Although this blog will no doubt be cleared following my departure from the school, I just wanted to put a couple of parting thoughts down. It has been a great adventure at Fahan. It is wonderful school with a great community and one that consistently punches above its weight when it comes to a whole range of involvements.

Given the period of time that has passed since I commenced, at the risk of criticism, I want to put a few thoughts on the record. I have already written on what I consider makes a good school but at a personal level, for me it is the open and smiling faces of young people who appear so excited by the journey ahead of them. This is what really sets the flame alight – it is what makes one want to be at school each day and it is what ensures one sticks to the task, even when things are not as rosy as they might be. It represents a clear indication that something is going right.

Our staff has been brilliant. They are a particularly dedicated and generous lot in the main and manage, almost without exception, to bring out the best in the students, both academically and in their broader lives at school. The school is richly blessed with the caliber of personnel who work here.

I do, however, have two concerns about where education is going. The first relates to the role of parents in the lives of their children. I emphasize these are broad strokes with which I am painting and certainly do not apply to every family. The vast majority of our population are excellent parents who are clearly in turn raising some absolutely brilliant and delightful young women. However, it worries me greatly, that across our society generally, the level of accountability to which our young people are held continues to drop. Less responsibility taken by some parents for the performance and general upbringing of their children is often leaving their offspring adrift from life’s realities and without a fair and reasonable set of parameters within which to operate. A willingness to jump to their defense when they err and a more concerning failure to allow the processes of fair and reasonable consequences to be applied to them, masks a weak attempt, in some cases, for parents to cover for what ultimately may well be their own failure to play a more consistent and active part in their child’s upbringing. 

This situation further amplifies itself where young people move into the world beyond (and even while still in) school, without understanding that when one does something wrong there is a consequence. They have not been allowed to accept accountability for their actions, therefore they are effectively graduating with a strong sense that they are bullet proof and untouchable. The resultant behaviour around the streets, in the malls, on the buses, late at night around the club scene are, in my view, the direct result of this failure to be proactive, fair, strong and consistent with our expectations of them as they have grown up. It is further accentuated with a failure of our court system to impose consistent and strong consequences for those who misdemean. 

Parents need to reassert themselves in their family environments. Saying “no” as appropriate is a legitimate and reasonable way of starting the process. Children need to understand and appreciate their boundaries and this little two-letter word can assist. Despite what one may be lead to believe, the fact is that schools cannot continue to take on more and more of the fundamental responsibilities which should still be and remain in essence within the domain of the parents.

The other major concern I have for the future is the level of political interference that continues to creep into the operations of our schools. Mostly the work of bureaucrats, who may have at some time had an association with schools, whose knowledge and understanding of the current, day-to-day challenges involved with the education of children would be lucky to occupy as much as half the space on a 3c postage stamp (note, they no longer exist, which further emphasizes my point!), this increase in regulatory, dumbing down of a school’s operations provides an unnecessary, often irrelevant and short sighted attempt to fix all that is wrong with the system as it exists. Well pardon me for saying so, but it’s true! Apart from all of that, it amounts to more and more paperwork, an act in itself that obviously does little more than keep some of these people employed and pushing paper from one desk to another as the micro brains of government attempt to sure up their political manipulations with little more than the next election in mind! 

My view is that the question of school effectiveness and as a direct correlation, the performance of our young people can be more positively influenced if we are able to solve my first concern. We are, after all, independent schools and as such we must stand on our record. We are audited, we register and re-register every six years, our staff are registered, we complete a variety of time consuming accountability requirements that are directly linked to our level of government funding (including having a flagpole!) and so the list goes on…. Above all else, we exist, sinking or swimming in the educational market place so long as we are producing the goods. What more powerful a model of accountability can there be? Nothing more needs be said.

No doubt any of the anti-independent school proclaimers who read this will take some alternate view. However, when the time comes (as it hopefully will) that governments realize every child is entitled to a good education and the provision of this can be directly related to parental choice AND then supports families, by allowing them to use their funding entitlement to make that choice, then we will see which schools and their staff perform up to the standards we all might reasonably expect.

Enough from me. Thank you for allowing me the privilege to lead this great school for the past thirteen and a half years. Bye for now.

