Friendology Launch at South Plympton

On Friday of Week 1, we officially launched the Friendology program in the Junior School at our South Plympton campus. We all came together to celebrate friendship and the start of this program through various fun activities throughout the morning. Even though this is a lot of fun, there is a genuine and deeply meaningful value attached to what we are doing.

In 1 Timothy 4:8-10, we see the importance of growing in practical godliness:

“For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all people, especially of those who believe.”

Here we learn that we are to train ourselves to be godly. To pursue it, indicating an unrelenting and persevering effort. It is our privilege and duty as educators to teach, assist and devote time in the development of Godliness in our students. Training them to know, love and practically live lives that are honouring to God. Through the Friendology program, students are given the tools and language that supports the development, care and maintenance of relationships with one another in the context of community.

As we all well know, relationships and community are at the heart of the Gospel. When we do this well and explicitly teach students, and give them opportunities for practice, the fruits of godliness can be seen in action. Our character is refined more and more to reflect peace, patience, gentleness, self-control, love, goodness and kindness. What a privilege it is to be vehicles of transformation, where the Spirit is free to move and work in the hearts of our students!

We would be grateful if you could pray with and for us as we begin with our official lessons next week. Pray that God would be present in every lesson, that teachers would have wisdom and encouragement as we plan and deliver the program, and that God would bless our efforts for the edification of our students and for His glory.

A key element to this program is the practical and genuine application of kindness. It is a quality that we want our whole Junior School to identify with and embody in everything we do. To that end, we reflected as individuals about something we would love to develop and foster over the coming weeks. Students wrote a ‘grow goal’ on a foam flower petal and these will be combined to create a collection of flowers in a garden. Our friendship garden will be put up in the coming weeks in the flower boxes at the front of our school, so be sure to have a look once they’ve been “planted”.

We also met our Junior School mascot – Kodie the Koala! He is a super-cool koala who is so excited about helping others to be kind and actively encourages this in the lives of our kids. He was a sure fan favourite and will hopefully visit us many times in the future…so keep an eye out!

Please remember to register for the online information session with Tyson Greenwood that is scheduled for August 15. You will receive helpful information as parents, understanding the program yourselves and learning how to support your children too. Parents are able to sign up for a free account, so please keep your eyes peeled for more info to come!

We are looking forward to this whole-school approach that equips students and teachers, all the while working in partnership with our families in the cultivation and care of friendships.

Morgan Venter
Junior School Pastoral Coordinator, South Plympton