Our College Culture

We talk a lot about culture and identity at our school because it is so important. We speak with our students, with our families, and with our colleagues about it. ‘A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people’ (Mahatma Gandhi).

Our school’s culture must reside in the hearts and souls of our people. It is the essence of who we are at our core. When I asked our students about their thoughts around what culture means for us as a college, they recalled our Core Values as being an essential part of our identity and culture. They used words like ‘respect’ and ‘community’ to describe our school.  It was so lovely to listen to them explain who we are as a school from their perspective.

At MCC, culture refers to our shared beliefs, attitudes and behaviours that characterise the way we interact and work together. It encompasses the unwritten rules that shape our identity and ultimately help to define who we are as a community. So, what specifically does that look and feel like for us as a place of Christian education?

As families who belong to our college, I am sure you would be able to describe our culture beautifully from your perspective. These are some words and phrases that come to my mind when I consider who we are: welcoming, inclusive, safe, kind yet firm, authentic, nurturing, and caring.

It is crucial that we, as members of our school community, actively and intentionally continue to manage and shape our culture and identity – an identity that aligns and protects our vision and keeps us true to our mission as a college as we invite parents and families “into partnership with us to provide a safe, caring, Christian community for students to learn and thrive and become contributing members of society, confident in who they are and in their relationship with God” (MCC website).

What a blessing and honour to be doing this alongside you all!

kellie giannes, head of toolern vale campus