Seeking information about a school’s academic performance is a legitimate investigation but it is only one aspect to what often can be, and most frequently is, a significantly greater and all embracing experience. I am not suggesting such a measure is not important, but the reality of life is that we can not all be capable of achieving in the top 100 and those who don’t, more often than not, still have much to feel successful about in terms of their achievemements. In the same way, pro rata, I am happy to undergo scrutiny of the top 100. But what does it tell you? I suggest, not a great deal about any school!

The academic (and other) achievements of our Fahan students are admirable and deserve celebration. If comparisons must be made on this basis, then I am happy for our school’s perfomances to be put under the microscope. However, I equally feel that the results of the large number of other students whom the media fail to recognize or even consider to any extent, are of equal worth in terms of their achievements. These students have also done well. They have also succeeded and are, in the vast majority of cases, equally deserving of high praise. The educational experience is about significantly more than simply achieving a TE ranking, high or otherwise, and should also seriously consider the significant and broad range of academic, musical and sporting experiences, along with a plethora of other co-curricula opportunities offered, within what is a diverse, exciting and balanced set of experiences on offer for the students in our care.

In similar vein to the above, a wise Principal of mine from some years ago suggested earnestly to me – ” If you can’t get your message across in seven minutes, the message is no good!”

These two ideas are directly related in our attempts to communicate with our children. It is a reality that schools and more especially, parents are grappling with this challenge on a daily basis. We want to help, guide and mentor but how can we ensure we do this effectively, ensure our message is heard and understood, without taking longer than seven minutes to deliver it? Not always an easy task!

Invariably, we are trying to assist their growth. Sometimes it is due to being over-protective, trying to help them avoid the pitfalls we ourselves fell into at their stage of development. On other occasions it is simply due to a build up of circumstances to the extent where we just want to fulfill our positive desire to guide them and be regarded as worthy mentors whose wisdom, based on life’s experiences, should be seen as invaluable. Ultimately, this is all about nurturing.

For me, nurturing is linked inextricably to growth and this occurs in the context of education, support, care and empathy. We all recognize the enormous responsibilities with which both parents and schools are charged, but at its core, nurturing is all about developing in our young people the strong roots that will allow them to stand strong and tall no matter what challenges life presents to them.

The greatest chance of success, in my view, is when both parents and school are in accord. It must be a joint effort and linked to the building of trust and respect in what I would refer to as the relationship pyramid. We cannot continue to push them without spending at least equal (I supect more) time building this environment through mutual respect, care and ultimately, trust. I think we sometimes fall down due to circumstances that often cause us to react as opposed to being proactive. At the same time we can become over inclined to defend young people when they err, rather than hold them accountable in order that they learn from their mistakes.

In order for us to maximize the possibilities, the ideal of the pyramid needs to ingrained, as part of the family/school support base……early. It is not impossible to inculcate when teenagehood arrives, it is just a lot harder. Trust has to be earned and if we expect our offers of help to be suddenly accepted, when there has been little time dedicated to establishing such foundations in the previous twelve years, I think we are deluding ourselves. Success lies in the consistent and persistent efforts we make to establish and maintain open and honest communication over the years.

As with a good crop, success in growing strong, healthy, reflective and well adjusted young people lies in the proper preparation of the environment. The home needs to be rich and fertile, a place where weeding is done on a regular basis along with the addition of a life sustaining sprinkle of water in equal measure. There will always be weeds and pests to deal with and overcome, but if there is trust and respect that has been grown and nurtured, we stand a better chance of reaping the benefits come harvest time.

What greater reward can there be than to gaze upon an adult who has grown from an environment which has provided a well prepared base, sprinkled with the fertilizer of human love, kindness and respect? Of course there will be storms of doubt and adversity at times, yet, having overcome these challenges, he or she can stand strong and confident in the knowledge that there is a strong foundation upon which to further grow and develop. Is this not then a true demonstration of the power of effective nurturing?

So, in returning to where I began – we can’t expect successful communication unless we have built trust in our relationships with our children over time and in so doing learned to appreciate the differing perspectives of their world. This really remains, in the large part, the cornerstone to a successful seven minutes, although such a time frame may be needed on more than one occasion during our childrens’ lives.

