Grace
Grace is a gift from God – expressed through Jesus – that gives us the freedom to forgive, to treat others with compassion, to rise above injustice and to receive God’s love in our own lives.
We support all staff and students to live knowing they are loved, and to make the choice to love others.
Lutheran culture embraces ordinary people and everyday things. It draws on the Gospel values of humility, grace, peace and forgiveness. It is founded on the fundamental belief that God lives in each of us.
As a college centred strongly in the Lutheran faith, we uphold certain ways of being that may be different to other schools or communities but that are core to living and learning at Tatachilla.
These ways of being are underpinned by certain tenets that Lutheran Christians hold dear, and that are outlined below.
Grace is a gift from God – expressed through Jesus – that gives us the freedom to forgive, to treat others with compassion, to rise above injustice and to receive God’s love in our own lives.
Serving others through kindness, generosity and practical support is how we express our love for humanity and the earth. This is part of our collective life calling.
We understand that life will inevitably expose us to suffering to varying degrees but that hardship is transformational. We believe that we all have the ability to rise up and grow from difficult times.
We believe in the warmth and safety of family and the strong sense of identity and belonging that comes from being a part of a community.
We believe that our life’s work is to encourage each other on life’s journey, no matter where we come from or where we’re going. We believe that everyday togetherness generates a true sense of belonging.
We believe in rigorous intellectual pursuit and traversing the frontiers of human knowledge across all fields. For us, knowledge sits side by side with faith.
We believe in boundaries and accountability. The way we talk and act matters. Positive behaviour is explicitly taught and supported. We acknowledge our mistakes, make reparations and move forward.
We hold music as a gift from God. We believe in its power to inspire, renew, unite and elevate the human experience. For us, music brings about self-knowledge, joy and communion. Our thriving performing arts program reflects our rich Lutheran musical heritage.
We honour the natural world and take steps to protect, sustain and restore the earth. We believe that creation is ongoing and that we are an intrinsic part of it.
Lutheran Christians value the world as it is, both the visible and the invisible.
This means that we believe the world we can’t see – the spiritual world – coexists with the world we can see.
This approach to living and learning broadens our students’ worldview and builds their capacity – spiritually and practically – to navigate life’s inevitable challenges, contradictions and complexities.
Our college expresses its faith life through rituals and rites of passage. We believe these customs, rooted in sacred Scripture, give shape and voice to our core beliefs.
These rituals include weekly chapel services where all students from Reception to Year 12 hear stories and messages that pose key questions about life. They are invited to reflect on how these questions might be navigated in light of God’s teachings.
Chapel services also give our students the opportunity to connect with their spiritual selves and to learn to hold themselves in a sacred space.
Other rituals include the annual Blessing of the Animals ceremony, in which college families are invited to bring their beloved pets to school for a blessing from the college pastor. This ritual is undertaken in remembrance of Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of all creatures great and small.
In the junior years, students explore values through the lens of Biblical stories and spiritual thinking. They are shown how to listen with their hearts and engage in prayer as a means of connecting with God, themselves and each other.
In the middle and senior years, students engage in Christian faith at a deeper, more exploratory level. In addition to chapel services, they participate in spiritual retreats; spend time serving communities within and beyond their immediate world; and visit sites of ecological and cultural significance to better understand the spiritual importance of place.
The college upholds a culture of reverence and celebration that enables our students to know themselves and find completeness and purpose. We believe that positive change in the world can and does occur when it first begins with the heart.
Kaurna Country
211 Tatachilla Road, McLaren Vale
South Australia 5171
Phone +61 8 8323 9588
E-mail tlc@tatachilla.sa.edu.au
