered in Brisbane to explore the question of Anglican identity at the annual Anglican Schools Australia conference.

The conference theme was 'Immersion: Living our Anglican Identity'. Radford College was represented by Rev. Dr Katherine Rainger (Senior Chaplain), Mr Dylan Mordike (Director of Student Experiences) and Rev. Andy Fleming (Associate Chaplain). The 3 days were filled with worship, addresses by keynote speakers, workshops and conversations – all of which gave us much to think about.

One of the themes that came through strongly in the conference was that being an Anglican school is not about completing a checklist, but rather about the way we speak and what we do in every aspect of our daily life.

Archbishop Jeremy Greaves spoke about the power of storytelling in schools as we remember, re-tell and live out our collective and individual stories in conversation with the Christian story.

Rev. David A. Madison, the Executive Director of the National Association of Episcopal Schools based in the United States, provided a broader perspective on the issues that Anglican schools are facing internationally.

Dr Beth-Sarah Wright, an Atlanta-based author and speaker, shared the way that dignity can and should be at the heart of everything we do. She described the Anglican school dream as one where we strive to live and love as Jesus Christ did. What this means is that we reject self-serving ways, we value the inherent worth of each member of the community, we encourage those in the community to think critically knowing that strength is driven by truth, courage, integrity and justice, and we commit to walking together by listening deeply and being agents of repair and transformation. Dr Wright’s 'dignity lens' is a useful framework for making the dream of dignity a reality.

Max Priyan Jeganathan, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity and author of The Freedom Trap, encouraged us to think critically about our cultural moment. For example, young people are told to live authentically as their true selves while they are simultaneously immersed in an online culture where lives and appearances are both heavily curated and judged. Max reminded us that we are called to faithfulness rather than traditional notions of success such as achievement, experiences, accumulation and status. A biblical understanding of success is linked with purpose and relationship summarised in the great commandment to love God and love others (Matthew 22: 36–40). He reinforced the role that parents and teachers play in being anchors in the lives of young people.

Olympian and gold medallist Nat Cook gave an energetic talk about goal setting, deadlines and a 'winning mindset' even when we don’t win. The fact that Nat Cook and Kerri Pottharst won Australia’s 99^th Olympic gold medal in 2000, which meant Cathy Freeman won the 100^th gold medal, was a great anecdote.

Philosopher, neuroscientist and literary scholar Dr Iain McGilchrist gave a fascinating account of the left and right hemispheres of the brain and how this impacts our vocation as educators. Dr McGilchrist’s website demonstrates the immense impact and breadth of his work.

A personal highlight was meeting broadcaster and journalist Geraldine Doogue who spoke at the conference dinner about maintaining religious identity with both confidence and humility.

The workshop program helped us to dig deeply into certain aspects of Anglican identity, respond to mental health needs, and values and character education. The deep learnings from speakers and participants were grounded in daily worship in the Anglican tradition. The conference prayer, written by Rev. Gillian Moses from St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School, drew on the theme of immersion and our shared vocation as Anglican schools:

God who calls us deeper into the waters of faith,
deeper into trust, deeper into relationship:
You call the Anglican schools of Australia
to be places of courage
where the depths are not to be feared
for you are always with us.
Immerse us in your deep love,
that we may be communities of compassion,
humility and faith,
as we follow the way of Jesus. Amen

The sense of rich insights through speakers and community will be extended further at the Dirrum Dirrum Festival this Saturday, 16 August from 4:00 pm. Looking forward to seeing you there!