Cultivating Character
WHAT are we focused on here? Cultivating character: Students at HDCH receive an excellent, Christ-permeated education where all students are engaged, growing in intellect, skills, and character, being connected to their God-given purpose. By character, we mean Christ-likeness, the image of God in us restored, which is God’s ultimate purpose for every one of us: “to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29).
We consider character more important than grades as a predictor of success in life, by which we mean a purposeful, fulfilling life walking with God. (And that’s not to say our students don’t achieve good grades and academic success: we have a reputation amongst post-secondary institutions for extremely well-prepared students!)
Through Learning
HOW? Through learning that lights a fire! Irish poet WB Yeats is purported to have said, “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” We’re not trying to fill our students up like vessels: cram in knowledge, facts or doctrines. We’re not just looking to fill them with information, but to see transformation: we want our students to be problem-solvers, creators, critical thinkers, collaborators, and carers.
You might hear us use the phrase “Deeper in, further out” about our learning: we use a project-based pedagogy that takes students deeper in their learning by connecting them and their learning further out: purposeful, Kingdom-service learning experiences that go beyond and are more meaningful to students than curriculum checklists, or the old currencies of grades and credits.
In a community of care
WHERE does this learning happen? In a community of care, a small enough school for students to be known. High school years are intense. Our students enter as children and they leave four years later as young adults! They’re all trying to fit in and find their way, and they need adults who are not only amazing role models of what it means to follow Christ, but who know them and truly care about them.
Teenagers need to be known and loved by the adults in their lives. A defining characteristic of HDCH, commented on by graduates every year, by parents, and by our community as a whole, is the CARE of staff – the relationships between staff and students are at the core of what makes this place special.
For a Life of Service to God
WHY? HDCH isn’t just about self-actualisation, about becoming the best you you can be. It’s about service. We believe the most meaningful, fulfilled life is about knowing, following and serving our Lord wherever He plants us and with whatever gifts He has given us. And we don’t believe those lives of service begin one day, some other day, after high school, but right here, right now.
Our WHY is to serve the Lord: we desire to worship Him with our whole being, in everything we do, in our learning and our play and our work. Lives of service to God begin now, here. This is the HDCH we’d like to welcome you to!