HIGH SCHOOL
PUPIL DEVELOPMENT
Harvest promotes leadership training and development throughout the High School years. Leadership is learnt through experience and through having the opportunity to lead in various spheres of influence. Effective student leadership requires good self-discipline, healthy stewardship and servant-heartedness, as modelled by Jesus Christ.
Student leadership
- Servant-hearted leadership opportunities in the High School include, amongst many others, leading daily class devotions in other grades, volunteering for the Student Forum, organising Inter-house Events, involvement in the Audio-visual Team, serving as a House Captain, participating in the Worship Team, planning or leading local, regional or international missions events and being elected to the office of Student Counsellor.
The matric leadership teams include all matric students who each have an opportunity to lead in their sphere of interest and influence. Each student will choose to serve on one of the following teams for the duration of their leadership/Grade 11 year:
- Sport Team
- Cultural Team
- Spiritual Team/Worship Team
- Community Service Team
- Leadership Team
Counsellors are elected at the end of Grade 11 according to the norms and standards set out for counsellors at Harvest. Additional counsellors may be added during the course of the year where students respond to the leadership opportunities. The Head Boy and Head Girl are elected and announced at the end of each year. Counselors assist the management of the High School with daily responsibilities.
It is exciting to observe our student leaders rising to the call and passing it on to the next wave of potential leaders in our school community, thereby promoting and developing a Kingdom leadership influence in our nation.
Outdoor education
The annual outdoor education experience for each grade provides students with opportunities to develop their personal character and leadership abilities in an environment away from home and school. Many personal and physical fears are conquered through their risk-taking and trust in God, whilst interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers are developed. These times allow our students the chance to experience God in His creation and to strengthen their relationship with Him.
Each Grade will have a particular focus for the outdoor experience. These may include adventure, relationship building, leadership and spiritual development. The Grade 10’s embark on a 5-day hike in the Tsitsikamma mountains.
Students are also challenged to participate in a variety of challenging and exciting events in Port Elizabeth or hosted by the school. These include cycle races, hiking, corporate Iron Man, 24-hour solitaire, climbing etc. A healthy and pro-active lifestyle is promoted.
Student Mentorship
A mentor is a ‘wise and trusted adviser or guide’ (Collins English Dictionary) and Harvest Christian School believes that there is excellent value in ensuring that each child receives individual mentoring. Though many come from stable, functional homes where parental mentoring is the norm, there are many who don’t. In our mission statement, we pledge to give each child ‘the opportunity of being part of a family in which they are individually nurtured and shown love and understanding’. Mentoring through the Word is not an optional extra, but the essence of who we are.
We also pledge to give each child the opportunity of developing a living and relevant faith in God. Our aim is:
- To build relationships with our students over time, making time to listen, advise, accept and love them unconditionally.
- To attempt to discover each student’s gifting and encourage them to reach their potential.
- To model through word and lifestyle a living faith in God, knowing that ‘out of one hundred men, one will read the Bible, [but] ninety-nine will read the Christian’. (D.L. Moody)
- To disciple those who are believers.
- To present the gospel to those who are not believers in an open and non-threatening way, encouraging questions and discussion in all areas of faith.
- To pray regularly for them.
Many have found this to be a wonderful opportunity to deal with a genuine desire for answers, personal soul-searching and to offer students an answer in Jesus. We believe that once a relationship with a student is established, this type of spiritual mentoring develops more naturally, with even the teacher being encouraged and ministered to through the students.
