At Carlisle, We CARE
Isabelle Millien
Deputy Principal
In 2022, our entire school community underwent a process of intentional consideration to determine what values Carlisle Adventist College stood for. From this process, we identified four core values of Compassion, Achievement, Respect and Effort.
From our values was born the acronym CARE and we developed the motto ‘At Carlisle We CARE.’
We also chose Bible verses that emphasize the values we aim to instill in our staff and students and created posters that would be in every classroom and around the school as a reminder of what we stand for.
These values are becoming our language, and our language is becoming our culture.
With the overarching values of the Seventh-day Adventist Church our Mission at Carlisle Adventist College is to be a ‘Thriving Christ-centred learning Community.’
We work towards teaching and learning with the mindset of ‘Nurture for today, Learning for Tomorrow & Character for Eternity.’
Nurture for today
A child needs to feel secure and valued to achieve their best. They also need to appreciate that hard work and self-discipline can lead them to greatness. For children to achieve their best, while learning these valuable lessons, they need an encouraging, safe, collaborative and nurturing environment.
Ridicule and bullying can destroy that willingness to try, to ‘have a go’, which often lies at the base of success and genius. Such negative attitudes certainly have no place in At Carlisle Adventist College. Our school is a place where we encourage and foster respect, cooperative learning and excellence.
Learning for tomorrow
Education is more than the experience at school. Before each child lies a future rich in challenges and opportunities but also in dangers and deceptions. Education should prepare a child to recognise and evaluate things so they can embrace one and reject the other.
Education certainly must equip each child with knowledge and skills. These are the foundation on which they can continue to build and the tools for accessing that which they need from a world where knowledge is continually progressing and expanding. But education must do more than this. It must teach them to be discerning, to evaluate that which they encounter and to make judgments about worth and value. The ability to think for oneself, and firm values to guide that thinking, are among the most valuable assets an education can provide.
School teaching programmes include the teaching of thinking skills as well as ample opportunities for students to practise higher-level thinking and making judgments. This does not, however, come at the expense of basic skills in literacy and numeracy. Sufficient time is set aside to ensure a thorough development of these skills and there is on-going, college-wide evaluation of student development to ensure that any difficulties are identified and dealt with as soon as possible.
Character for eternity
When choosing a school for your child you are making an important choice about your child’s future and should consider what in life is of real worth.
We all appreciate the importance of abilities and talents in helping us build a successful life but on their own they cannot achieve this. Ability without honesty, integrity and respect for others will never lead to true success.
At Carlisle Adventist College, we value character as much as we value anything else. You can be assured that we place just as high a level on character development as we do on academic success. The learning and living of values, respect and courtesy are not left to chance. Helping and encouraging the students to become caring, compassionate citizens of our Mackay community – and even our nation – and to develop characters for eternity, is central to what we do and who we are at Carlisle Adventist College.
