It is with genuine sadness that I write this, my final note to families in my role of Headmaster.

Dear families of the school,

It has been a wonderful 25 years, and I have been privileged to have had the opportunity to lead the school for so long.

My sense of sadness is thus mixed with a huge sense of gratitude. I feel so fortunate to have shared the last quarter of a century with literally thousands of amazing young men, and have had the chance to get to know so many families who have given so much to our world.

Because it has been very much a shared journey for me. As a school, we have experienced so many wonderful opportunities through this time, to become ‘better and stronger than before’.

And I am so proud of the achievements of our students in every area of school life, so proud of the commitment and care of our staff.

But most of all, I am, and always will remain, proud of the culture of care and love which pervades our world. Yesterday, this was so clearly demonstrated when I was so very fortunate to have my final farewell assembly, attended by the whole school.

The young men before me were perfect, in every respect.

We sang my favourite school songs, we listened to a piper play a tune written especially for me, titled “The Headmaster”. I was given beautiful gifts by our Prefects, and I was blessed by the beautiful words of Mr Hotham, our Associate Headmaster, Mr Hakeney, former Deputy Head and now Head of Lindisfarne College, and our Head Boy Ziggy. And I received the gift of the most powerful, special haka from the school. I have memories that I will cherish, forever, of a wondrous day.

I have been blessed by the many emails and cards I have received from so many parents and boys, both past and present. Thank you all for your kindness in writing.

I want to share my words which I spoke to the school yesterday, as my farewell address.

I spoke through floods of tears, as I said goodbye to the world I have been part of for two thirds of my life. It has been a wondrous journey, and I have been so very lucky to have spent my adult life as part of this very special, amazing school.

Thank you all for your support and care. I wish you every success and happiness in the years ahead.

Farewell Assembly address:

Final Farewell to the School.

Thank you for gifting me this final opportunity to say goodbye to you all, and for your genuine willingness to listen to my ‘last words’ with your usual courtesy and grace.

For me it is a time of mixed emotion. I am sad that I am leaving this special world, but I feel that it is a time for celebration, too, as I look back over the past 25 years, and reflect on a very special journey.

I thank those who have been a part of making this Assembly happen for me, and thank both Mr Power and Mr Hakeney, both previous Deputy Heads in the school, for taking time to return to share this special occasion with me.

I appreciate the kind words of Mr Hakeney, Mr Hotham, and Ziggy, who have all spoken on behalf of the staff and the school, so graciously and with such care.

Today, I also share this Assembly with my three children, who have joined us to be here for me, on my final meeting with you all. Sadly for us, my husband James died last year; I know that he would have been very proud to be here with you all, as he loved the students of Hamilton Boys' very much. I am sure he is here in spirit, and I am very grateful to my family for being here for me this morning.

So I begin today, by thanking everyone here, for making this a special farewell for me. It is a unique day in my life, as I say goodbye to the school, where I have spent over 40 very happy, rewarding years, where I have been privileged to be part of this family, both as a teacher and as Headmaster for the past quarter of a century. 25 years. Difficult for you even to think about that span of time! For me, I just feel so fortunate to have had this amazing opportunity to be here, for so long.

I am grateful to each of you individually, and to you all as a community. There are many things that I will miss terribly, but what I will miss most is the love and care I receive every day, from the staff, the students and your families.

When I began to write this, my final address to you, the school of 2024, as I end my time as your Head, I went back 25 years to my first Prize Giving in 1999 - last century! And I read through all of the Prize Giving speeches I have written, for each year’s graduates, and they all carry a similar message, because that is the message that matters most to me, the message that must matter most to each of you here, as you become young adults in the next few years.

In spite of the different approaches, the same verities, the same truths are present. The values of love, of arete, of the importance of family.

But today, I will touch on these things only briefly.

I am not here this morning, to make a speech which you will always remember. It is not a Prize Giving speech.

I am here to say thank you, and goodbye - simple words, and simple truths.

I am here to share this ‘gathering together’ of our whole school, with each of you. At this Assembly, this gathering together, where you demonstrate, as you always do, that you are special.You are special.

And one of the ways you demonstrate this is through your singing.

Today, I pause to thank you all for your willingness to sing. 25 years ago, as a school, we didn’t sing, we didn’t join our voices in a sense of family standing together. Singing together, meeting together at Assembly, is symbolic of the sense of brotherhood which sets us apart from most other schools.

And one of the special things, for me, is that when we sing, together, we also articulate, in our songs, our values as a school.

Today, I was allowed to choose the songs for my final assembly.

And I chose some of my favourites - the ones which resonate most with me, for personal reasons, and because of the message they share. They are symbols of what makes this final opportunity to speak to you, so very special for me.

I come from Scotland, so today we sing Flower of Scotland, the country’s unofficial National Anthem. It is a song which reflects the fierce pride of the Scots, who stand together, as clans, proud of who they are, and what they fight for, the love of their land and of their families. Just as we stand together, proud of our school, and caring for each other.

