Holding Us Together

Paperclips, clothes pegs, elastic bands, staples. What do these items have in common? You may have guessed, they all hold things together. Our bodies are made up of many different things such as bones, muscles, organs and fluids. It is our skin that holds us together.

Imagine if our bodies were held together by elastic bands instead. What might that look like? We would be loosely connected. Our organs would perturb from between the bands and the leaking fluids would not be nice to behold. The function of skin is very important. It keeps the insides of our bodies in a safe, secure and well-protected package.

A school community is much like a body. It is made of many different and unique parts. Each person in our community is different and special. They exist on their own but have a purpose and a function in our school. If our community body is held together loosely, things we do not want to have happen may leak out. These may be the exclusion of some people, not being concerned when someone is hurt or upset, thinking little of hurting another and a simple lack of compassion or empathy for those who are part of our community.

There is one simple thing that binds a school community or any community together. That is caring for one another. Jesus asked us to do one simple thing, love one another. This simple act has been explained in many different ways over the ages. We often ask children to consider how they would like to be treated and treat others accordingly. For all of us, demonstrating empathy and compassion for others can go along way.

In our school community we live together, we work together, we eat together, we learn together and we play together. We hope that we will also learn to care for one another. This simple act can address conflict, loneliness and intolerance and can make the bonds that bind our school together even stronger.

Mr John Stewart

Head of Junior School