A Christmas Message to Our BMGS Families

As we approach the end of the year, I want to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas. I have always loved this season, the lights, the music, and the sense of wonder it brings and celebration of the birth of Jesus.

I am also mindful that Christmas is not easy for everyone. For some, it comes with pressure, sadness, or memories that sit heavily on the heart.

So when I wish you a Merry Christmas, I do so with a spirit of hope, reconciliation, and possibility, shaped by the story at the centre of this season. For Christians, Christmas is a reminder that Jesus stepped into the world with gentleness, compassion, and renewing love. Whether you hold that faith closely or appreciate the values it represents, I hope you experience something of that same peace and kindness in the weeks ahead.

Whatever a “merry” Christmas looks like for you and your family, quiet or joyful, busy or peaceful, I hope it brings what you most need. My wish is that this season offers you rest, connection, and the encouragement to look toward the year ahead with confidence and explore who Jesus really is.

I also invite you to join us for our BMGS Carols Service next Tuesday morning. Details are included in this newsletter. It is always a fantastic community event, and an opportunity to gather, sing, and share in the meaning and beauty of Christmas. I hope to see many of you there.

On behalf of everyone at Blue Mountains Grammar School, thank you for your trust, your generosity of spirit, and the way you contribute to our community. May the hope of Jesus be real to you this Christmas, in whatever way you need it most.

End-of-Year Reflection: A Better Story for Our Young People

As we draw near the end of the school year, a familiar rhythm will begin to play out across Australia. In the coming weeks, we will once again witness the national merry-go-round where young people become clickbait in a high-stakes performance ritual. Schools will parade the apparent “winners,” craft glossy success stories, and quietly erase the names of those who don’t fit the headline.

It is the season when education too easily slips into what I’ve previously described as the academic Hunger Games, a contest built on ranking, scaling, sorting, and comparison. A model of schooling that steps forward confidently, separating students by scores, opportunities by outcomes, and value by metrics that capture only a fraction of the truth.

This is the story the world tells.

But the story we tell at BMGS is more people-focused.

At our school, we understand that academic excellence matters. As we teach and our students learn, we rightly expect quality educational outcomes. However, we stop being mentors and role models to our young people when we hope only for what the larger system thinks is important. What we hope for shapes what we see, and, as James K. A. Smith notes, we become what we love. If our vision narrows to a four-digit number on a page after fourteen years of formal schooling, we risk missing the fullness and beauty of who our young people have become over that time.

The research is undisputed: quality schools rest on something more profound. It is a social contract between adults and young people. A social contract that recognises that schools are full of young people who are finding their way. Young people learning who they are, making sense of themselves and the world, discovering their strengths, and navigating their uncertainties.

This social contract understands that there will be days when our young people love school and days when they do not. Days when they show up with energy, and days when they show up simply because it is the right thing to do, even if they are “not feeling it.”

School is a long game; it is a slow, courageous unfolding.

What young people need most in that long game are adults, teachers, families, and mentors who model the very qualities we hope to grow in them, like patience, forgiveness, humility, and hope.

Adults who understand that growth takes time, that mistakes are part of the story, and that every young person deserves space to develop into who they are becoming.

Given how much time young people spend in school, a school should be full of moments, large and small, that shape identity, character, worldview, and confidence. Moments that help them see themselves not just as achievers, but as contributors. Not just as students, but as people.

Our school does this well. It is one of the defining strengths of the BMGS community.

Over the past few weeks, I have again been reminded, in real terms, that academic performance, while important and necessary, only tells part of the whole story.

Over the past two weeks, we have observed the innocence and excitement of our Junior School students as they retold the Nativity in a way only children can. Their singing, their energy, their wonder, these are moments that remind us that learning is as much about becoming as it is about knowing.

We have seen our students’ unrestrained creativity, energy, and celebration on stage in Hating Alison Ashley. This performance was strong and well executed as our year 7 to 9 students performed in a way that refused mediocrity. While their craft was sublime, it was more their courage, collaboration, humour, and willingness to step into a story together that captured the real intent of well-designed learning.

For those who attended the recent Art and Design Awards sponsored by our good friend Dr Ken Marshall, you will know the deep breath it takes to stand still in front of a young person’s artwork or design piece. The storytelling, the imagination, the craftsmanship, the worldview expressed through paint, timber, textiles, metal, and digital media. Each piece reveals intelligence and insight that can never be scaled, ranked, or externally examined.