And we sing Whakaria Mai, the hymn so often sung in memory of those we have loved, and also a hymn of thanks and reverence for the gift of wonder with which we are all blessed. The words remind us of the joy we must feel in our lives, and the gratitude we must feel for having each other.

Today, we are also fortunate to have our own school waiata to sing, which reflects the values of our crest in the first stanza - which, when translated, reminds us that we must ‘courageously pursue the height of excellence, for the well being of all’. And in the second verse, we connect to our land, to those who have travelled our journey before us, and those we want to make proud of our own pathways.

It is indeed a special waiata, in terms of our values of ‘aroha mai, aroha atu’ - love, when given, returns to you many times over.

And our final song today is the one I love the most, Hallelujah. The Director of Culture at the time, many years ago, argued that it was too difficult, when I wanted to sing it as a school - in fact Stan Walker, the singer, who came to this school before he moved to Australia, sang it for us at our Junior Prize Giving, because he knew how much it means to me.

But in the end, I won, and we sing it, and each time it brings me much joy. Because the words in the final verse we sing reflect our verities, our truths, and what I feel today, as I say goodbye.

‘I did my best, it wasn’t much

I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch

I told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you.

And even though it all went wrong,

I’ll stand before the Lord of song

With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah.’

And that is how I leave you today, gentlemen, staff.

‘With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah’.

It is in these lines that we hear the simple truth - that we must always have a sense of gratitude, we must always say Hallelujah for the world we share, for the life we have.

It is a truth also defined by that special phrase you have heard me say before, ‘aroha mai, aroha atu’ - love given, love received. The phrase which defines why Hamilton Boys' is such a special school.

So our songs, today, provide my message for me, and they will continue to do so into the future! They reflect the verities that I cherish, that we must all cherish. Because, in their own ways, in each of them, we are singing about love.

Why has love always been the word I speak of so often? Because it is what makes us great. It is what makes you, as an individual, happy and filled with grace.

So today, I finish this, my final address, by offering you three challenges linked to love.

The first is love for who you are, for the man you will become. And for that love to blossom, comes an understanding of arete. It was arete I spoke about in my very first prize giving speech, and it remains for me, central to our values - that we all have the responsibility to be the best we can be, for ourselves, and for the world we share. And today, for the final time, I challenge each of you, to be the best ‘you’ that you can be. Realise your potential, because that is what, in the end, brings the greatest joy.

And the second love I challenge you to embrace is love for each other, for the brotherhood, and for family. Philia, the love for friends, for those we look after, and who look after us. It includes contributing to something larger than yourself, becoming part of the team who work together for the betterment of all. My challenge to you today, as you go forward, is to have the courage to be one of those who crafts that sense of belonging, who is willing to serve others to make your own world better in the end.

And my final challenge this morning, links to the third aspect of love which matters most to us in our world. Love for the school and the values it stands for. We have clear, articulated values, and high expectations for each person, both staff and students. Because we believe in the values of trust, love, integrity and of excellence with honour. We have a school to be proud of, so be unashamedly proud, both of the school, and of your contribution to this place where we stand together.

Love the school, as I have done.

Because, for me, love matters most in so many ways. I have loved my journey here, I have cherished the opportunities I have been given, both as a teacher and as a Headmaster. I feel privileged to have been loved, and privileged to be able to love this world and you, the people of our family. It has been a very special opportunity to have had the honour of trying to be the very best Headmaster I could be, because of the support of thousands of very special, wonderful people.

And so I thank you again, for making my journey possible.

I offer my total gratitude to our Leadership team, who make such a difference to the school, and to the staff, who work so hard for you all. I am so grateful to you all.

I thank, again, everyone who is here to share this special time with me. My family, my friends, and everyone who belongs to this world which I cherish. And I offer heartfelt thanks to the organisers of this occasion, who have ensured that it is a memory I will cherish forever.

It has been a joy and a privilege to be part of this wonderful school. I have been nothing but fortunate to have had so many years here. I leave, filled with joy, walking backwards into the future, taking the wonder of my past journey with me. And that will bring me great happiness.

“To travel the road hopefully, is better than to arrive”. Words from Robert Louis Stevenson, which are so true. I have lived a life surrounded by the joy and excitement of those beginning their journey as young adults, and that has been your gift to me. You have given me the chance to travel my road, filled with hope.

My heart and my love go with you, as you continue your own journeys through life.

You have one of the greatest of all possessions - youth; your adult life is ahead of you. May it bring everything you hope for, and may your time here be the best platform from which to fly that you could possibly have.

As I finish, I say goodbye, because the word goodbye is the shortened version of “God Be with you”. May God be with you through the years ahead.

And I wish you that sense of happiness - of being loved and supported on your journey ahead; may you feel as proud of this special school as I do, and may the love that you both give, and receive, aroha mai, aroha atu, continue to bring you the fulfilment in life that everyone here deserves.

And may you always have ‘nothing on your tongue but “Hallelujah”

Ma te atua koutou e manaaki e tiaki - may God cherish and protect us all.

Thank you all very, very much.

The photographs below were shown at Mrs Hassall's Farewell Assembly on Thursday the 11th of April. Thank you to all of the photographers for your contributions over the years.