Kearsney’s Honour Code

Preamble

  • One feature of Kearsney College’s vision is ‘to contribute to our country by providing ethical citizens’.
  • An aspect of our mission is to ‘inspire a deep respect for creation and humanity’.
  • Key words extracted from our values are: integrity, respect, honesty and humility. These sentiments are reaffirmed in the Kearsney Boys’ Honour Code:

These sentiments are reaffirmed in the Kearsney Boys’ Honour Code:

  • We are boys of integrity, honesty, and honour.
  • We do not cheat, lie, steal or bully and do not tolerate those who do.
  • We respect each other, value diversity, and reject all forms of racism, gender bias, prejudice and discrimination.
  • We boys uphold all the traditions of the College.

The principles of the Honour Code are not simply rules to follow in order to be considered a true Kearsney boy. The Honour Code is a means of ensuring the highest standard of personal integrity. The code is the boys’ own approach to dealing with misconduct that is essentially moral in character.

Promoting and upholding the Honour Code

The upholding of the Honour Code is entrusted to the Honour Council consisting of the Head Boy, the Deputy Head Boy, the five Heads of Houses and the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Kearsney Council guided and overseen by the Deputy Headmaster in charge of Discipline. Members of the Honour Council are expected to uphold the Honour Code by personal example and by educating the boys of the College in the finer points of honourable behaviour. They are also responsible for dealing with violations of the Honour Code.

Violations of the Honour Code

The following offences are considered to be violations of the Honour Code: lying, stealing, cheating, bullying, racism, discrimination and the willful disrespect for or defiance of Kearsney schoolboy traditions.

  • Lying includes willful distortion or misrepresentation.
  • Stealing includes ‘borrowing’ another’s property without his or her permission.
  • Cheating includes taking any unauthorised notes or aids into an examination or test or leaking information about the contents of an examination or test to pupils who still have to write it.
  • Plagiarism includes passing off another’s work, words or ideas as one’s own.
  • Bullying includes physical, emotional, verbal, and psychological.
  • Racism, prejudice and discrimination refer to differential or unjust treatment of people because of their race, colour, ethnicity, national origin, gender or sexual orientation or actual or perceived group membership, and may include overt and covert behaviors, and institutionalised practices, that reflect negative or discriminatory attitudes or beliefs about a race, individual or group.
  • A list of relevant traditions is available on the College intranet.

A boy who reportedly violates the Honour Code may be required to appear before the School Disciplinary Committee or Honour Council (six of whose members will constitute a quorum). The School Disciplinary Committee consists of the members of the Schools Executive Management and the Honour Council will normally be chaired by the Head Boy (or his designated deputy or a prefect). Should the Deputy Headmaster be unable to attend the meeting he will deputise another member of the College Executive Committee to do so.

If a Kearsney pupil has been accused of lying, cheating, stealing, bullying, racism, gender bias, discrimination or showing willful disrespect of Kearsney schoolboy traditions he will appear before the Honour Council.

If a Kearsney pupil has been accused of lying, cheating, stealing, bullying, racism, gender bias or discrimination he will also be dealt with under the School Code of Conduct.

Schoolboy traditions

The Kearsney boys know and understand all the traditions of the College; a list can be found on the College intranet. It is important to remember that Kearsney boys always wear their uniform with pride, and it is a tradition that the boys wear their uniform correctly.