Head of Middle School

Welcome back to the new school year. It was great to hear the noise and feel the excitement of the students in the corridors and as the classrooms came alive once more. Day one has a very unique, optimistic, clean slate type of feel to it. It was also very pleasing to see so many parents at our brief morning tea following the start of the day. For those who were there, rest easy, the owner of the shoes was found.

As I mentioned at the Scotch Parents' Morning Tea my address to the Middle School after lunch focussed on two themes: (i) Respect and (ii) Effort.

With regard to respect I highlighted 5 groups I wanted our boys to be particularly mindful of.

• Family, particularly our parents.
• Teachers, all teachers not just of the classes we enjoy the most.
• Peers, all peers, again not just the friends we see the most of.
• Resources, or what we have, possessions, infra structure and this includes the environment.
• Girls.

The final aspect is reference to the special, unique role males have in our society. More than anything else, it is our honesty and how we treat girls and women that most significantly shapes our individual reputation as seen by others. I would be delighted if you were able to extend my short conversation with our boys on illustrations and examples of how we show respect to these five groups.

On the theme of Effort I referenced Muhammad Ali who was quoted as saying,

"I don't count my sit ups until it starts to hurt, because that is when it starts to count." My message being if you only give minimum effort, you cannot expect maximum reward. What you put in is generally what you get out.

208 new boys joined Middle School for the first time this week. Over the next few days I hope to get into every classroom and begin putting faces to names and learning about your son's story. Our MS Inter-House Swimming Carnival on Tuesday will also be a great day to see the energy, enthusiasm and effort of this years' students. At our Parent Information Evenings on Monday (Yr 7) Wednesday (Yr 6) and Thursday (Yr 8), I hope to meet many of you as well and strengthen the School parent relationship that underpins the really positive experience that lies in wait for your son this year.

Mr Richard Ledger
Head of Middle School