A Note from Nelson

As the end of the School year approaches, I frequently reflect upon the past year and start to look ahead to the next. I am sure many of us to the very same thing. This year is no exception.

In 2019, The Friends' School welcomed new leadership throughout the School - Mark Febey as Head of Morris, Adam Chambers as the Head of Clemes and Shaun O'Rourke as the Deputy Principal. Each of these people spent time learning more about their new positions and effecting positive change across the School. For example, Friends Early Years has been redesigned (and renamed to Friends Early Learning) to more closely integrate into the learning program at Morris. A new Deputy Head of Morris (Fiona Zinn - a current parent and world-renowned early childhood and PYP expert) has been hired to better meet this goal with oversight of Friends Early Learning through Year 1. Now I have jumped ahead into looking forward to 2020!

Early in November, the School welcomed the new Kinder families on campus, ready to start School in February 2020. Believe it or not, they are the class of 2033 - the year we anticipate them finishing Year 12 at Clemes. Extrapolating out further, one would figure that they might be well on their way into their careers in 2040 or so. What awaits them? It is hard for us to know other than there is a good likelihood that their careers will be in positions that have not even been imagined yet. What we do know is that they will need the tools and dispositions that The Friends' School strives to nurture within each student. "We seek to help our students develop as people who will think clearly, act with integrity, make decisions for themselves, be sensitive to the needs of others and the environment, be great in service and hold a global perspective."

Next year the School also hopes to embark upon the anticipated refurbishment of the Commercial Road campus to better serve our students. The plan has the current W.N. Oats Centre being transformed into a core learning centre with flexible learning spaces to better meet the learning needs of future generations of students. The School will also be required to replace the current gymnasium space with a new sports hall to better serve the wellbeing of both students and staff members. It is indeed an exciting time at Friends'.

As I finish this message, my mind wanders to my favourite holiday, Thanksgiving. In the United States, Thanksgiving happens the 4th Thursday in November each year- this year on 28 November - and everyone celebrates it. While it has become more commercialised over the years, it serves as an important role for all of us to stop, reflect and express gratitude for our lives and relationships. It is a time that family and friends find ways to meet up and get together, usually with an over an indulgent meal. Despite the food, gratitude and love of others is really at the heart of this holiday.

Although Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Australia, I do hope during this holiday season all families are able to spend time with those that we love and we are able to reflect upon and be thankful for the blessings of our lives.

Warmest wishes,

Nelson

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”– Melody Beattie, American Author