FROM THE STUDY

Speech Night at Ruyton is an extraordinary occasion. It is a time when we gather to celebrate both the year just lived and the contribution of our Year 12 girls to the life of our School. It is a night of stirring student speeches, acknowledgement of student endeavour and excellence and awe-inspiring performances by our choirs and ensembles. It is quite simply Ruyton at her best. In a year where everything was rescheduled, reinvented or cancelled, Speech Night 2020 was no exception. Reimagined outdoors in Hiscock Court, only the Class of 2020, prize winners, a small group of staff and President of the Ruyton Board, Virginia McLaughlan were present. Despite rain threatening proceedings, the show went on and was recorded and shared with the Ruyton community for viewing from home. In times of challenge you find out what truly matters. Realising Speech Night would need to be different in every way, we asked the Class of 2020 what was most important to them. To be together in person and to continue the tradition of the School singing the Irish Blessing were unanimous responses. Sitting with them in Hiscock Court on that windy and damp morning and seeing these young women openly weep as the Irish Blessing was sung to them via a video recording is a memory I will treasure forever. It was both heart-aching and heart-warming. It spoke to me of opportunities lost; those important milestones of your final year of school, a year of celebration and unity. But it also spoke of a group of young women who rose above these challenges to make the most of the situation, digging deep to find their inner strength and their support for each other and for others. A group of young women who truly understood and lived the values of community, empathy and unity. Each year the graduating class of Ruyton gives a gift to the School; something of meaning and importance to them. The Class of 2020 have written a poem, shared at Speech Night and in this issue of the Ruyton Reporter. A truly collaborative process, they gained inspiration from the centuries-old Japanese art of kintsugi, a concept which takes broken ceramics and pieces together the chipped or broken shards with a glue of gold. Based on the philosophy of ‘no mind’ (無心, mushin), the image of kintsugi is one of finding beauty in the broken and an acceptance of change and fate as constant vicissitudes of human life. Rather than being the year of perfect unity these young women expected, their Year 12 brought separation and shattered hopes that initially seemed insurmountable. However, like threads of gold holding together the broken shards of a vase, it was the friendships and kindness within their year level which enabled them to stay connected and still create a memorable experience in 2020. They identified the gold of friendship as representing a recuperative salve with the power to restore the bonds fractured by isolation. We often say at Ruyton that leadership is not a badge or a title. It is stepping up and taking action when the time calls for you to do so. This was the spirit of Ruyton girls in 2020; a spirit of learning, leadership and engagement,led so graciously and courageously by the Class of 2020. Their Unity and Radiance will always be the golden lining that bound the Ruyton community together in a broken year. We celebrate their leadership and the achievement and endeavour of the Ruyton community in this edition of the Ruyton Reporter. Linda Douglas Principal