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“Good character
consists of knowing the good, desiring the good, and doing the good.”
Thomas Lickona, Educating for Character
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What's
Different About
A Cherrybrook Education
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The
Hallmarks of A Cherrybrook Education
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Many
schools can overemphasise academic competence in an effort to prepare
children for primary school unfortunately, in the process, eclipsing the
importance of character education. At Cherrybrook, we help parents in
their quest to develop their children into truly mature, well-rounded
persons who work well and who have personal integrity. We strongly
believe that helping Cherrybrook students develop their personal
integrity is one of the best contributions we make to secure their
future success in life as well as to serve society as a whole.
“A
person’s virtue shows that he is putting his ability into practice;
here and now he is making actual what otherwise remains merely possible
for him.”
Virtues
enable Cherrybrook students to practice self-control and self-giving.
This then allows them to make the best choices for themselves, others
and society as a whole. Therefore, the development of virtue is not
ancillary, but essential to education.
At Cherrybrook, good character is formed in our students through:
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School
Environment
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Education
in Virtues
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Spiritual
Development
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| Personalised
System of Education |
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“Only
a school of character can aspire to foster character to its pupils.”
Professor Charles Glenn of Boston University
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School Environment
Cherrybrook continually strives to create an environment that
exemplifies the character that it wants to impart to its students. The
classroom, the gym, the playing fields, social functions etc. are
avenues for teaching virtues. Thus, the whole school environment becomes
a classroom for character education. In these different settings,
students experience a climate of genuine service and acceptance. They
learn to value sincerity and generosity in
friendship; they grasp the
relationship between making choices and the personal responsibilities
that come with every choice.
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“I
don’t know if I could say which the most important human virtue is. It
depends on the point of view from which they are considered.
In any
case, this question does not get us anywhere, for it’s not a matter of
practicing one or even a number of virtues. We have to acquire all of
them.
Each individual virtue is interwoven with the others and thus our
effort to be sincere will also make us upright, cheerful, prudent,
composed.”
Josemaria Escriva, Human Virtues, Scepter Press
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Education in Virtues: What is Virtue?
Virtue
is a habit and disposition of the heart formed by the repetition of good
actions that build the moral character. Virtue pertains to morality ie.
the objective measure of goodness, while value ultimately pertains to
personal preference or group consensus, which may or may not be moral.
People tend to think virtues and values mean the same thing and are
interchangeable – they are not. Values are always subjective and
therefore not necessarily good eg. one person can value modesty and
humility while another can value immodesty and arrogance. Virtues,
however, are objective and good; they necessarily involve actions which
help to improve a person’s life as a whole.
Founded
on Catholic principles and traditions, Cherrybrook looks primarily to
those principles and traditions, and to the writings of some of the
great, classical philosophers for its orientation on morality and
virtues.
The
following are examples of human virtues we foster in the children -
orderliness, generosity, humility, optimism, patriotism, perseverance,
responsibility, sincerity among many others.
The
acquisition of these virtues combined with the love for noble values and
ideals are the cornerstones for a child’s character education. This is a lifelong task. To this end, Cherrybrook plays a key
role in helping parents to begin setting a strong and lasting foundation
in place so that their children are well prepared to undertake their
journey through life.
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Spiritual Development
The values inspiring Cherrybrook are those of the Catholic faith because
this is the wish of the founding members. However,
Cherrybrook staff exercise great respect for the freedom of each person
when it comes to helping them know and draw closer to God. The children
learn to develop a profound respect and affection for people of all
races, religions and cultures
Catholic students are encouraged to live
their faith with a genuine spirit of freedom and commitment. Parents of
non-Catholic children are made aware that their children will be exposed
to our Catholic ethos but are free to decide whether to allow their
children to participate in the prayers. The formation of families is
entrusted to Opus Dei, a personal prelature of the Catholic Church whose
mission is to assist all people to live the universal call to holiness.
The families at Cherrybrook are
multi-racial and of different beliefs.
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Personalised System of Education
This
serves as the cornerstone of the character education program. Many
schools speak of character development, but few speak about the
development of human virtues in the individual. The uniqueness of
Cherrybrook is that we have a purposeful, tailored program to effect
this.
Each
Cherrybrook student is assigned a personal trained tutor who will be a
mentor providing constant support for your child through her good
example, friendship and thoughtful advice. The dedication, cheerfulness,
and selflessness of adults who surround the children will serve as the
template for their own characters.
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| Cherrybrook combines
education in virtue with outstanding teaching in the classroom. We
believe that good habits of mind and will are the building blocks of
personal excellence. Through the tutorial system, we foster academic
excellence as a means to character education. Through regular dialogue,
parents and staff encourage children to achieve their personal best in
every area of school life through concrete goals and action plans
developed together.
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Parents, Teachers and Tutor
Collaboration
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When parents enroll
their children at Cherrybrook, they exercise their principal right and
duty in the education of their children. They choose a school which will
deliver excellent and well-rounded academic programs in an environment
which supports all that they themselves value. In so doing, they trust
the expertise and the motivation of all their child’s teachers and
tutor and seek to support their authority as instructors and mentors to
their child.
Cherrybrook parents,
teachers and tutors are united in purpose in the children’s education.
The basis of this partnership is a loyal and mutual understanding of
each other’s complementary roles that develops through periodic
conversations, joint work and, hopefully friendship.
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Continuing Education Programs for
Parents
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While parents have
an innate capability for the upbringing of their children, they have a
corresponding responsibility to strengthen and improve upon that
capability. Parents should also try to grow in the qualities of mind and
character that they wish their children to acquire. Cherrybrook recognizes that parents need and want help –
especially in the form of educational opportunities – to meet all the
challenges parenting brings with it today. We, therefore, assist parents
in their quest to be more competent educators by providing them with
continuing education in the form of seminars, workshops, talks and other
activities. It is vital for the effectiveness of their children’s
education that Cherrybrook parents actively participate in these
programs which cover a wide range of topics.
“Parents in our society today are thrown in the deep end and have to
splash the length of the pool as best they can. The temptation is to
say, ‘I’ve heard it before’, but the reality is that we need to
hear good advice often, reflect on it frequently and adapt it to our own
circumstances. Experience shows that it’s not good enough to have
heard the theory of how to be a good parent; constant self-evaluation is
needed.” (Redfield College, a college prep school in Australia
which shares Cherrybrook’s philosophy and mission)
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