And this week, we saw yet another glimpse of the future our young people are capable of shaping. Some of our Year 9 students taking part in the new Design Thinking for Creativity and Leadership subject made their way, unsupervised, to Western Sydney University. They spent the day immersed in collaborative, creative work, beginning to craft a 20-minute documentary to be entered into both local and international film festivals. They ran the groups, kept the schedule, and the teachers just facilitated our learners’ ambitions.

Often, I wish our parents could see our young people in action more fully. If you could see them, you would have seen young people, while uncertain at times, pushing through uncertainty. You would see self-directed, self-disciplined learners rise to the demands of real, challenging, adult, and deeply purposeful events. You would witness what happens when trust meets responsibility when young people are given real work that matters.

These moments matter deeply.

They are not “extras.”

They are not distractions from the “real” learning.

They are the real learning.

They are formative and they are human.

These are the foundations on which well-balanced, emotionally intelligent, socially aware, future-ready young people grow. And it is on that platform that we build our approaches to excellent academic performance. Academic achievement is important, as it is a vital foundation for anything a student wants to influence. But our students, your children, are infinitely more than a single measure can hold. They are thinkers, designers, makers, performers, friends, siblings, mentors, and emerging adults. They are complex, capable, deeply human, and deserving of a narrative that reflects who they are and who they are becoming.

So, as you begin to see the headlines, the league tables, the curated social-media posts, and the marketing campaigns designed to impress some or attract enrolments, remember that it is only one part of the story.

The real story, the hopeful, challenging, extraordinary story, is unfolding in classrooms, homes, studios, workshops, theatres, playgrounds, sporting fields, rehearsals, exhibitions, and in the hundreds of unseen moments where young people discover who they are and who they might become.

At our school, we will continue to celebrate achievement with genuine pride. But we will not allow the world’s narrow metrics to define your children or dictate their worth. Our more profound commitment is to who they are becoming, their character, their courage, their compassion, their curiosity, their resilience, their sense of calling and purpose, knowing that they are ‘...fearfully and wonderfully made.’ Psalm 139:14

And on that measure, the one that actually matters, BMGS students are not just succeeding, they are flourishing.

A deeper look at the social-media age-restriction: opportunity and caution

With the new eSafety-backed social-media minimum-age law coming into effect on 10 December 2025, Australia becomes the first country to require major social-media companies to prevent under-16s from holding accounts. The intention here is not to punish children, but to shift responsibility onto platforms whose design features are known to have disproportionate effects on developing brains.

Adolescence is a period of enormous neurological change. Social media, especially platforms built around algorithms that curate feeds, appearance-based comparisons, and reward loops, can interact with this developmental window in harmful ways. Research continues to demonstrate elevated risks of anxiety, depression, disrupted sleep, and addictive use patterns among heavy teen users.

The new law is, admittedly, not perfect. However, it is a meaningful attempt to create a buffer that gives young people more time before they step into digital spaces designed for adult attention, behaviours, and decision-making.

One of the realities of modern digital life is that where restrictions appear, alternatives follow. We are already seeing increased interest among young people in lesser-known apps such as Lemon8 and Yope, which are not currently listed on the government’s age-restricted list.

While these apps may not yet have the same public profile as Instagram, TikTok or Snapchat, they offer remarkably similar features. They curate content feeds, image-driven identity, algorithmic discovery, and opportunities for social comparison and performance.

Just because a platform is new or less regulated does not mean it is safer. In many cases, these newer apps have weaker moderation standards, fewer safety tools, and less oversight, meaning harmful content can spread further and faster.

As a principal, I never like to tell adults how to parent their children. But as a school, we cannot emphasise this point strongly enough: The digital landscape will continue to shift. New apps will appear. Old ones will reinvent themselves. And platforms not caught by today’s law may become tomorrow’s challenge.

For this reason, the most powerful protective factor for young people remains engaged, informed, and vigilant adults. Those in our pastoral models agree that the vast majority of concerns raised with us regarding friendship breakdowns involve some element of social media misuse.

We encourage families to:

Stay curious and aware of new apps your child might mention or download.
Recognise that “not banned” does not mean “better” and that newer platforms often have fewer protections.
Keep conversations open, calm and ongoing about online behaviour, mental wellbeing, and digital identity.
Model healthy digital habits at home, including rest, balance, and boundaries.
Please work with us, and with each other, to create a community culture that values digital wellbeing as much as academic and social growth.

This new national approach isn’t flawless, and no legislation can protect young people from every digital risk. Given what we now understand about the neurological vulnerability of early adolescence and the sophistication with which social-media platforms are engineered, this new law is welcome.

And it gives all of us a moment to rethink how we guide our next generation through an online world that is changing faster than any of us can fully anticipate.

