Bridging School and the World Beyond
Each term I host a Principal’s Lunch with members of our community, inviting different voices depending on the theme. These gatherings are an opportunity to connect, build relationships and share stories and perspectives about life inside and beyond the gates of All Saints.
Last year, these lunches included our original guarantors, small business owners and entrepreneurs, and new families from within our community, to name a few. Each group brought a different lens and reaffirmed how much experience and insight sits within the All Saints community itself.
Blueprint 2026+ gives direction and purpose to the work we do across the school. On this occasion, our first Principal’s Lunch of the year provided a valuable opportunity to bring one of those priorities into conversation.
Within The Spirit of Us pillar sits a commitment to activate our alumni, families and industry partners to inspire possibility by sharing their expertise, stories and real-world experience with students across the school.
Before the lunch I shared a few provocations with the group:
- Which part of your story would actually be most useful for students?
- Where do you see the biggest disconnect between what schools emphasise and what actually matters in your world and how might we realistically narrow that gap?
- If students could leave school fluent in one adult skill that schools don’t traditionally teach well, what should it be and how might community voices help bring it to life?
The group included parents, several alumni and professionals from a wide range of fields. In addition to exploring these questions, we also discussed how we might share these experiences more intentionally with students.
The conversation that followed was thoughtful and generous.
Our alumni reflected warmly on their time at All Saints and the ways the school helped shape their journey. They also spoke about what might accelerate the transition into the world of work: financial literacy, critical thinking, learning how to turn passion into reality, and experiencing service to others as part of one’s formation, to name a few topics.
Many of the reflections in the room will sound familiar to parents as well, as we all navigate the challenge of helping young people grow into capable and grounded adults.
Parents and community members added their own perspectives. Many spoke about the importance of allowing young people to experience challenge and even failure along the way. Growth often occurs not when difficulty is avoided, but when it is accompanied by guidance, reflection and encouragement.
Earlier in the day, Mr Jason Wainwright had also challenged our thinking with a presentation in the Wonder Room that highlighted the importance of learning from those who have walked the path before us. That idea carried naturally into our lunchtime conversation.
Research strongly supports what emerged in the room.
The Search Institute’s Developmental Relationships Framework, developed through more than two decades of youth development research, shows that young people thrive when they are surrounded by adults who intentionally invest in their growth. Their research identifies five relational conditions that help young people develop: expressing care, challenging growth, providing support, sharing power and expanding possibilities.
That final idea, expanding possibilities, is particularly powerful. Young people’s aspirations grow when they encounter adults who expose them to new ideas, experiences and pathways beyond their immediate environment.
👉You can explore the research here.
This idea resonates deeply with our own school vision:
Igniting purpose and possibility in every learner.
The word ‘learner’ is deliberate. It includes not only students but every member of our community.
As you know, our school theme this year is Possibility. Gatherings, like the lunch I had the privilege of hosting this week, remind us that possibility often grows through meaningful conversations between generations.
As we discussed during the lunch, adults often learn just as much from young people as they do from us.
In the coming months we look forward to exploring practical ways of bringing these conversations and experiences into the life of the school so that your children, our students, can benefit from the wisdom and experience of the community around them.
Preparing young people for life cannot be the work of a school alone.
It grows when a community shares its stories, its experience and its perspective.
This is The Spirit of Us in action.
Have a fun weekend ahead.
Matt Corbett
Principal
