FROM THE HEADMASTER

Mr Adam Heath

It is easily my most challenging ‘question and answer’ session each year. In the first weeks of Term 1 the Preps come to visit the Headmaster. They arrive in Kit’s Garden, the stunning cottage garden adjoining the Founders’ Wing that commemorates Kit Williamson’s 52 years of devoted and generous service, most as Matron, from 1941 to 1993.

We think that the Preps arrive looking cuter than words, but they believe that they are as old as anything, as they have just successfully navigated their first major graduation, from Kindergarten to Prep. They believe that they are now the ‘big kids’. They do a walkthrough of my office and then it is time to ‘grill’ the Headmaster with their questions. Usually, they want to know what a typical day for a Headmaster is like. I give an overview of a usual routine and, by the end of this, they give the strongest sense that much of what I do doesn’t seem like real work and, in fact, in their Prep classrooms, they are doing the hard work.

They leave feeling even more affirmed that they are occupying the ‘big end of town’ where all the serious work is undertaken.

Whilst we are grateful we enjoyed their visit this year, in 2021 we have once again had to manage without so many of these events, be they House Carnivals or Chorals, our weekly Chapel Services or our coming together to recognise achievements at Assemblies and Year level gatherings. If we had any doubt about the significance of these rituals, we need only look to the Year 12 Seed to Tree Ceremony held recently. For the last eight years, the Leavers’ Eucharist held in the Wendouree Centre for Performing Arts has concluded with each Year 12 Leaver being presented, by a Prep student, with a small tree to take and plant in commemoration of the completion of their schooldays.

In 2021 we were not permitted to gather inside. Even outdoors on the lawn adjoining Dart House, it was necessary to segregate students into COVID-safe House groups and, sadly, it was not possible to share in the celebration of the Eucharist. But we gathered and shared reflections, highlighting the shared values and aspirations of our School. Bishop Garry Weatherill addressed our Leavers before walking amongst the students and blessing them with copious droplets of sacramental holy water, reminding them that water is the essence of all life.

Our Year 12 students then processed, one House group at a time, to a small avenue on one of the adjoining lawns. And there were those same Preps that had grilled me earlier in the year! Each held a small sapling to present to a School Leaver, symbolising that, just as a seed has the potential to develop into a fine tree if it receives water and careful nurturing, School Leavers (saplings) now have the potential to develop, as trees planted in life, into fine adults and community contributors.

The Seed to Tree Ceremony as part of the Leavers' Eucharist is one of the School traditions we hold dear.

The moment when it began to dawn on me that our students had missed and were craving these rituals was when one of the Year 12 boys, a tall, strong, football-playing lad, pulled out of his blazer pocket a small card that he had prepared for his Prep student. A reciprocated generosity. Then, in more reciprocated respect, the Year 12s decided that they would form a Guard of Honour for the Preps, who processed through, looking as proud as Punch, feeling the recognition due to them for their enormous first year of learning and development in the ‘Big School’.

We have missed these opportunities to gather, and now recognise their importance more fully than ever before. They are times when we remember what it is that we value and hold dear. Our gatherings inevitably focus on the achievements of our young people and kindle hope for our collective future. They remind us of how, together, we can and will make a positive difference in the world.

Our 2021 Year 12 Leavers give our 2021 Prep students a Guard of Honour after the Preps gift them each a sapling, representing their growth while at School, and their future growth to come after they leave.