WELCOME FROM THE PRINCIPAL

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

“A blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it.”

MARCUS AURELIUS

By Dr Briony Scott Principal

The ancient Stoic philosophy known as The Dichotomy of Control provides us with a framework with which to face challenges, by dividing them into the things we can control and those we cannot control. In the words of the great Stoic philosopher, Epictetus, “Every difficulty in life presents us with an opportunity to turn inwards and to invoke our own submerged inner resources. The trials we endure can and should introduce us to our strengths… on the occasion of an accidental event, don’t just react in a haphazard fashion; remember to turn inwards and ask what resources you have for dealing with it. Dig deeply. You possess strengths you might not realise you have. Find the right one. Use it.”

As Wenona, along with the rest of Australia, has grappled with a second year of the global pandemic, our lives have changed. Our world is marked by lockdowns, restrictions, masks, and bulk cases of hand-sanitizer! We’ve had to adapt to academic uncertainty and changed our examination processes. We’ve embraced new technologies and introduced a click-and-collect approach to books, resources, sports equipment, and materials. And throughout these difficult and troubled times, the Wenona community has stepped up to offer encouragement, support, and hope. More than ever, it has highlighted the veracity of that old maxim, ‘It takes a village to raise a child’.

The Wenona village is bigger than the students for which we care. It extends to the families of our students and staff, to our teachers and professional services staff, to our Boarding House community, to our alumnae, and to the world in which we all live and work.

While uncertainty dominates the public discourse, other forces are also at play. The last two years have seen a greater appreciation of the role of schools in society, and the complexity of the teaching profession, in bringing out the very best in each child in our care. Schools have provided a safety net for those who might slip between the cracks when tectonic plates shift, and the world we thought was predictably set in stone, is no longer recognisable. Our staff have continued to turn up, every day, caring onsite for the children of essential care workers, and working exceptionally long hours to ensure that all our students continue to learn seamlessly, albeit through different mediums, wherever they are based. Schools themselves have been deemed essential for the basic functioning of society, and across the nation, they have continued to operate seamlessly, modelling hope, resilience, humour, and determination to the next generation.

It’s not the first time in Wenona’s history that our community has banded together to guide our students through tough times, with hope, gratitude, and grit, and it won’t be the last. We have done this through previous pandemics, through World Wars, through the Great Depression, through sickness and adversity. And we will continue to do this. Because this is life, and this is why we are here. Not to get perfect ATAR results, or to get into great courses, or to travel the world, but to show our young women how to live life, with all its complexities. And to live it well. It is to show them that there is more to them, than they could ever imagine. They are strong, and resilient, and very capable. They have it in them, in the face of adversity, to turn around and help those around them. By reaching out, building up, and walking alongside others. Our School motto, Ut Prosim, that I may serve, guides our thinking for a reason.

The only way we can show our young people how to do life well, is to role model it. Upon Reflection captures the professionalism, the care, the dedication, and the expertise of those leading in our community. It’s a snapshot of just some of our teachers and professional services staff, who like their colleagues, have turned an impossible situation into an opportunity to dig deep, discover their strengths and set their sails to the prevailing winds.

Our staff have role modelled what we need our young women to understand, showing them a path to follow. As Principal of Wenona, I am deeply indebted to every member of staff, and enormously grateful for the work they have done, in navigating our way through challenging times, and doing so seamlessly and graciously. I commend this publication to you, and to the work of the Wenona staff.