Senior School

Psalm 150 commences with,

Praise the Lord. Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens. 

And concludes with, 

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. 

The psalmist expounds upon a range of musical instruments in this psalm and certainly the offering presented by the Senior Ensemble Evening performers helped all who witnessed it to celebrate the beautiful gift of music, and those who have made it their craft. Whether brass, woodwind, string, percussion or voice, the LMC reverberated with professional quality melody reminding us of the power of music. 

Pieces by Sinfonia from Star Wars, the Concert Band improving upon Rick Astley, the Vocal Ensemble with Happy Day and Come What May, Cantabile performing Over the Rainbow and taking us back to Judy Garland or Billy Thorpe, the Vocal Ensemble with a rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s True Colours, Sforzando with I’ve Got the World on a String, Camerata with a piece from St Paul’s Suite and a grand finale from the separate girls’ and boys’ songs this year from the Senior Choir. There was truly something for everyone and it was very, very good. Congratulations to all performers on a great evening, to Mr Chan, Mr Clarke and other staff for their investment into the lives of these young musicians and an amazing thanks to God for His creativity and blessings.

As we prepare for the mid year break, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you great joy and peace over the next few weeks (and beyond). I encourage you to read through the reports and to use them to continue to assist in their growth and development. The reports together with the formative assessment provided during the year are designed to acknowledge areas of strength and to assist with the ongoing instruction of your children. Please refer to the letter from Ms Melanie Haley, emailed on Thursday 23 June, for more information on how to access the reports on SEQTA Engage. We trust the reports provide you with useful feedback as we all work together towards a common purpose of raising up the next generation of people to make their positive mark upon the world.

On a separate note, thank you to those people who have wished me well on my resignation. I would love to share something of the reasons behind this challenging decision and will start off by saying that I love Oxley, the people I work with and have worked with, the students I have taught and learned from, and the families that I have served. It has been an amazing 18 years and I still cannot believe the trust that people have placed in me along the way. 

Many years ago I made a commitment to Sally Broadley and Pastor Graham that I would be at Oxley for five years and then more recently, that I would take on the Deputy Principal role for at least 12 months. Although I have honoured both commitments, it is with great sadness but a sense of peace that I am moving on. I also made a commitment to my parents-in-law to assist with looking after them that has been impossible to keep while working in this role at the standard, I demand of myself, and this was particularly true during COVID years. I think and hope there are also other members of the family who will enjoy seeing a little more of me during the next season. 

I will always count myself as privileged in being trusted to help steer the ship over the last six years in particular, and it is impossible to explain how blessed I feel that so many people have had such faith in me, a poor, country public school boy as I think of myself. But God will work through all of us if we allow Him and I am testament to that. 

I do not yet know what next year holds. I have no grand plans, no particular vision but know in my heart that it will crystallise as the time draws closer. And if it is like other things that God has done in my life when I have truly trusted everything to Him, it will be joyous beyond my wildest imaginings. But for the remainder of this year, my direction is clear, to serve God faithfully through my commitment to the Oxley community to the highest standard I can manage. And this will be my pleasure to do.

Greg Barker

Deputy Principal – Head of Senior School