From the Head of Junior School

Selfless Acts of Kindness

"No act of Kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." -  Aesop

I am always amazed at how children seem to know what to do when others are in need. At times it seems so natural to them to lend a hand to a teacher, to help a friend who is upset, to care for an animal. I have witnessed so many children demonstrate such genuine kindness to others that perhaps I have taken that for granted. Each day I see boys asking others to join their game simply because they may look a little lonely. I see boy rush to pick up another who has fallen over and walk with him to the nurse. I see boys smile at another boy's success in something as simple as a game of handball or something bigger like a competition. We have had a large number of new boys join our school this term. Boys from other local school, boys from other Australian cities and boys from overseas. For all of these boys, transitioning to a new school is a challenge. The small, natural acts of kindness our boys demonstrated have assisted in making our new friends feel at home and part of the Scotch community.

We have a new boy in our Pre-Primary class. He is from Japan and speaks very little English. While he was playing with his new classmates, he was not able to converse with them. An older boy, fluent in his language, was asked to come to the Pre-Primary class and talk with him. The older boys did this without hesitation. Such a small act of kindness helped to build a bond with the new Pre-Primary boy and made him feel more settled and at home. So little, so simple, so kind but such a big impact.

Selfless acts of kindness transform our hearts and the hearts of those we help. Those we help will, in turn, transform the hearts of others for whom they perform selfless acts of kindness. I see this almost every day in the boys of the Junior School. Perhaps, we as adults, can learn from our children to become more intentional in our acts of kindness.