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.

How could I begin a speech tonight and not place it within the context of what is gripping the nation and will keep you out of your beds on Sunday morning?

I was fortunate to be at Cardiff stadium for the All Blacks –France quarter final recently. The atmosphere was electric, particularly with the Irish there to have a party. They weren’t worried if it was their party or someone else’s and they filled the stadium with song. The French were similarly vocal but “Allez les bleus” died out after half time as a despondent silence ensued. Kiwis are a stalwart lot and somewhat reticent spectators but we were on our feet every five minutes making a fair amount of noise applauding the “black magic” exhibited that night.

Then this week I listened to an interview on the radio with John de Villiers, the legendary ex Springbok captain. De Villiers was commenting on the Pumas, the All blacks and the Springboks and particularly on the rise of the Argentinians in the space of two years. He had strong views on what the South Africans need to do and his focus was on the courage to innovate and develop a new style of rugby and being prepared to take the risk to be embarrassed if there were some failures or mistakes along the way in the process of change.

He may have been discussing rugby but his comments and the All Black performance at Cardiff really were both a commentary on how to build strong and flourishing organisations with capacity to continue to build on performance.

It made me reflect on St Thomas’ particularly in relation to four key features of All Black culture – the notion of legacy, developing deep capability, courage to innovate, and team culture built around relationship.

Legacy

The mystique of the black jersey, the role of rugby in the national psyche, the belief that it is about more than just producing a required mechanical competence on the field, the tradition of the haka, the tradition of All Black history handed down – all contribute to the legacy of All Black culture and what it means to players and followers.

Similarly, while we are here to deliver learning and qualifications, we are about much more than that. We have a rich history and tradition at St Thomas’. It is important we carry that forward in what we do. It goes right back to the revolutionary Jew who reached out to those at the margins of society, preached a critique of the social structures of the day and delivered a message of unconditional love. It was expressed through the vision of Edmund Rice who interpreted that Gospel message by reaching out to the disadvantaged boys in Waterford and through the mission of generations of Christian Brothers in establishing schools all round the world. It is carried on by Brothers, men, many in their 70s, currently going to the third world where extreme need exists. And this tradition rests in our school, with our parents, our boys and our staff. It is what gives us purpose and rationale, lifts our hearts, nourishes our passion and gives meaning to the education we deliver. This is our legacy and what drives us.

Deep capability

We look at the All Blacks and one of their strengths is impressive depth. When Ritchie, Dan, Ma’a, Kevin, Conrad and Tony retire, there are other talented players in the wings to step up and new legends to be made. When an organisation has that level of depth it has confidence into the future and courage to weather storms. Capability is about unleashing human potential and giving individuals freedom and an environment in which to flourish. The single most important task we as senior leaders do is to hire staff. Any school will only ever be as good as the adults who staff it. We are extremely proud of the quality of our staff and the depth of leadership at all levels. This is a double edged sword as our talented leaders will at some point seek positions of responsibility in other schools, but part of our mission is to develop educators not only for our school, but for the Catholic education system and the education system as a whole.

Similarly, you can see the capability evident in the young men graduating tonight and the wider student body. The number of university leadership scholarships to be awarded later is only one testament to this. On many fronts the ability of our young men to adapt to new environments, to navigate new social situations, to collaborate and mix with others, to engage in change and to think critically are more than evident.

Understanding new technology, new ways of resolving conflict through restorative processes, developing cultural awareness and engagement (just as the All Blacks draw upon the cultural diversity of New Zealand), experiencing social justice immersions – these all develop future capability in our staff, our students and our parents, all of us as citizens of the future building a vibrant and peaceful New Zealand.

Courage to innovate

The desire to innovate which De Villiers recognises in the Pumas, takes both a belief in the legacy and the capability to do so. The easy thing to do is to rest on one’s laurels and deliver the tried and true, the problem being that the tried and true is often effective for a different time. Our context for education now requires a different approach, keeping the best of the past but having the courage De Villiers refers to in being prepared to take risk and falter at times. We all know trial and error is a critical phase of innovation and risk is inherent in any progress. The challenge for all of us is that we are in the era of complex change where we need to develop new solutions and we do not enter the change process knowing the answers in advance. So when we ask you to have confidence as parents in new learning environments, new ways of learning and new technology systems, we are asking you to be part of this change process with us. The alternative is the English rugby team outcome if that’s not too harsh!

Team culture built around relationship

Any examination of the All Blacks shows it has one of the greatest team cultures in the world. We have often heard the phrase “a champion team not a team of champions”. We are a team – staff, parents, students – we are all critical to the progress of our boys and the vitality of our school. Our staff in particular is a team and is working hard to break down silos and collaborate across faculties and across school clusters. We have made very significant progress in this area and are acknowledged as doing so. One of the key skills for this century which our staff can model for our students is collaboration. By working together and harnessing collective enthusiasm and wisdom we unleash creativity, innovation and develop new knowledge and ideas. The All Blacks create the magic through the engagement and contribution of every member of the squad and support team, whether on the field or on the bench.

And this requires high trust and relationships of integrity. Developing a flourishing team or organisation is both a science and an art. The science is in the research, planning, evaluation, review and technical skill which are all critical and mostly measurable.

The art of developing a high performance team is much more indefinable and mostly not easily measurable. It rests in the human soul, the human interactions, the emotions, the commitment, the sense of caring (let’s use the word love – the All Blacks use it), the fine balance of relationships. We all want hope, we all want to belong to something that matters and to contribute to it, we all want to feel at the sum of our lives that we have left this world a better place for our part in it.

I think we are managing the art and the science of developing a great school well here at St Thomas’. I thank all of you who contribute – boys, parents, staff, BOT, PFA, the Proprietor. I want to particularly acknowledge Dominic as BOT Chair, my senior leadership team, and Tovia and Delane and their student leadership team. Last year my PA Mary retired. I lost one treasure and gained another in Elmarie. I am sure if Elmarie was in charge of the Springboks they would be racing over the try line! We are aiming for All Black status, perhaps running currently closer to the Pumas – making huge strides, on the rise, full of promise and challenge, with a bit of the Latin flair (not to mention the ability to dance like Maradona!)

The best comment to finish with though is Steve Hansen’s –“at the end of it all we are about growing good human beings”.

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

Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui

No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa