English

English MR ROHAN DAVIS, HEAD OF DEPARTMENT - ENGLISH

Burning yet flourishing The closing months of 2019 have been overshadowed by the gloam of a hot apocalyptic summer. Smoke plumes have blighted our normally crisp blue skies, and fouled what should be pure mountain air. Homes and lives have been lost to fires that have launched unrelenting and unpredictable assaults in even the most unlikely and most unexpected corners of peace and tranquillity. How does one make sense of an environment that wreaks havoc on our very sensibilities? Is there any comfort to be had in the thought,

Queensland Debating Union Grand Final - Champions Year 12 Georgie Scouller Evie Mason Tarryn Sorour Kaitlin Topalov

Year 7 Elsie Traynor Molly Lutton Elizabeth Janetzki Ankita Sajjan Hannah Pocknee

Grand Finalists – Runners Up Year 12 Zarabella Bambling Zoe Crooke Charlotte Kath Ashling Teahan

LA 3.6%

SA 3451132I Year 11 HA 54.6% VHA 20% 21.8%

as Benvolio promises in Romeo and Juliet, ‘that one fire burns out another’s burning.’

From a spiritual perspective, this is our hope – an ethos reinforced by our school moto, arden sed virens. But the fiery trial brings no comfort in the short term; it terrifies and smarts, and, as with The Crucible, has the potential to unleash vengeance and turmoil. Yet in spite of the horrors, even in the dreadful state of Gilead and the dystopian society of Fahrenheit 451, the human spirit – phoenix-like – rises again and triumphs over adversity. The shortest of literary forays will reinforce the resolution that comes with the end of suffering and when harmony is restored. Our students of English and Literature have faced the trials of a new system in the form of the QCE. While it has not been deadly, there has been plenty of fire and a little bit of stress; nevertheless, thus informed by the wisdom of our culture’s wits and writers, our students can look forward to bright futures beyond the gloom and haze, and are assured of a flourishing future.

Academic Results

SA SA 30.845.723.4I 10.8 56.732.4I 21.654.224.2I 502525I Year 7 Year 8 Year 10 Year 11 Literature HA 45.7% VHA 30.8% 23.4% HA 56.8% VHA 32.4% 10.8% VHA 21.6% SA 24.2% HA VHA 50% SA 25% 33.360.37.4I Year 9 HA 60.3% VHA 33.3% SA 6.4% HA 25% 54.2%