Vision, Mission and Values

Our Vision

Harrisdale Senior High School's vision is to be a school of excellence in learning and teaching

Our Mission

We seek to improve students’ lives through learning and achievement. To that end, we are committed to the pursuit of excellence and preparing young adults to engage confidently and responsibly in a world that is being reinvented constantly. We want every student to develop the dispositions and skills to lead a happy, healthy and balanced life. We want every student to exit school as a capable and caring young adult prepared for his or her next step to further education, training or the world of work, and seeking to make a positive contribution to our global community.

The Path

Achieving our mission calls on the deep engagement and purposeful interaction of four key partners in our learning community: our students; our teachers and support staff; our families; and our friends and external support groups within the wider school community.

We will work together to build a sense of belonging and connection - among our students; among our staff; between our students and staff, our school and families, our school and the wider community; and, importantly, with our ever-changing global community. We will provide learning opportunities that connect learners with each other, ideas, people, beliefs and values. We will prepare young adults with the self-belief, knowledge, skills and desire to lead happy, productive lives and to make a positive difference to their community.

Our Values

We have a commitment to:

Excellence - being aspirational, working to achieve one's best

Responsibility - fairness; self-management; accepting civic and self-responsibility

Respect – embracing diversity and individual differences, respecting others’ contributions, respecting other' contributions

Care – valuing self, each other and our environment, nurturing healthy relationships

Background

Harrisdale Senior High School’s vision and mission provide strategic direction and guide decision-making for our school.

The vision and mission established in 2016 steered planning and preparation for the opening of Harrisdale Senior High School. On 3 May 2016, the principal and 128 parents of Year 6 students met to share their goals and aspirations for Harrisdale Senior High School. An externally facilitated workshop ensured that everyone was given the opportunity for their voice to be heard.

We agreed that our goal was to establish Harrisdale as a school of excellence. Importantly, by that we meant that our school must stand for:

• high expectations
• high performance – we believe in setting the bar high but achievable for every student. We want our students to understand and value the importance of effort, perseverance and self-belief to the achievement of challenging and worthwhile goals
• a holistic education – we believe in the development of the ‘whole child’ – academically, physically, socially, emotionally and spiritually
• high standards of behaviour – we expect everyone in our school community to respect each other and our environment. We believe in the right of all children to learn and of all teachers to teach in a safe and orderly school and classroom environment
• high standards of dress – we support a school uniform that engenders pride, belonging and school spirit

Our shared goal and aspirations are articulated in our vision, mission and values statements.

Engaging our school community in processes to clarify and confirm our School’s purpose and goals is fundamental to our mission accomplishment. Involving all partners ensures that we identify and commit to our individual and shared roles and responsibilities.