For some interesting information on this new law and its impact on our community and your children, we have attached a resource page with a QR code that provides further details. I have also included the following links to some recent stories about the upcoming ban.

Lemon8 and Yope put on notice as social media age ban targets

https://tinyurl.com/5yw8n2d5

YouTube says it will comply with Australia’s teen social media ban

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/society-equity/youtube-says-it-will-comply-with-australias-teen-social-media-ban-2025-12-03/

Staffing Update

I want to share with our community that our Head of Music, Mrs Debbie Smith, who has been on personal leave this year, has informed me of her decision to resign from the BMGS. Debbie has made an invaluable contribution to BMGS over many years, not only through her deep musical expertise, but also through the care, respect and humility with which she has shared indigenous stories and perspectives with our students. We will miss her greatly, and I know our community joins me in wishing her every blessing for the future.

I am very pleased to advise that we have appointed Mrs Ally Lewis as our new Senior School Music teacher. Many of our Junior School families will already know Ally from her work in our classrooms, and she will continue in that space while also taking on this expanded role. Her teaching load has increased to accommodate this arrangement, ensuring continuity and strength across both campuses. Ally is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and will be an excellent addition to our senior school team, teaching HSC music.

I would also like to share an update regarding another member of our staff. Mr Luke Webb and I have been in ongoing conversations for some time about what is next for him. As I am sure many of you know, Luke is recognised by every student and most parents as our Chaplain, a role he has carried out with joy, integrity, and a remarkable capacity for connection.

In recent months, Luke has shared with me that while the Chaplaincy has been deeply fulfilling, it has also been enormously demanding on him and his family. This is something we can all understand and appreciate. As we continued our conversations, Luke asked whether there might be an opportunity for him to expand his experience and step back into the classroom in 2026, while stepping away from his Chaplaincy responsibilities.

I agreed to that request, wanting to honour the work Luke has done and the value he brings to our community. From next year, Luke will move into a teaching role, working across English and Music, and will also serve as the Ziele Year 7 Tutor. Our community will be grateful for all he has contributed to Chaplaincy over many years, and I ask you to join me in praying for wisdom and patience as we consider how best to fill this vital role within our School.

I would also like to share news regarding Mr Jordan Heckendorf. Jordan has accepted a teaching position in country Victoria at Ballarat Clarendon College. This is an exceptional career opportunity, and while I would like him to stay at BMGS, there is also a part of me that takes genuine joy in sending him out to broaden his experience, challenge himself, and continue developing into what we all know him to be, an outstanding teacher. I know our community will join me in congratulating him and wishing him every success as he steps into this next chapter.

With Jordan’s departure, I am pleased to share that we have appointed Ms Kate Kennerson to the HSIE faculty. Kate brings 16 years of experience in education, underpinned by a prior corporate career, and a deep commitment to rigorous, student-centred practice. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce and is highly experienced in teaching Business Studies, with the capacity to teach Economics. Kate has extensive expertise in curriculum design and assessment rigour for both RoSA and the HSC, and has contributed to programs that have been externally validated as “excelling.” She brings particular strength in entrepreneurial learning, responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence in education, and a collaborative, inclusive approach to staff and student engagement.

We will also be saying farewell to two valued members of our teaching community, Jacque Haines and Elisabeth Wells. Both Jacque and Elisabeth have made a considerable and appreciated contribution to the life of our School. Their care for students, commitment to their craft, and presence within our community will be missed. We are grateful for all they have given to BMGS and wish them every blessing for their next season.

We also extend our congratulations and warm thanks to Catherine Ratcliff, our Springwood Pre-K teacher, who has accepted a leadership role at another school. Catherine’s work with some of our youngest learners has been of a high standard and marked by patience, creativity, and a gentle confidence that has helped many children take their very first steps into school life. While we are sad to see her go, we fully understand the call to leadership and do not doubt that she will thrive in this new chapter.

Whenever staff move on from BMGS, there is always a measure of disruption, particularly when students, colleagues and families appreciate those staff. We understand, though, that our staff also have lives beyond the School, and that new opportunities, adventures and seasons of growth will sometimes call them elsewhere. As a community, we enjoy them while they are with us, we feel their absence when they leave, and we wish them well as they step into what comes next. At the same time, we look forward to welcoming those who join us in their place, bringing a different energy, expertise and passion to the life of our School.

Have a wonderful Christmas break.

Steven Coote

Principal

This document has been reviewed for spelling and grammar. Please note that as such, it may identify some content as being generated by AI.

Diary Dates

December 2025