Nau mai haere mai ki te tino whakahirahira nei Nga mihi nui ki a koutou katoa Talofa lava, i matua, malo le soifua. Afio mai. Warm greetings tonight to this very special occasion.

I extend a very warm welcome to our Board trustees, distinguished guests, staff, students, parents, caregivers and extended whanau.

Two events influenced this speech which I began writing in the last break and both represent a key firmament which underpins the education we aspire to provide here.

I had just attended the funeral of one of my Assistant Principals at St Thomas’ – a young man of 39 who died very suddenly in the holidays leaving a wife (also a teacher) and two very young children. Brad was an exceptional educator and leader and his farewell from the school he attended as a student and later returned to as a teacher and senior leader was incredibly moving. Brad did not get a long life but he had a life lived to the full, one day at a time, and a life lived for others, in particular his family and his students.

Six schools were represented at the funeral and the fraternity of teaching was at the core of all the speeches. It was quite unusual and one family member commented that he had never seen that insight into the profession and the craft of teaching on such a wide and deep level before. I was struck by the hundreds of boys who came back in uniform during the holidays to farewell their teacher and mentor. It was an expression of profound relationship and affection. Brad was haka-ed from the school hall through a guard of honour which wound through the school grounds until he reached the hearse in the central courtyard. At that point the young old boys took over a haka followed by past students of Brad’s era and fellow colleagues. The hakas lasted a good half hour.

As I looked around the gathered crowd I could see the quality of Brad’s relationship with his students had deeply affected their lives and choices and also how moved his family were by the tribute.

A relational culture must be at the core of all we do and is the primary means of influence. We teach young people before we teach subjects. We teach them to be human before we teach them skills and knowledge. We teach them to have educated hearts as well as educated minds. History presents us with many examples of well -educated tyrants and cruel leaders with no conscience or compassion. The nature of that relational culture is reciprocal between students and staff but young people need the first modelling in a school environment to come from staff.

The second event happened while catching a taxi from Auckland airport. A young black Zimbabwean immigrant was our driver. I enjoy talking with taxi drivers particularly immigrants as many are highly educated and have very interesting and challenging backgrounds. They are often struggling to seek work in New Zealand and have endured hardships we cannot imagine. Charles, our driver, has been here for four years and is in his final year of a doctorate in infectious diseases specializing in pandemics. His background is in treating and studying ebola in Africa. As we talked I reflected on the diversity of our country and the global nature of challenges our young people will face and solutions to those challenges. The education we provide needs to enable our young people to contribute to those solutions. Charles commented on the reality that global pandemics are likely to be an increasing part of our lived reality but also that it was two New Zealand nurses who had been influential in the adoption of PPE in Zimbabwe in the ebola epidemic. He had also just completed a paper on communication as a tool during the current pandemic and noted that Ashley Bloomfield is widely acknowledged throughout the infectious diseases academic world as a first class model of communication, combining the divergent knowledge and skills of science and human engagement. So while we respect and value discipline knowledge, we also need to move out of our silos.

The world our students are stepping into is very different to the world I stepped into on leaving school or the one you as parents experienced. It is critical that we provide an education which prepares them for their future, which enables them to embrace diversity and play a role in meeting and solving the problems they will face as global citizens. This will require multiple talents, thinking and aptitudes. Producing excellent NCEA results is not sufficient in itself as an end goal, important though it is. We have to deliver so much more. It may be easy to rest on our laurels but that will not serve our girls well and it does us a disservice as educational professionals.

I find the use of the word “academic” often problematic, as it implies scholarship and learning has a finite point in qualifications. A truly academic education should be about exploring the critical questions in life and growing young minds which search for answers, which seek new solutions, which are restless beyond the status quo of inherited discipline knowledge and beyond accepted frontiers. Have a look how Socrates and Galileo fared when they presented new thinking to the world which challenged the accepted boundaries of knowledge at the time.

The Maori whakatauki is also apt

Ko te pae tawhiti whaia kia tata

Ko te pae tata whakamaua kia tina

Seek out distant horizons and cherish those you attain.

In other words, we teach young women to learn here, but the deeper prize is life and all it offers and preparing them for that is also our deeper purpose.

It has been a long and difficult year for all of us and we are unsure of what 2021 will bring. None of us would ever have imagined the global scenario we find ourselves in, our country locked down, borders closed, mask wearing normalised, and scenes of horror overseas in the media during the height of the pandemic.

I want to thank you as parents for your support during the year and during the lockdown and our students for their ongoing optimism and hard work in very strange circumstances. For Isla our Head Girl, our prefects and Year 13s, leading has required different thinking and they have done a wonderful job in focusing on communicating a positive culture and supporting the rest of the school through this time. A huge thank you to you – for your videos and fun projects, your perseverance and resilience.

To our Board – it has been a challenging year. Thank you for supporting the education we are developing and being an open and visionary Board. You provide sound and strong governance to the school. In particular, Julian, thank you for your support as Board Chair to me in my role as Principal and your generous offering of time to the school. 

To our PTA – thank you for your tireless work for the school, the formals you planned and delivered or planned and were unable to deliver, your fund raising and provision of catering and support at social events at school.

To our staff all of you, just as in the earthquakes, staff have risen to the challenge of lockdown and online learning. I know this took many hours of work over and above and I know you did it because you care about our students – I know that like Brad your care for them is embedded in deep relationship. Your reward is that you touch their futures in ways we cannot measure in the present.

To our senior leadership team, thank you for your professionalism, hard work, loyalty and vision. Your calm approach, focused leadership, unity as a team and courage guided the school through the most challenging of times.

Finally, to our students who leave us tonight to step out into the adult world – I hope you feel affection for your school and teachers, that you have learned to be good and kind human beings, that we and you have shaped your hearts and minds while you have been here in a way which prepares you for your future and enables you to step confidently into that future world. May you travel safely and have a full life, lived one day at a time and lived for others.

Fa’afetai lava. ‘ia manuia le afiafi. Soifua.

Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui

No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa