All the Paths we Take …

Every term we begin our Professional Development days with a Staff Chapel. Term 1 is a little different though, as we take the opportunity to commission our new staff members into their positions. At the start of the year, we always commission our staff, Year 6 students, Year 12 students, Junior and Senior School student leadership team, new Heads of House and this year, our new Deputy Principal. It is part of the ritual of starting the year, and marking it as significant for these particular individuals.

We all come into the year with different expectations, hopes, emotions and a sense of whether it is ‘just another year’ or something more significant. There are some in our community for whom this year will hold events they will remember for the rest of their lives; both joy filled and deeply challenging.

Our theme for the Staff Chapel was ‘All the paths we take’ and in it we reflected on the many paths that we have taken and those we will take. This extended metaphor is one that has so much richness. There are paths we want to go down, and those that are forced on us. There are paths with decisions of which way to go, and others that lead us to a dead end. There are paths of great beauty, and others of barrenness. Paths where we walk with friends, and others where we feel that we walk alone.

In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah writes:

“I will lead the blind by a way they do not know,

In paths they do not know I will guide them.

I will make darkness into light before them

And rugged places into plains.”

Isaiah 42:16

It is a powerful reminder that amidst the uncertainty of the year ahead, God can lead us even when we do not know the way.

The start of the year always brings with it great potential — for growth, friendships, learning and new experiences. There are so many paths that we will take individually and as a school community.

Every blessing to you all as we begin this journey together, seeing where these paths may lead.

Monique Riviere-Pendle

Chaplain