There is any amount of research that supports this view. It has been backed up by significant research over many years. One can easily gain access to such material. It has also become more relevant over recent times as education authorities and schools focus their attention on the education of boys at an increasing level of awareness. In this sense, the whole concept of single gender schooling becomes a broader issue of debate, but that is another issue. I want to make a few observations that I believe reflect the benefits for girls of being educated in an all girl environment.

It is an accepted fact that girls learn differently to boys. In a situation where staff can tailor their teaching to the learning characteristics of girls and thus engage them meaningfully, not just in terms of pedagogy, but also through the full range of their educational experiences at school, the benefits begin to show at a very early stage. One can see this evidenced by simply spending time in a classroom with a group of girls as they apply themselves with great verve to co-operative group challenges that are put before them. In addition the data shows that academically, results in all girls’ environments are superior to those in co-educational environments.

It is quite evident that girls enjoy learning models that are better suited to their style, especially where they have a role in establishing the agenda for situations that offer collaborative opportunities into which they can direct their efforts.

It is my view that in girls’ schools, staff can genuinely teach their students to think big. They quickly learn that they are expected to lead and expected to study Mathematics, Science and IT. These pursuits are no longer (and haven’t been for some time) the domain of their male, student colleagues. There need be no fear of stereotyping, there are no limits to how high they can reach and importantly, the staff and their peers can support them in their risk taking.

When it comes to leadership among the student body, in an all girls’ environment, they come first, second and third, filling all the places available to them. Here is a wide ranging set of experiences open to all of them and, all who lead, will be girls. They can participate and influence to the extent where outcomes are directly related to the needs of girls. In this way they are not only making a contribution to their student society (and their school), they are influencing it with a view to positive change. What a great cornerstone for the roles they can seek in the wider world beyond school! What a brilliant grounding this offers them!

Similarly, an all girls’ environment will assist them think beyond themselves. As women are now the largest buying and professional market in the history of the world, such a situation encourages them to make the “big” decisions in keeping with their goals, without fear of having to lower their expectations. And, on the occasions where they don’t quite make the height, the nature of such an environment is supportive to the extent where there is no disgrace and lessons can be learned without fear of ridicule.

In an all girls’ environment the students can be specifically challenged to extend themselves. They can “get their hands dirty” and have a go at whatever they wish, in terms of the offering that is put before them. They are encouraged to think and work outside traditional boundaries. Success is an individual expectation and as such will assist in maintaining their self esteem. More broadly the environment will assist them in all areas of their development, thus increasing both their sense of self-belief and security.

The civic leaders of tomorrow are today’s girls (if they aren’t already). They will be so because of the special and heightened sense of camaraderie that exists in all girl learning environments. Where they are the focal point, they rise to levels that in other situations they may find unnecessarily restricting and less supportive. Such an engendered level of enthusiasm and desire to be successful, sets these young women on the pathway to becoming confident, astute and discerning members of the society they will lead.

I know it seems a romantic concept to talk about my having just been in Hamburg. Truthfully, I was struck by the beauty of this city and its many catherals, museums and historical showpieces. In reality, however, it was not at all romantic – I was there alone, to meet potential representatives of the school, who in turn I hope, will send us students to study at Fahan. Being unable to share the experience of being in Hamburg with Kit certainly did the visit an injustice from that perspective. On the other hand, I was there to work and that was my focus…although I did run around the lake on Sunday, a significant distance for the old body – non stop! From a potential enrolment increasing perspective, I am very positive about our chances of success, whether these girls be long or short term visitors.

One other occurrence struck me while I was eating a meal in the hotel. I watched as a family, mum, dad and daughter arrived for a meal and sat down. Almost immediately the daughter took out her mobile phone. Mother left the table for a while to speak with someone else and during the ensuing 10 minutes, neither father nor daughter uttered a word to eachother – well, virtually. The daughter sat, apparently totally engrossed in what was coming to or from her phone. Father attempted to speak but was offered little more than a grunt or a nod in response from his offspring.

Isn’t this a sad situation? I think so. It is not, from my experience, one that occurs only in Germany. It occurs everywhere across the world and no less in our own back yard. So many of our young people have become slaves to this technology. Their mobile phones have become the centre of their social being – these young people have at times become socially bereft and frequently, plain rude when it comes to their engagement in conversation with others, without the distraction of a “beep” or trendy “tone” signalling an immediate interruption – because what it offers is seen more important.

