Published in 2023, Towards 2030 outlines Melbourne Grammar School’s strategic intentions. It explains that our School essentially exists to educate young people about how to think, learn and reflect, so they may go on to lead meaningful lives in the service of humanity. Also provided is a clear set of School values which provides a framework for students and other members of the School community to abide by as we continually work toward this goal.
Towards 2030 articulates the four value areas we strive toward: learning and wellbeing, courage and integrity, respect and compassion, and service and contribution. To define these four areas, we consulted extensively across the School community, drawing on the expertise of the School executive, past and current parents, and many Old Melburnians. By including these various perspectives, we were able to preserve the qualities that have shaped our School’s culture across its history, and build on the best of this culture while also responding to the expectations and challenges inherent in today’s society.
Personally, I see our values as the boundaries within which each of us across the School community conduct ourselves. For students, the value of “courage and integrity”, for example, means we expect they will act ethically, accept responsibility, and face adversity with intelligence and resolve. We ask them to draw on their courage and integrity on the sporting field, in their pursuit of excellence in the classroom, or at the most strenuous point of a Beyond the Gates expedition. No matter what the challenge is, our values clearly articulate how we want our students to act as they face it.
The area of “respect and compassion” provides another example of the way our School’s values guide our actions and behaviours. In the past, we may have used a word like “tolerance” to express this idea. Today, we have a deeper understanding of what it means to recognise and include difference, the need to truly know ourselves, and the importance of respecting others. Respect and compassion influence every aspect of our students’ behaviour from the way they build positive relationships with others to the way they welcome visitors and new students to our School. These values also influence the actions we collectively take to protect the natural environment on campus and elsewhere.
Of course, articulating our values is only the first step toward embedding them. Even with a clear understanding of our values, it is still crucial for those in leadership positions at the School to demonstrate values-driven qualities and actions. Our commitment as leaders influences everyone around us, from teachers and students to parents and professional staff.
Added to this, our values also have a role to play in the wider world. The values displayed across our community go on to influence the culture around us—a process we can see clearly when we look at the many positive impacts our Old Melburnians have had, and continue to have, across the globe.
With strong values in place to guide their thinking and behaviour, our students will go on to become members of society who are able to respectfully discuss, debate, and revise their own opinions, and thoughtfully engage with the opinions of others.
We are educators, but our task does not end with the transfer of facts. We must provide students with a scaffold by which they can develop their own understanding of the world, and the ability to participate in that world in an effective, positive way.
Guided by our values, Melbourne Grammar students will have the confidence to ask questions, the intelligence to see where they need more information, and the principles to help them decide which actions will most contribute to the greater good.
Andrew Michelmore AO
Chair of Council
