School Values & Operation framework

Our Values determine

how work gets done

how decisions are made

and how we conduct ourselves

 Student Values

  • Unity can sometimes be undervalued in modern trend of individualism. However unity is ingrained in any successful human community at any level and size.

    We encourage adolescents to understand the impact of their own actions to others via concept of “shared responsibility” and what it means to be caring and kind towards others - which sounds so simple, but sometimes quite challenging to do.

  • Independence at Harbour College is not about “doing something on your own”.

    It is about being aware of one’s responsibilities in a community, and learning to be aware of the boundaries where it starts and ends.

    These concepts are most crucial in guiding teens’ social interactions where dramas and inappropriate blaming can frequently occur. These occasions are great opportunity for experiential learning and the teachers will refer to concepts of responsibilities and boundaries to resolve any social situations.

  • Integrity is perhaps the most “human” quality, and one that Harbour College values the most. We look to bring lessons of Integrity through two sub-values:

    1) Being truthful to oneself means dropping the pretense, being real with the reality, and connecting with the inner peace. It is about learning to be vulnerable - not easy for teenagers!

    2) Courage is what is often needed to be truthful. But this is quality that we need to teach our young adults to nurture and access deliberately.

  • Leadership is about “showing up”!

    We approach leadership from two angles: 1) Leadership of Self and 2) Leadership of Others

    Leadership of Self is willingness to improve oneself. We utilise framework of Acceptance and Commitment.

    Leadership of Others is centred around the value of genuine personal connection with others, something that is critical in modern teenagers and heavily influenced by social media.

 Teacher Values

  • The grounding value that teachers Harbour College need to display is humility - the willingness and ability to approach students at their level, knowing that we are in a truly privileged position to be able to build relationships and influence our students in a way that not many other schools can.

  • Opposite of connection and curiosity is judgement - something that will instantly switch teenagers (or anyone) off.

    With a skilled teacher, genuine connection and curiosity has the power to “unstick” teenagers from their challenges and intrinsically motivate them to change for better.

  • Our purpose is to teach, and the art of teaching is to attach meaning to the works that the students do so they can realise the larger purpose of learning.

    This is very much applicable to both academic and personal development, and our small environment and consistent interaction between the teachers and students allow deeper and meaningful conversations.

  • Aroha is love that extends beyond one’s interest or personal relationships; it’s the deep respect and connection that we have with each other, the local community, and the planet.

    When we help our students to expand their awareness past their own selves, they will find higher purpose to strive for, stronger drive to live and progress, and appreciate what they have.

    That’s the school and education we believe in.

Operation Framework to put values into practice.

Workability & Psychological Flexibility

These two principles that originate from behavioural science are the core concepts that underlie the school’s pastoral care. 

Workability is how we determine whether one’s action is serving his or her values or long-term goals. 

Psychological Flexibility is one’s ability to stay in contact with the present moment regardless of unpleasant thoughts, feelings and sensations, while having the ability to choose one’s actions that is workable (i.e. doing what you need to do even if you don’t like it).

Our goal is to help students to develop psychological flexibility, so they become more capable of choosing actions that are workable.

This also prevents engagement of “right-or-wrong” discourse, and increases intrinsic motivation from the students.

Experiential Learning

Schools are a perfect place to learn about how we conduct ourselves, and build relationships. We believe that one of the most important learning our students can have at Harbour College is how they handle stress and conflicts - inevitability in all lives, and often unfortunately handled by avoidance.

Due to the intimate nature of the school, stress and conflicts are recognised (or deliberately set up for exposure) and used as opportunity to learn about connecting with values and turning them into actions.

Observation

The key factor of Harbour College and our success in helping students is the fact that teachers are constantly involved with the students’ time at the school, as opposed to frequent change of teachers (and classrooms) that naturally occurs in larger schools.

Our environment allows us to observe behaviour and language of our students very closely. As adolescents are often in the process of learning to express themselves (or sometimes just reluctant), the fact we are able to observe student’s behaviour as a neutral observer throughout the day, every single day, allows us to identify sticky spots and work with the students (and parents if appropriate) whenever we can to address it quickly.

Connection before Correction

Teenagers need correction, like ships that experience regular storms in the ocean. But we are pretty certain that parents have seen how “disciplining” often does not work well. It can even make them switch on their sense of defiance!

One key ingredient that must occur before any correction is connection. The teachers at Harbour College understand this concept and work extremely hard to build genuine connections with each student, again facilitated by the consistent presence of a small number of teachers throughout the day. This builds predictability (a key factor in how “safe” the students feel) and trust, which are the foundation for connection and relationship. 

This means that when the time comes to correct the students, the groundwork is done.


Indiviudual Education Plans

Individualised Education Plans (IEP) are conducted at the beginning of the year (or at the time of enrolment), setting relatable and achievable goals for each student in both academic and personal domains. This allows us to implement strategies into their personal timetables as well as the teachers’ approach.

These may be anything from altering teaching/learning styles in the class, to building transitional timetables to improve attendance, to what to focus on in social interactions with peers. Our afternoon schedule in timetable offers flexibility to care for these individualised strategies (e.g. some students may benefit from more outdoor activities while another may focus on improving literacy skills).

We use Observation-Feedback-Plan loop with the students and parents to ensure that strategies are working.