Christian Dimension
The Chapel of Christ the King
The Chapel of Christ the King at St. Paul’s Collegiate School represents the heart of the school. Whether for chapel services, school assemblies or music and drama performances, the Chapel is the place where the entire school community comes together on a daily basis.
State of the art audio-visual technology helps enable exciting, challenging, and thought-provoking chapel services. Worship at St. Paul’s is dynamic, creative and interactive while maintaining its roots in the Anglican tradition and ethos.
Each year four Chapel Prefects, who embody the values and ethos of St. Paul’s special Anglican character, are chosen to lead the student body in chapel life. The Chapel Prefects are supported by a Chapel Team consisting of over 20 dedicated St. Paul’s students representing Years 9 to 13.
Chapel services at St Paul’s for the whole school, including staff, are held twice weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Sundays, boarders attend a service of Night Prayer at 7:30pm as part of boarding life at the school. Over the course of the year, each house is expected to plan and lead at least one House Chapel Service. Holy Communion is celebrated at the end of each term. In addition, there are a number of special services throughout the school year that reflect the community life at St. Paul’s. These include the Garden of Remembrance Service in March, Founders Service in May, and Leavers and Carol Services in December.
All members of the St Paul’s community are welcome in the Chapel of Christ the King at any time and at chapel services.
Chaplaincy and Religous Education
The Chaplain at St Paul’s, Mr Craig Luccock, occupies three distinct roles: Chaplain, teacher of religious education and counsellor. These roles often overlap. The Chaplain serves as the pastor to the school family, and as such provides a friendly listening ear, advice, guidance and spiritual support to students, staff, parents and families.
As a teacher of religious education, the Chaplain provides a context in which students can learn about the spiritual dimensions of everyday life and living, as well as providing a rigorous academic approach to the subject of Religious Studies, in following a set syllabus covering a variety of topics.
Students in Years 9, 10 and 12 take part in the School’s religious education
programme and every student attends regular worship in the School Chapel.
The Chaplain is also a professional counsellor and works with all staff and students who need spiritual (or other) guidance or solace. The Chaplain makes regular visits to boarding houses and a fortnightly visit to Tihoi, to keep in touch with each boarding house as a whole, and with individual students and staff across both campuses.
"A Point of Difference"
I was chatting with some of my colleagues in the staff room and we were discussing what St Paul’s Collegiate School offers to students and parents as a ‘point of difference’ from other schools. In the time I have had the privilege to be the Chaplain at St Paul’s; I have come to believe that our point of difference is not simply that we are an Anglican special character school. Our true point of difference is in our chapel of Christ the King, which allows us at St Paul’s to offer something very few schools can offer. Christ the King is more than simply a chapel; it is also a performing arts centre, a meeting place, a place of quiet prayer and contemplation, a place where St Paul’s celebrates all its greatest achievements, and a place where the community gathers in times of loss or heartbreak. In short, Christ the King is the heartbeat and focal point of the St Paul’s community. When we are truly at our best, it is not on the rugby pitch, in the classroom, or in school production—it is when we come together in our spiritual home which is the Chapel of Christ the King.
As a community, the students, staff and family come together three times per week to worship: on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at 12.15pm and on Sunday evenings at 7.30pm. However, I believe this does not represent the full community of St Paul’s because our community is not only the staff and students, but also the parents, old collegians, board members and many other people who feel a connection to St Paul’s. With that in mind it seems only appropriate that when we come together as a community, we make sure the whole community is present. So, I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to our chapel services during the week or, in particular, on Sunday evenings. It is our vision that worship at St Paul’s is an experience shared by all.
Haeri Mai, you are always welcome!