Sad? You bet it is! Frustrating – yes that too. Then why, I ask myself do we allow our children to do it without accountability and bear in mind I have not been game enough to even start talking about the cost involved. It is not the financial cost, however, that concerns me (although it should concern someone) – its the social cost of allowing it to continue. Why is a 25c single word response to a message from a friend more important than talking with people? How did we ever manage to survive without this technology? More importantly, how will we survive with it, when it is used like this? It makes you appreciate some of the old values instilled into most of us, where we had to actually ask our parents if we could use the phone – it was not our right. At those times, the privilege was not granted in lieu of conversation!

I know there are positives to young people having a mobile phone. I understand they are a very real part of their culture for convenience, safety and social reasons. We all need to accept this but as with everything, common sense, good manners and a capacity to engage in conversation are values worth maintaining I think. I don’t believe this negates our adult responsibility in helping ensure a fair sense of responsibility is taken for and understood in owning and using a mobile phone.

There is little doubt in my mind either, that what I am about to suggest here as elementary ingredients of a good school, is open to debate and probably criticism. So be it! At its core, a good school is one that prioritises the development of warm, caring and empathetic relationships within its community, ie. between students, students and staff and staff and parents. A school has to work hard at this. As one parent just recently and no doubt quite accurately suggested to me, that while we would all wish it were so, parents do not necessarily have as their greatest priority the school at which their child attends, or more accurately, its day-to-day operations. In particular this was in reference to ensuring that there is a regular and “received” level of communication.

But, it is the consistent and at times, persistent efforts at ensuring the messages are received that helps make a good school. It is through this that levels of consistency in expectations are developed and agreed. Schools are people places and as a result, demand attention to the establishment and maintenance of strong and supportive relationships in order that reasonable, realistic and importantly, achieveable goals for a child can be cooperatively pursued.

In my opinion, bricks and mortar do not make a good school. There is no doubt they enhance a school but in themselves, they do not make it good. There is no shadow of doubt in my mind that the cornerstone to a good school is very clearly determined by the quality of the staff who work there. The professionals who work with our young people and deliver the curriculum in an engaging and meaningful way are the key. It’s not just about the teaching though. It is about the hours of time these people spend, just being with the children (not just in classrooms), talking to them and listening to their issues, offering a few words of encouragement or advice here and there in an effort to provide support in times which can be very confusing. I have used the word children deliberately – because I think we can sometimes be at risk of forgetting the fact that our students are still children, albiet their experiences are significantly advanced of what ours may have been when we were of a similar age. In this sense, I believe our young people can often be quite a way ahead of themselves and herein often lies the basis for conflict, both at school and at home. This, to some degree is another issue, although schools that are good will always try to work with the parents in providing a consistent and supportive approach.

We should never be apologetic for espousing and demanding standards of acceptable behaviour and conduct in our schools. Hopefully these are consistent with those which are emphasised at home, although sometimes, too often unfortunately, they are not. A good school demands certain standards and these are reinforced throughout by all staff, from Kindergarten to Year 12, without favour and in the interests of developing well rounded, empathetic individuals who have a strong sense of what is right and appropriate. There is something good, as well, in the development of a strong sense of esprit de corps and affinity with a school community in which we all have a part to play and where no one person is more important than another within its fabric. Yes, there should be an acceptance that we may all have differing roles to play, but we are all as important as each other.

Academic achievement may well be the most important ingredient for some in gauging what is a good school. I do not wish to debate that, suffice to say that schools are more than just a TE score or a position on a media driven and promoted league table (quite mischieveously and irresponsibly in my opinion). Ultimately, a child’s capacity to make informed and realisable choices about his or her future pathway at the end of their schooling is determined by results. From my perspective, however, if the school has provided them with many of life’s tools in order to be able to do that, along with a personal sense of achievement, perhaps including an appropriate TE score from which to advance, then it will have gone some distance towards earning the tag of a good school. Along the way, hopefully, these same children will have learned to accept a high level of personal accountability, to the extent where they can acknowledge what they have achieved, along with the individuals who have also played a part throughout the journey. If they are honest, depending on their own levels of effort, I am confident they would recognise the staff with whom they have interacted as being major influences.

