What it is to be human is at the heart of the spiritual quest for 21st century humanity. At Rathkeale we are attempting to recognise the complexity of the world we and our students live in, and the changing approach to spirituality that this post modern generation has. Through our spiritual development programme, our intention is to offer a variety of ways of navigating this important part of life, the journey on which we are all pilgrims.
Whatever their background or belief, our students are welcome to participate fully in all of the Anglican rites and 
festivals celebrated in our twice a week chapel services where our whole community is welcomed to worship. In these services we give a thorough grounding in our rich Anglican tradition while taking a questioning, exploratory approach to Christianity. We want to ensure that our students are exposed to developing understandings of religion and the search for God, or put another way, the search for what is of ultimate meaning and value for humanity.
This search is not always able to be entered into through the use of words so opportunities to engage other parts of our consciousness are offered with the use of senses in candle-lit Night Prayer services, an ongoing open invitation to experience the mystery of the Eucharist, the introduction of chant through contemporary Taize music and the development of meditation, or stillness and silence, in the Religion and Values Education classroom.
Ethics and values are of increasing importance to our students and the involvement of Rathkeale in the Dialogue Australasia Network (DAN) is proving a valuable adjunct to the work of the Anglican Schools Office Curriculum. The DAN Five Strands are: Philosophy of Religion, Biblical, Theoretical and Applied Ethics, World Religions, Stillness and Silence.
Our Anglican heritage requires us to not only be connected back into the historical tradition but to work within the five fold mission of the Church of the Province of Aotearoa New Zealand, which is to:
· proclaim the good news of the kin(g)dom
· teach, baptise and nurture new believers
· respond to human needs by loving service
· seek to transform the unjust structures of society
· strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and to sustain and renew the life of the Earth.
Above all, Rathkeale is developing a 
special character which is based, not on a narrow moralistic view of the world but, on the principles of justice and mercy, which are threaded throughout the entire Bible.
We want to be serious about the spiritual journey for our student body, which inevitably involves the whole person, their attitudes and behaviours to the outsider, the poor, the weak, the marginalised and the Earth. By doing this we are setting ourselves a hard task but one which we believe our special character demands of us; to love justice, to do mercy and to live humbly with our God.