It is exciting to know that our schools are growing – each year we add more buildings to meet the growing demand for places in our schools. This year, for example, we are spending in excess of $5 million on new buildings. We are fortunate that almost 50% of this is from grants from the Commonwealth and State governments. I believe there are a number of reasons our schools are growing.
Meeting Our Gospel Commission
Our schools are mission fields – for students, families, teachers and support staff. We ensure that our schools are clearly Seventh-day Adventist in their beliefs and operation. Our Bible program, called “Encounter” is taught to the 3 year olds in our Early Learning Centres, through to our Year 12 students. Further, opportunities are often given for students to make decisions to follow Christ. In the last year two teachers who are at our schools have been baptised.
Quality Education
We provide a quality education to the students in our schools. This is evidenced by our schools “value-adding” to students. Every Adventist school in Victoria aims to add at least one years’ learning growth for one calendar year. All our schools are doing better than this, with Heritage College recently being recognised as one of the best achievers across all schools in improvement in Victoria!
Students are Safe
When our parents are asked why they have chosen our schools, invariably they say because they are safe! Student well-being is a priority in our schools. Over the past few years we have introduced “Positive Behaviour for Learning” into our schools. By using positive reinforcement we have enhanced both the learning climate and student safety in our schools.
Only a few reasons have been outlined – there are so many more reasons why our schools are growing. The question I ask is do you have your children in our schools? If you don’t, contact your closest school – I am sure they will welcome you to be part of our family…
Mr Brian Mercer,
Education Director, Adventist Schools Victoria