There is much to being a good school. Nothing along the way is necessarily easy, nor is it achieved without high levels of sustained effort and work. However, the knowledge that a school provides a secure, safe and supportive environment where each individual is valued as a special part in its tapestry and in so saying, has a dedicated and concerned staff to facilitate, develop and enact its ideals is one large step along the way to ensuring a school such as Fahan is a good one.

Yet, every year there is a sense of restlessness among those in Year 10 (at most schools I suspect). Why? In large part it is caused by a lack of understanding or factual knowledge about what occurs in a school that offers an education continuum beyond Year 10. This includes ignorance of subject offering and diversity. There is also a lack of appreciation for the more collegial relationships that begin to develop with staff as student interest and thus willingness to seriously and more deeply explore the subjects they study, become considerably more developed than in their previous years. In part it is also due to what I would call “the green grass syndrome”. This is a curious view that develops in our young people that, everything will be better elsewhere – more freedom, maybe no uniform, apparently greater independence and so the excuses mount up. There are also other reasons offered, such as, “I have been here too long, I need a change.”

I think there remains a need for our young people to learn about the concept of going the distance, in the sense that it now becomes their turn to lead the school, to make a positive impact in a number of new areas, through their presence and contribution and to finish their schooling on a high note.

Despite the rumblings among certain sections of their peer group, thankfully, the vast majority of students (and their parents) sensibly recognize the real benefits of remaining where they are for the final, and arguably, most critical, couple of years that will complete their schooling.

An important reason to stay on is that the staff are generally well known to most students. Certainly in a smaller school such as Fahan, there is considerable familiarity with those teachers who teach Year 11 and 12 courses. Many of them have taught across Years 9 and 10 as well. The girls have established friendships, familiarity with routines and the school, an enviable record of students’ achieving the best of which they are capable. Along with these advantages there is the serious prospect of an enjoyable school life with added responsibility opportunities and some of the other “rights of passage” to which they can look forward.

It is also worth emphasising that the co-operating Schools’ relationship provides a signicant breadth of subject offering that is not often appreciated. Even students in the larger Colleges are not guaranteed being able to study all the subjects they want, yet in the vast majority of cases, Fahan students do.

Above all this is the fact that there is actually no need to change in the first place. Rarely have I heard a logical and substantial reason . All our students have to do is to work consistently and do their best and a successful outcome is a strong likelihood. Importantly, there is already a continuity in their learning – so why risk losing all the advantages on what I consider to be, very largely, a flawed logic?

It is appreciated when our parents are willing to work with the school in order to bring about the best outcomes. This is but another of the challenges with which children can present us. It is, then, especially worth holding fast to that which is good.

One thing is for sure – the facilities we enjoyed while we attended school were most probably, in large part the work of others who had gone before us. These parents, families, benefactors and supporters of our school made it what it was for us to enjoy. In the same way as a relay race unfolds, so does the life and history of a school – its just that now, its our turn to carry the baton.

What are we to do with this responsibility? I hope we are prepared to grab hold of it with determination, just as those who carried it before have done. Our significant priority has to be of the school as it currently stands – agreed. However, we also need to consider the bigger picture and at least pay some thought to the concept of handing our baton on to those who follow, having left the school a little better than when we were responsible for it.

It is a serious responsibility we carry. Imagine our disappointment if the baton we were to receive was dropped before we wrapped our fingers around it? Our chances of finishing the race well placed would be significantly dashed. We are fortunate at Fahan, because we have been handed a baton in good time and it has placed us well for our our leg. It’s now our chance to carry it proudly and edge to the lead in order to ensure we are as well placed as possible to hand it to our team mate who is waiting.

How can you do this? I encourage you to speak with Ric Fletcher, our Director of Development, who I know will outline a number of tactics for you – to make your part of this race a winning leg.

Why should parents, who are willing to dig deep into their pockets to fund the education of their children, not receive support from the government?

I think it’s time we stopped attempting to maintain what is fundamentally a beat up debate between those who make the choice to educate their children in state schools and families who make a choice to send their children to independent schools, often at a considerable financial sacrifice. Ultimately, the right to choose an education for one’s children should be reasonably supported by a fair level of financial assistance, per child, to achieve this.

Isn’t it time the propagators of unfairness in educational funding gave it a break and let each system get on with doing the best it can to ensure a solid educational foundation for all the students we have in our schools?