FROM THE HEADMASTER

Mr Adam Heath

The tropical Perhentian Islands lie off the north-eastern coast of Malaysia, not too far south of the Thai border. When travelling there in the mid-90s, a rough old long boat was the primary transport to the islands and accommodation was in very basic bamboo huts sharing with multiple others, backpacker-style. In addition to the glorious beaches, the star attraction was the incredible array of tropical fish inhabiting a small atoll in the middle of the ocean. With tidal flow calculations involved, the idea was to drop the snorkelling group in the ocean, allow them to drift over the atoll, and then collect all with a sweep of the power boat on the other side.

Unfortunately for us, the timing was off, and the tidal run was far stronger than expected, causing us to see some spectacular fish, but at a great speed, and we were then dispersed far and wide from the tidal flow. The effect reminded me of the time the lid came off the blender, spraying blobs of cake mix all over our kitchen. Being so dispersed made it tricky for the snorkelling trip operators to find and then collect us all. We were eventually regathered in the boat, a little shell-shocked at our unnervingly speedy trip across the underwater wonderland.

This oceanic misadventure represents one of the possible outcomes when institutions or organisations experience shifts, such as growth or change. Without careful alignment, the outcomes, and indeed members of the community, can feel scattered, all at sea. How then to avoid this?

One of the ways we can avoid this is to reference every decision made through the lens of the School’s values. This was crucial throughout the recent pandemic and the multitude of decisions that needed to be made in the face of high levels of ambiguity. Throughout this time, we realised, however, that the twelve existing values were just too numerous to reference readily. With input from many across our community, we condensed the values down to just six, being careful to retain key terms and emphasis from all the original values. Our re-shaped values are: Integrity, Aspiration, Courage, Compassion, Responsibility and Hope.

Perhaps one of the guiding principles that these values enable is the ability to determine the specific type of shift that we are aiming to achieve.

In a recent article, "The Road to Ethical Progress", the Notre Dame Deloitte Centre for Ethical Leadership suggests, for example, many of us are frequently heard to lament the imposition of technology on our lives, such as the enormous volumes of emails or unwanted advertising in our web browsing. However, few of us begrudge medical technology that can improve the quality of our lives and those of our loved ones. Whilst it could be argued that all technological innovations are a form of progress, not all progress appears to move us towards the community and society we wish to become. In the same article, Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is cited as saying, “We have ceased to see the purpose”, inferring that this has caused us to sometimes pursue all progress, regardless of cost and without discernment. The values of our School allow us to assess the best next step for our community and to hone our focus towards the pursuit of the progress that best improves the learning outcomes and quality of life for our students and for all in our community.

One area that has become a recent focus for the School is the further development of our sporting and outdoor education programs. We have plans to commence the building of an extended Rintel project in Semester 2, 2023 which will provide expanded sporting, learning and characterbuilding opportunities for our students. We are also continuing to investigate the exciting possibility of an extended outdoor experience for our Middle School students. Progress, yes, but progress with purpose, that we hope will improve young lives and the future for us all.

The Wave - Oliver Wischer, Year 12