I had the pleasure of speaking to a security guard at the Crowne Plaza in Terrigal this week at the end of our Year 12 Formal. He told me about some of his upbringing – living in a low socioeconomic area, attending a public school where he “learned the wrong things and was with the wrong people”, leaving in Year 10 and then having his first child at a young age. However, he told me he now has two trades, works nights as a security guard for extra money and has moved to a nicer area than where he grew up, for the sake of his two daughters. In all of this, he was most proud that he was still with the mother of his daughters, and “not a lot of people like me can say that.”

He wanted me to know that he had been observing our students and they “were the best kids I’ve ever seen here – and I’ve been to a lot of Formals”. In addition to the lack of disruptive or anti-social behaviour, he was impressed by the way they treated each other and interacted with their teachers and peers.

His daughters are 7 and 9 and he told me that after what he saw, he wants to start saving up so he can send them to GPCC in high school. “Whatever you are doing there, it is working.”

This is a wonderful example of the way in which our students, just in their actions, model their character in a way that shows who they are and who we are as a school. Ultimately, our Year 12 students were showing the lifelong benefits of a Christian education and the influence of Jesus in their lives.