HEADMASTER FROM THE
HEADMASTER
We are doing all in our power to enhance the reputation of Hale and the way to do that is by ‘providing opportunities for every boy to excel’.
T
his year we celebrate 50 years at the Wembley Downs campus. At our re-enactment ceremony on 8 March this year, the school gathered on the very spot of the official opening of the campus on 6 March 1961 in front of the administration building. We noted that the land was purchased for 2260 pounds in 1939. The Chairman of the Board at the time of purchase – Bill Brine, and the Headmaster – Arnold Buntine, were the driving forces behind the decision, a decision that I have said on more than one occasion was probably the most courageous and the most significant in the history of this school. It is fitting that their names remain on the tips of our tongues today when we refer to Brine and Buntine Houses. At the re-enactment ceremony we acknowledged the Members of the Boards of Governors of Hale School who were party to the decision to purchase the land and those who undertook to raise the finances to develop the land in the late 1950s, especially the efforts of the Honorable Leslie Craig, the Chairman of the Board who oversaw so much of the move. It took long, sometimes public, discussions before agreement was reached between the Perth Diocese and the Board of Governors in the 1950s to secure the necessary funds. We also acknowledged the parents and Old Boys who supported the School, both financially and in other ways during these challenging years. Tom Fowler, an Old Boy from 1930 who brought his front-end loader up from Williams in 1950 and spent two weeks clearing two ovals was one such person – one among many. Also, the staff who moved here and had the unenviable job of teaching classes during the building phase when sand was literally everywhere. And the boys, whose efforts in firstly getting to school, when transport was not so easy and then remaining focussed enough to go about their business in what was virtually a skeleton of a school. At the end of 1961, the following ‘impressions‘ were recorded in the Cygnet magazine: “A concise word picture of the life of the School in its first year at Wembley Downs is impossible. All that one can do is to place on record a few scattered impressions. 4 | The Haleian
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First and foremost there is noise. At first it was everywhere as the workmen completed their buildings around us, through us, over us, and underneath us. Then suddenly it concentrated into a riot of pneumatic drills right opposite the senior classrooms, as wrongly placed concrete slabs were removed. Shortly afterwards it erupted at the western end of the site as the excavations for the School Hall proceeded, the ear-splitting presence of the pneumatic drills being in time replaced by the quiet and persistent irritation of concrete vibrators, and at the end of the year by bulldozer sounds and other sweet music from the swimming pool site. Amid all this, the sounds produced by 500 boys have (usually!) been barely noticed. It is the same with the sand, and yet somewhat different. At first the sand was everywhere, all around us and in everything. The advent of rain, blessedly early this year, brought some relief in April, and slowly the grass asserted itself, bringing the sand around the buildings under control, but only to re-assert its presence in the vast mounds of sand being gouged out at the swimming pool site and the various other places where work is still proceeding. Transport too, must remain a lasting impression. Special buses, so carefully planned, were hopelessly overcrowded or ludicrously empty. Familiarity has almost bred contempt here too, for now buses are arranged at the drop of the proverbial hat to suit varying requirements, with the kind co-operation of the transport authorities. Next, the bicycles battled laboriously up Hale Road, the only redeeming feature for the labour being the hope of a comfortable glide downwards later in the day. A smaller, but not insignificant minority, have reminded us of this motorised age on motor cycles, mostly driven at reasonable speeds, or parents’ cars, apparently surprisingly easy to borrow.”
receives Honours for volleyball or drama, the end of the final 1st XVIII game last year when players and supporters who had gathered to watch swarmed onto the field, staff driving the 22 seater buses to all points on the compass at the commencement of the mid-term breaks to assist the boarders getting home for a long weekend, the public recognition of boys who achieve in their academic studies, the fact that we have 25 places available for boys to work at the Sony Camp for children with special needs and over double that number apply when they could be out celebrating the end of the exams is to see a school that is true to its Vision and Values. They are snapshots, and there are new ones almost daily that make you proud to be part of this school. The staff are committed. Pretty much every situation I have listed involves staff, both teaching and nonteaching, getting involved. I believe the School is travelling well. It is full, it is vibrant but it is not complacent. Academically, right through from the Junior School, the boys are working with determination. On the sporting fields, the boys are proud of their efforts and we are trying to expose them to the best coaching possible. The Music and Drama areas are thriving with more boys getting involved in these fields of endeavour each year - service learning, public speaking, outdoor education, leadership opportunities, the list goes on. We are doing all in our power to enhance the reputation of Hale and the way to do that is by ‘providing opportunities for every boy to excel’. The pages that follow bear witness to our Vision. Mr Stuart Meade Headmaster
So, what sort of school is Hale today? A wise soul once said, “A good boys’ school is one that is good for boys.” I believe Hale is a very good school for boys. To witness: 190 Year 8 boys embark on a lap-a-thon around Vernon Murphy Oval raising thousands of dollars for charity, the rapturous applause as one of our Year 12 music scholars performs a violin solo in a weekly Assembly, the support for a boy who
WD50 Assembly