Redeemer Lutheran College

Redeemer Lutheran College

Spes nostra in Christo est
"Our hope is in Christ"
Location
Brisbane, QLD
Australia
Information
Type Lutheran
Established 1980
Principal David Radke
Enrolment ~1108[1]
Campus Rochedale
Colour(s) Three shades of blue, white and gold                     
Website www.redeemer.com.au

Redeemer Lutheran College is a co-educational Lutheran primary and secondary school in Rochedale, Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in the early 1980s by Robin Kleinschmidt and other leading Lutherans in the south of Brisbane, the College currently educates students from years Prep to 12. The current head of college is David Radke, who has held this position since 2009.

Location and grounds

Redeemer is located in Brisbane City in a semi-rural environment. The College is notable for its use of open space, with no building currently exceeding two stories in height large path infrastructure crossing the grounds.

Doctrinal emphasis

Redeemer focuses on promoting the Lutheran denomination of the Christian faith; however adherents of any belief, including those who claim no specific religious faith, are welcomed. Religious instruction is provided via 150 minutes of "Christian Studies" every week from years 6 to 12, as well as morning devotions in the chapel and in home rooms. Staff are expected to uphold a Christian lifestyle, although there is no official definition of that lifestyle, and most staff members are practising Christians. RLC also has a chaplaincy service which is responsible for devotions and other expressions of religious life.

Educational standards

Graduates of RLC are generally high-achievers, with most senior school-leavers scoring strongly in the Overall Position (OP) score. In 2008, 9 students received an OP 1. RLC is also expanding the options available to students, adding TAFE courses and apprenticeships to its curriculum.. The school emphasizes participation, rather than excellence, in both academic and co-curricular activities. .

Extra-curricular

RLC offers a wide range of extracurricular activities, ranging from sport in The Associated Schools competition through to musical competitions and debating under the auspices of the Queensland Debating Union. While the school has not achieved a reputation for consistent success in any extracurricular endeavour, some alumni have achieved individual success. These include:

Robin Kleinschmidt

L. Robin Kleinschmidt is an Australian Lutheran educationalist. He served as headmaster of St Peters Lutheran College, Brisbane and was responsible in part for encouraging the theatrical talents of a young Sigrid Thornton.

Kleinschmidt served as headmaster of Redeemer College from foundation to 2001 and was responsible for the construction of most of the modern campus. His influence on the school can still be seen, particularly in the field of Debating, where the Inter-House Debating Trophy is known as the Robin Kleinschmidt Trophy. In honour of his endeavour and enterprise, the school's music centre, which was erected in 1999, was renamed the Robin Kleinschmidt centre.

Controversy

The school has been involved in two controversial incidents to date.

The first of these dealt with claims made by Helen Darville in interviews regarding her school experiences. Among these claims were that she had been looked down upon for being at the school on a scholarship and also that she had befriended a Croatian girl who had been bullied by other students. The College refuted both claims, demonstrating that it had never had a scholarship program (although limited bursaries existed and continue to exist for already-enrolled students in need) and that there were no students of Croatian ethnicity enrolled at the time of Darville's enrolment. Then-headmaster L Robin Kleinschmidt still views these claims with contempt many years after the fact, as is shown in his memoir of the school. [2]

The second and more recent event dealt with the prosecution and later conviction of teacher Warren Schneider for paedophilia. The events took place on a school camp in 2002, with Schneider providing alcohol to female students and playing sexually charged games of truth or dare with them. Schneider was jailed for 15 months, suspended after 5 months.[3] In a second case in October 2007, Schneider pleaded guilty to three counts of rape and many cases of indecent dealings with students of both Redeemer College and another school at which he had previously taught.[4] The school released a statement advising, "The college sincerely regrets that these events occurred," and stated in a newsletter, "It's been a difficult week for our community in the wake of the conviction of former teacher Warren Schneider." However, the school has not to date issued an apology to the victims of the abuse.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.myschool.edu.au/MainPages/SchoolProfileRep.aspx?SDRSchoolId=330000005781&DEEWRId=14270&CalendarYear=2010&RefId=gdrSLaYDWOhvA%2bW6fmvtdfKeopHwAHfA
  2. ↑ Kleinschmidt, L. Robin (2005). River of Hope: Reminiscences of the first years of Redeemer Lutheran College. Underwoood, Queensland: Kingswood. pp. 79–80. ISBN 0-646-45014-X.
  3. ↑ "Naked, cartwheeling teacher jailed", AAP, The Age, February 9, 2006, retrieved September 20, 2006
  4. ↑ "Teacher Jailed for Raping Students", AAP, The Age, October 12, 2007, retrieved October 12, 2007
  5. ↑ "Evil forgotten in school sex case", Courier-Mail, October 20, 2007, retrieved November 5, 2008

Coordinates: 27°35′04″S 153°07′23″E / 27.58444°S 153.12306°E / -27.58444; 153.12306

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