From the Head of School

Every time I read a new edition of CGS Outlook, I am astonished by just how much has happened in the School. I live it every day in the bustling energy of our thriving community, but it still seems incredible that there can be such diversity of activity as fills the vibrant pages of each magazine.

This volume—which records just the first half of this year of fire and smoke, hail and pandemic—is more remarkable than ever. When its editors met online to consider its contents while the School was still operating remotely in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, I wondered how we could possibly have enough to celebrate in such a time of natural disaster, human tragedy and social isolation.

In contrast to the high point of our 90th Anniversary last year—with its gala concerts and performances, its community events and Presentation Night spectacular, its sporting triumphs and its camps and overseas adventures, not to mention some of the strongest HSC and IB results in years—2020 has been dreadful for so many in our School, as for the world.

Yet, these pages tell the story of our spirit; of a community undiminished; of students, staff and families determined to make the best of circumstance and see the glass at least half full. The online House Music Festival was a phenomenal example of that. It wasn’t the same, of course, but it was a triumph of passion and ingenuity nonetheless. All involved can be proud of ending the toughest semester of our lifetimes with excitement and a sense of hope.

Likewise, our students, families and staff can be immensely proud of how they took the challenges of remote learning in their stride. There was nothing easy about transforming our entire model of education almost overnight, or maintaining care and continuity of education for over two thousand students for weeks through little more than screens and online interaction; nor was it easy to send our boarders home, to support students stranded overseas for months, to see the campus empty, and feel the anxiety of everyone’s uncertainty and the strains of balancing work and home.

Yet, we became a true learning community; adaptive, reflective, innovative. Perhaps the best of what we learnt will ultimately become part of who we are in the years ahead, informing and fuelling our core purpose to educate young women and men with what it takes to tackle the challenges of our time: the urgency of climate change, rampant technological development, or the ructions that will come from great shifts in the geopolitical balance of power.

Undoubtedly, our School experience has been curtailed this year but, as this edition proves, our School itself is not diminished; not our spirit, nor our purpose. It’s easy to focus on what we miss as restrictions on our events and activities continue, but a pause also gives time to consider the long view of our School’s history and heritage, and of our responsibility and opportunity.

What we’ve experienced this year is not unprecedented in the span of a School founded by survivors of the First World War and the 1918 flu pandemic, built in the face of the Great Depression and matured by World War II and the hot and cold conflicts that followed. Nor should perspective be lost in a year in which 1.2 billion students around the world have had their educations disrupted, most by far more than we have and most while facing far greater daily challenges than we ever do.

This year reminds us of just how precious are the peace, prosperity and safety that our predecessors bought for us through sacrifice, and of our obligation to protect and enhance that legacy for those who follow.

That, above all, is the purpose of our education and all that we celebrate in these pages: the efforts and achievements of intelligent young men and women with facility in languages and cultures, with a breadth of mind engendered by the study of humanities, with appreciation for the power of both science and the arts; young women and men with curiosity to find solutions, creativity to innovate, the confidence to lead and the compassion to give in service as citizens of a world in need of all the energy and optimism that they bring.

May this edition bring you hope as well. With my good wishes for your health and safety, and for brighter times ahead.

Justin Garrick Head of School