From the Headmaster’s Desk

Our School is a learning community. We are a place where learning takes place and we are a community that learns together. At various times we emphasise either the learning or the community but in recent years we have had to lean on our community even more for support and encouragement.

So many visitors to Camberwell Grammar comment on the warm and welcoming nature of our school. It permeates our campus in the daily interactions of staff, students, and parents.

We see it in our House Music Competition. We are a musical school: many of our students learn musical instruments and we are often surrounded by music. Even so, singing a capella songs in a group is not something that most teenagers would choose to do of their own volition. House Music requires the active participation of every member of the House if success is to be achieved, and it is always a journey. The new Year 9s do not really get the magnitude of the undertaking when they begin it. At the beginning, the student conductors and arrangers get frustrated as they feel that some of the students are not taking things seriously enough. Gradually, the preparations get more focused and more serious and we begin to hear the chosen songs echoing around the School as the students hum the tunes as they go about their business. In the days before the competition, it all starts to come together and each House closes ranks as they begin their final rehearsals. Finally, excitement fills the air as groups come together to perform before a large crowd and the magic happens. It is so exciting to see how far each group has come as they join in full voice and with great gusto. Many students tell me that this is their favourite House event.

House Music is not just about the singing. It is taking on something beyond most students’ comfort zone, it is letting go of one’s inhibitions and being part of something that is bigger than the individual. It is about being fully engaged in the moment and putting others before self. It demonstrates that for the group to succeed, each individual needs to commit to its success. It is about community.

In the weeks following our House Music competition, our School got behind the Leukemia Foundation’s World’s Greatest Shave fundraising event. I challenged our students to see if we could raise $15,000 by offering to get our heads shaved in solidarity with those who have lost their hair as a result of chemotherapy and to support cancer research. The strength and passion of their response was overwhelming. Within days we had passed $10,000 and within a week we had passed our stated goal. By the end of the three weeks, we had raised nearly $70,000. Over 100 students and staff members signed up for the shave, and again we saw the strength of our community. We are lucky enough to live in a privileged section of our society, but we recognise also our responsibility to help out where we can. And when we do it together we can accomplish extraordinary things.

Community does not just happen. It needs to be practised and nurtured on a daily basis. It is fragile and precious. We need to constantly articulate our common values, and we need to turn our good intentions into action. We see it at Camberwell Grammar in the way that teachers, parents, and students work together on so many projects, in the way our Angels support families in times of need, in the way we encourage our students to be their best: in sport; in their learning; in their support of each other; and even in their group singing.

Dr Paul Hicks Headmaster