The Compass Program

In 2009, Emmanuel College launched The Journey program. The Journey is designed to aid our students in establishing and developing essential values and virtues, and to develop the strong character traits essential for a successful life. Since then, we have seen the powerful impact The Journey has had on our students in terms of character development and their desire to embody the values of the ideal Emmanuel Graduate.

The Emmanuel Graduate ought to be: A compassionate human being, unafraid to be, competent and willing to navigate life using their moral compass to make wise and just choices; a strategic participant in a global setting, a person of faith and integrity, aware of an eternal destiny.  

Accompanying The Journey is the Emmanuel Compass; a prominent symbol displayed and referenced throughout the College. The Compass represents the essential character traits our students seek to develop to find the best direction for their lives.

Emmanuel College staff are committed to embedding these essential character traits across our curriculum and in our co-curricular programs. We intend for our students both to be directly aware of, and also subject to the cumulative effect of years of practice of these character traits.

We are confident that this program will continue to have long term positive impacts on our school.

The Emmanuel Compass

The Emmanuel Compass represents the eight essential character traits required to help students find the best direction for their lives.

Faith: Faith is our North Point; just as the North Star is the one star that does not move in the night sky. To have confidence in any journey, we need to have a firm reference point from which we can begin to navigate. Faith in God is our unchanging reference point.

Hope: As the sun rises in the east, we have placed Hope in the east quarter of our moral compass. At Emmanuel College, we are convinced that we have the historical and intellectual basis and reason to believe that through Jesus we can live lives of meaning and joy, even in death. 

Compassion: Inspired by God's love, and driven by our belief in the sacredness of life, we live our lives in genuine expressions of love for others. Compassion is founded in the love that Jesus demonstrated in the New Testament. 

Justice: This sits between Faith and Compassion. Justice without compassion is harsh and legalistic. Justice without Christian faith is arbitrary, resting on popular opinion or totalitarian edict. We believe children should learn from school age how justice is established in the world, and how they can work to assist it. This is the heart of the work of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Self-Control: This character quality is opposite Integrity which is impossible without Self-Control, and between Justice and Courage, which are its parents. Self-Control is an essential quality in a child's or a teenager's life.

Courage: Courage is found opposite Justice; we need Courage to fight for Justice. Hope and Wisdom are its immediate neighbours as both support Courage.

Integrity: A person with Integrity will always do the right thing; they will stand up for truth; and not be afraid to admit when they are wrong. Integrity is who you are and what you are when no-one is watching.

Wisdom: Our strong South point, opposite Faith. Recognition of the Truth of God is the beginning of wisdom. It is both the basis and the outcome of all the others. At Emmanuel College we believe in the value and importance of graduating young people with the grounding of Wisdom on which they can construct their lives.