CELEBRATING SUCCESS

FOR OUR 2021 LEAVERS

Board Chair, Dr Shantini Deutscher Presentation Night, November 2021

Some of you may know that, as a GP, I have been teaching medical students over the past 10 years. One thing I have noticed is that it is easier to teach them to become good technical experts, unwittingly teaching them to think in silos to address individual problems a patient might face. It is much more difficult to teach them to take a “balcony view”, where all aspects of what matters to a patient are considered and integrated into their wellbeing – we call this Patient-centred care.

So much of our education system is focused on the mere acquisition of knowledge and facts, rather than curiosity and critical thinking with perspective. So, it is unsurprising that many are content to become technical experts.

At Grammar, we have always placed a high value on a well-rounded broad education, one that integrates learning across a wide range of areas we feel are essential for work, citizenship and life. As you leave school and commence the first day of the rest of your lives, I hope you will take time to pause and reflect on the different facets of your time at Grammar, and how this broad education might help you to live a good life, full of meaning and purpose. I would like to reflect for a moment on what I consider to be the foundation of a Grammar education, which I hope will resonate with your own experiences over the years.

These are what I call the “What”, the “How”, and the “Why”:

Firstly, the “What”: This refers to knowledge, what we know and understand, the facts, the analytics and the interpretation of data – substantive academic knowledge. Your VCE is a culmination of your academic journey to date. Many of you will go on to reach great heights in various fields of endeavour. It is this noble pursuit of knowledge that enabled scientists to develop vaccines against COVID in recordbreaking time, saving countless lives. But, as COVID has also shown us, technical expertise alone is not sufficient to solve more complex problems, like how to actually get vaccines into arms across the world. So, technocrats are not necessarily going to be the leaders that society needs.

THE HOW: SKILLS

Secondly, the “How”: Modern life is full of these so-called “wicked” problems with complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity, problems like climate change. To make progress on these challenges requires a different way of thinking, one that joins the dots in a system. So what is systems thinking? Systems thinking enables us to see problems as a whole, with a view from the balcony, rather than in small parts, on the dance floor. It is an integrated approach that sees networks, recognises patterns and understands the interconnectedness of different disciplines. This is much harder to teach as I have found out with my medical students, and can only happen when we celebrate breadth, value relationships and nurture collaboration. Finally, what is our “Why”? Why do we adopt such an approach to education at Grammar?

There is a huge amount of pressure from social media on all of us to curate our lives to show success in terms of status and money, to invent our own ideas about meaning and purpose from the ground up, adrift from what anchors us.

Our School's Anglican values teach us that we are made in the image of God. This implies a relationship between us and God and with each other. This is the bedrock that creates the bond between me and you, and sets the standard by which we live our lives and build our character.

The Jewish philosopher, Martin Buber, said that “it is in the space between me and you where we find ourselves" . So, it is not all about me, but it is about us in community. It is in what we do for others and with each other that we find our identity, meaning and purpose. It is in this space that knowledge and thinking become less linear, less siloed, more interconnected and more relational – where we can work together for the common good.

It is in this space that our School Board and School Staff led by Adam Heath have been working tirelessly, adapting to challenges, especially over the past two years. We have all needed to be across the details necessary to swing around the dance floor, building relationships, but also with an eye from the balcony to see the big picture, always informed by our values. Indeed, this kind of partnership and collaboration is rare, and only occurs because our values and vision are aligned to keep the best interests of our students foremost in all that we do. This is Student-centred care.

In conclusion, I find myself drawn yet again to the words from St Luke above the WCPA door, “To whom much is given, will much be required.” My prayer for you is that as you commence the rest of your lives, you will remember with affection your days at Grammar, prepared for your journey with the knowledge, skills and values you will need to be good people, with courage to navigate your lives, rich with joy, meaning and purpose.

Dr Shantini Deutscher

"So much of our education system is focused on the mere acquisition of knowledge and facts, rather than curiosity and critical thinking with perspective."

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2021 LEAVERS

+ Two students achieved ATARs over 99 - School Co-Captain

James O'Sullivan achieved 99.55, and Lachlan Bardsley achieved an ATAR of 99.45.

+ Four students achieved a perfect study score of 50 - two in English, one in

English Language and one in Legal Studies.

+ 89% of our 2021 leavers achieved ATARs which allowed them to access their first or second preference at University.

APPRENTICESHIPS AND TRAINEESHIPS

+ Five students have accepted apprenticeships, with one of these via the

Army, and one a traineeship, reflecting the ongoing success of our Applied

Learning program.

+ An additional four students commenced School Based Apprenticeships in 2022.

TOP DESIGNS AND TOP CLASS

+ Top Design selection: Sami Regague’s VET Music Industry (Sound Production) work was selected for exhibition in Top Designs 2022, part of the VCE Season of

Excellence. Teacher: Sarah Barlow.

+ Top Class VCE Theatre Studies selection: Sophia Litras (Year 12, 2022) was selected to perform her monologue as Polly, from The Threepenny Opera.

Teacher: Elena Sabellico.

+ Top Class VCE Dance: Juliette Stephens and Eleanor Bodey were invited to audition their VCE Dance solos. Teacher: Ashley Boyd.

James O'Sullivan Lachlan Bardsley

Sami Regague