Kids' service with a smile
Pittwater Life | 12 November 2025
There can sometimes be a misconception that kids don’t learn things at school that are ‘useful’ for anything beyond exams. That academia doesn’t always prepare them for ‘real life’.
That’s certainly not the case at St Luke’s Grammar School at Bayview, where Service Learning is both popular and teaching kids life lessons — and more importantly, lifelong values — as Head of Junior School Peter Scott explained to Pittwater Life.
“Service Learning is about performing authentic services that make a genuine difference in the community. All students at our Bayview campus – from Kindergarten to Year 6 – are expected to engage in one of more than 40 different opportunities to do service.
“These opportunities range from in-school to local community groups, interstate and overseas and cover areas like the environment, homelessness, poverty, physical and intellectual difficulties, loneliness and aging, to cultural immersions that help our students to better understand other cultures and Indigenous Australians.”
The sorts of projects that the students have undertaken in recent months have included Year 6 students running a mini ‘Olympics’ for Kindergarten and Year 3 students cleaning up local mangroves.
Currently Years 1 and 2 are preparing to take part in the Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child initiative, by packing gift-filled shoeboxes for children in need.
While these activities are clearly of benefit to the community, it’s the values the students are attaining that will hopefully be of most use.
“The students are learning key values such as grace, compassion, justice, humility, kindness and joy,” explains Mr Scott. “The projects they’re undertaking are nurturing them in empathy, responsibility and a commitment to making the world a better place.
“And they’re doing so through authentic service opportunities. Students get to learn that their actions can restore hope, care for creation and bring joy to others.
“These projects are more than activities – they are lessons in compassion, leadership, and responsibility.”
And the students are clearly enjoying themselves while they learn:
“We went to Berry Reserve in Narrabeen, where we ran a mini ‘Olympics’. It was an amazing day filled with laughter and excitement with the kids enjoying every moment. I had so much fun spending the day with the little kids, being able to share new skills with them; and then watching them complete the course afterwards with a smile on their face made me feel happy too,” said Audrey (Year 6).
“I had a great time watching the little kids learn how to play the games while having fun at the same time. I enjoyed getting to know the little kids and celebrating when they did something well. All in all, it was a great experience,” said Tim (Year 6).
Mr Scott reveals they have plans for next year as well.
“We’ve always placed a big emphasis on making a difference in the community or the world – there’s always been a service element to graduation and the students pick a charity for the year. But we’ve been trying to think more strategically about how we put things together.
“The Christian Studies teachers have taken the lead with that and when we start again next year there will be opportunities with the Salvation Army and we’d like to do work with local nursing homes. Give them more real-life experiences.
“We want all our kids to know that they can make a difference. And many of the kids are going on to do more volunteer activities as they graduate – it’s given them a taste for it.”
This article first appeared in Pittwater Life, November 2025