HEADMASTER'S REFLECTIONS

Last week the Senior School chapel had as its theme "Lighting a Candle". While the lighting of a candle has many meanings, it led me to reflect on the role we play in the shared educational journey of our boys at Scotch.

As parents and teachers our role is to light a flame of inquiry in every boy, thus triggering a thirst for learning which is supported by a strong moral flame to guide them in their personal journey. The amazing part of this is that in the context of a students progress through school, we may never fully know when the flame was lit or how that flame manifested itself in an array of academic, pastoral, spiritual and social pursuits. As a college spanning Year 1 to Year 12 the flame can be lit anytime, anywhere or in any place across our three sub schools. This is just one of the many reasons why I am philosophically opposed to the notion of performance base pay in education. It could well be that we reward the end result where in fact the seed was planted well before. Meaningful teaching and learning is a journey where many flames are lit, some burn out while others are rekindled. The important fact is that we continue to light them.

Attending all three assemblies allows me to witness numerous incidents of brightly shining flames in the form of talented and committed students who are supported by our talented and committed teaching and non teaching staff. The diversity and passion resulting from lighting these flames never ceases to amaze me.

Dr A J O'Connell

Headmaster