Building Character through Leadership, Mentoring and Sport

School Captains, Parker Vize and Stephanie Hancock

Steve McDonnell

Our Year 12 School Captains made outstanding speeches on Founders’ Day and their words seem particularly poignant. Well done and welcome to your leadership roles, Parker and Stephanie!

STEPHANIE HANCOCK

Ballarat and Queen’s Anglican Grammar School is a place where children come to be educated and grow into valued members of the community. This is the basic premise of schooling. However, here at Grammar, this foundation has been built upon so solidly that the School has become, for me, much more than the simple learning environment. It has become somewhere to question my thoughts, seek out new challenges and, most importantly, have some fun with the people who make me happy. It has become a community of which I feel privileged to be part.

I am sure that when the original girls’ school, Queen’s, was first founded in 1876, no one expected it to grow to be purchased by the Ballarat Diocese, amalgamate with the Boys’ School and become the School that it is today. Queen’s is represented in the Crest on our blazers, the Houses Krome, Cuthbert, Manifold Larritt, Hayhoe and Woodbridge, and the Queen’s Wing. The Boys’ School and Queen’s are the starting place from which we have grown. And although all this time has gone by, truthfully a whole lot hasn’t changed. If you were teleported back to the early 1900s, it is likely that the adjustments you would find would be to the hairstyles and fashions, not the sense of community or the essence of the Schools. The Grammar spirit would be just as strong as it is today.

When I think of Grammar I am immediately taken back to huddling around a heater in one of the Cleaver rooms during winter, or dressing up in some spirited costumes for swimming sports and athletics carnivals. I think about pleading with our Mentors to let us go over the road to get chips for tutes and I think about the struggle to get changed into winter uniform after swimming in PE. I think about Chorals’ rehearsals and the fear of being the one who had to stand next to the Smith boys or even worse, hold their hand. I think about the rush to get to the canteen on Tuesday when you know there is a limited supply of pasta, and about the trek across the oval in Year 9 for Muster. It’s the time you spend on the grounds, the seemingly mundane activities you undertake and the everyday events that really shape your Grammar experience. Being part of the Grammar community and the traditions established long ago gives a feeling of belonging that will stick with you once your time here is over.

So right from those who are experiencing their third week at the School all the way to Mr. Gray who I’m sure has been here since the time of the cavemen, I want you to remember how it feels to be a part of this community. Because I can promise you, this sense of belonging is not one easily found in life and a place like Grammar will not easily be experienced by any of us again.

PARKER VIZE

Today, I wanted to reflect on what I believe sets Grammarians apart from others, and this is care. Care is something that has been a cornerstone of the Grammar philosophy since the foundation of our School.

On our Dart leadership camp last year, Mr. Hislop expressed to us that he felt that the next step in our leadership was to demonstrate broad-reaching and wholehearted care to all people. This care, though, was not to be in big one-off gestures or by half-hearted attempts but instead in a broad whole-hearted commitment to one another and the communities to which we belong.

For this to occur, we need three facets of caring. First, the principle of caring for ourselves; if we can’t care and look after our own wellbeing, whether that be through sport, music or simple downtime, then how can we expect ourselves to care for others? Secondly, the principle of caring for others; the only way a community can thrive is by standing together and having each other’s back. This is from small things like a simple hello when someone is feeling a bit down or giving up your time in service of the community. Thirdly, caring for the School, and with that, living out the adage that many of you would have passed under or heard during your time at Grammar and this is the verse from Luke’s Gospel, ‘From those to whom much is given will much be required’.

We hear this verse a lot at Grammar, and at times perhaps we become somewhat disengaged with it. But today being the day on which we celebrate our foundation, our history, but most importantly our future, I think this old Bible verse has its strongest message. These school years are your chance to rejoice in opportunities created for you by generations of Grammarians, to accept that you have been given so much, and to do that justice, not as an individual, but as a part of this community. Today, as a co-educational school we build on this foundation by not only engaging in the realm of academia and sport like so many other schools do, but also in service and in our faith. Grammar develops then not only academics or sportspeople but instead ‘all-rounders’ who are reliable and conscientious contributors to society once they leave the Grammar gates.

And so we take the mottoes of our parent schools, the motto of Queen’s that ‘Honour Follows Labour’ and the motto of Grammar to always ‘Keep the Faith’ – let’s make this year one of which we are all proud.

‘Honores Laborem Sequuntur’

‘Serva Fidem’

Mr Dean Rossato, Director of Sport

BUILDING CHARACTER THROUGH SPORT

With recreation time consumed by computer games, mobile phones and social media, Sport, in many ways remains the same as it was when first played by our parents and their parents before them. ‘Character-building’ and ‘leadership qualities’ are at the forefront of our programs, and whether it be community, club or school sport, or just the family having a kick of the footy, these qualities are constantly developing through sport.

Ballarat Grammar not only places great value on sport, but is also very proud of the way in which our students compete and represent themselves and our School. Whether students are playing an individual or team sport, they learn much about commitment, organisation, and teamwork and that effort equals reward.

The qualities that are so often on display on the sporting field are also the cornerstone of everyday life. We want our young people to display strength of character, optimism and to be humble in victory and gracious in defeat. Involvement in sport provides the vehicle for such experiences to occur and allows young people to grow and develop into responsible, well-rounded adults.

Dean Rossato, Director of Sport

LEARNING THROUGH MENTORING

Each Middle School Leader is being mentored by one of our Guardians. We spoke with Lola Speer, Year 9 Middle School Leader, and Daen Sadhai, a Guardian, to find out what they’re learning through their leadership and mentoring experience.

Lola Speer and Daen Sadhai

Daen: “Apart from talking about our music (both being in Stage and Symphonic Band) we talk about our leadership roles in the School. Often ideas and questions stemming from our roles can lead us on to plans for the future and how we could go about executing them. The thing I am enjoying the most about being a Guardian is the feeling that we can make a positive contribution to the School and the greater community. We are tasked with the responsibility of organising and executing plans through our own inventiveness.”

Lola: “The ability I have to create change and serve in the Middle School in a friendly, supportive and encouraging environment is what I most enjoy about my leadership position. I can share my ideas, solve problems and voice my opinion with like-minded people.”

Daen: “I’ve learnt from Lola that leadership can come in many more forms then just leading from the front. Leadership can come in the form of putting your hand up or putting forward what sounds like a silly idea. There have been many times when supposedly ‘silly ideas’ have turned into the greatest solutions!”

Lola: “Daen and I have spoken about the role of Guardian, and also what it means to lead as a Year 12 student. Through my role as a Middle School Leader, I have learnt the nature of working in a group of peers to find common objectives and goals and working towards them in a collaborative manner. When working in a group it is important to listen to everyone’s point of view. I have learnt about the role of group support in getting things done and the importance of a collective perspective. When working in a group, you can’t service everyone’s individual agendas, so it’s good to focus on an outcome that benefits the group and the School community as a whole.”

Daen: “To be a leader at Ballarat Grammar means to be able to lead by example and to put yourself out there. We are given many opportunities each week to offer ideas as to how we can make the School a better place, or even a fun place, to be in.”

Lola: “Being a leader at Grammar means service through action. It involves meeting the needs of everyone, problem-solving when challenges arise, and working to improve the Grammar experience for the School community.”