Dear High School Community,

In a recent High School faculty devotional, we reflected on James’s instruction, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:16). This verse offers a radically different vision of community from one shaped by worldliness that so often surrounds us.

Christian communities are not places where sin is absent, they are places where repentance is present. We will misunderstand, disappoint, and sometimes hurt one another. The question is not whether problems will arise, but how we will respond when they do. The gospel frees us to acknowledge wrongdoing, ask forgiveness, extend grace, and pursue restoration because our hope rests in Christ rather than in defending our reputations.

Gossip works against this healing. It speaks about people when we should speak to them. It enlarges problems, recruits others into conflict, and can cause lasting harm. Scripture calls us instead to use words that build others up and benefit those who listen (Ephesians 4:29). This does not mean avoiding difficult conversations. Rather, it means speaking frankly, directly, and gently, with the goal of understanding and reconciliation.

We ask for parents’ partnership in cultivating this culture in our student body. When your child shares a concern, please help them close the loop, clarify what happened, resist assumptions, and encourage a respectful conversation with the person involved. When appropriate, a teacher, advisor, counsellor, or administrator can help facilitate that process.