A Message from the Rector

By Richard Hall | Posted: Friday April 16, 2021

Another term has raced by.

This morning as a staff, we congratulated our 3 'newbies' Mikayla Garforth, Pauline Young and Rhys Foster on successfully completing their first terms as teachers.

This is an important milestone for them, they have been involved in shaping and delivering curriculum to over 200 students. They have given service outside the classroom, have completed reports and teacher/parent conferences and generally survived. It is not only the students who build resilience as they progress through these halls. They have also experienced two key assembles this week. 

Firstly, a thank you to those in the community who have directly fundraised for our students benefit. The school's PTA who raised over $22,000 through their Garage Sale, and Ricky Stewart and Rob Pile who led the OBHS Foundation Golf Day which raised $34,000 for the Lodge. Add to it the recent student led 'Shave for a Cure', and our community has supported causes and specific student needs to the tune of over $70,000. A phenomenal amount considering the economic climate. The best lesson they gave us was service involves community. While the money is nice, the fact that they wish to give this service is what we challenged our boys to remember and to heed.

This morning, we held our ANZAC service. Once again, our students rose to the challenge. Disappointingly, I do think the attendance was not as good as it should have been, and I hope that parents were not conned by their son's into starting the school break early. Assemblies like these are the ethos and character of our school and you can't take one without the other.

For those who were there, the opportunity to honour those that made the ultimate sacrifice, to hear our combined school orchestra and to see the laying of 36 ANZAC crosses lives in them longer than they are here.

My final thanks to you as our parent community for staying so positive and being so supportive. We are grateful.