The College motto is IN FIDE SCIENTIUM which is Latin for “to faith add knowledge”.  It is interesting that the founders of our College opted for this as our motto. Shouldn’t it be … to knowledge add faith? And shouldn’t faith be optional?

Our founding fathers were indeed wise. Faith comes first, not only because faith matters. Faith comes first because it is acknowledged that we all have faith, we all express faith in various things and people each day. Faith of course, is more than just believing. Faith is our acted out beliefs. Similarly, wisdom is not merely knowledge. The accumulation of information/knowledge can be useless. Knowledge misapplied helps no-one and is often unproductive. Wisdom on the other hand is applied knowledge in the face of the rigours of life. Wisdom is faith and knowledge put into the everyday practice of living.

Here at Newington we want to encourage and assist our boys to be more than knowledgeable. We want them to become wise men of substance. At the start of a new school year it is good to remind ourselves “to faith add knowledge”.

(Our motto is taken from the Bible. See 2Peter 1:5-8 for a fuller context.)

Rev Peter Morphew – Chaplain