Paddy Grant returned to his old school, 46 years after first attending Hagley in 1974. There’s nothing unusual about someone returning to their old high school, except this return was a bit different because of the significant place Paddy holds in our school’s history: Paddy was Hagley’s first adult student.

Paddy paved the way for what would become thousands of adults re-entering daytime education at Hagley for a diverse range of reasons over the next four and a half decades.

Paddy’s motive was for a career change: he’d decided he wanted to train as a doctor. Returning to high school as a 25 year old to finish his secondary school qualifications was a necessary step to enter medical school. There was Paddy, sitting at a school desk alongside school uniform wearing adolescent Hagley High School students. Paddy’s return to high school started an avalanche of adult enrolments into day school. Within a few years in the 1970s, hundreds had enrolled at Hagley. In its own way, adult students at Hagley also contributed to other changes, including doing away with school uniforms for adolescent students.

Now in his seventies, Paddy’s just retired after a lifelong career in general medical practice. He’s an embodiment of what Hagley’s mission statement means in practice: lifelong learning, accessible to all.