Principal's Report 

In all the time I have been writing newsletter items, today is the saddest. Today many of the school community attended Dylhan Rielly’s funeral.  It was a very fitting acknowledgement to the impact Dylhan had made in his time with us.  The school had an opportunity for staff to reflect on significant moments with Dylhan and this became the basis of a presentation I made at the service.  I have included it below so the whole community has understanding of who we have lost with Dylhan’s passing.

In late January 2018 a number of people started their journey at Windsor, one was Dylhan and one was me, the only difference was Dylhan had already been a member of the Windsor community for a number of years because of the strong family connection to the school his sister and brother had established.

Everyone at Windsor has so many memorable moments with Dylhan and what I share with you today is a combination of these.  

For me personally, I have moments from throughout Dylhan’s time at school, however a moment that I treasure is from my first term at Windsor and having Dylhan greet me in the morning and wanting me to bowl a tennis ball to him so he could swing a cricket bat and hit that ball all over the school oval, making me run in every direction to retrieve it.  As he would take his next swing to hit that ball somewhere where I would need to run and get it, he would give me that smile that told me he knew exactly what he was doing.  I just had to work out whether he was getting more joy out of the activity or simply making me run to every corner of the oval to retrieve the ball.  ‘Dylhan - focus on hitting the ball back to me, control your shot’, I would say as I bowled the next ball.  Bang! Over to the other side of the oval the ball would go.  That smile would appear again clearly telling me ‘I am controlling my shot, now go get that ball’

My memories of Dylhan on the oval are not the only ones.  Other staff shared their moments of the joy Dylhan showed when he was kicking the football with them and chatting about Aiden’s football journey.

Dylhan’s appreciation of nature was also evident - moments when part of the Green Team, especially when it involved exploring for bugs and insects.  On a bigger scale we have the moment when Dyhlan was in the back of the Werribee Zoo bus amongst the giraffes and rhinos and stated ‘best day ever’.  This also linked back to life at home where the stories of Gavin and Bruno were part of Dylhan’s connection between home and school.

Dylan also had an appreciation and talent for creativity.  Many staff commented on his drawings and his love for working with paint.  This contributed to often asking if he could help in the art room.  The joy Dylhan had on the day we went to the National Gallery of Victoria was obvious and it was in these environments that his interactions with staff and friends would flourish.

It wasn’t only creativity in the Visual Arts, Dylhan made a profound impact with the Performing Arts, in particular Music.  Often someone would be needed to model a complex rhythmic pattern to the class.  When asked, without fuss Dylhan would pick up the drum or drum sticks and nail the rhythm perfectly and then simply hand back the instrument or sticks and resume his place with the class.  Such a natural was the opinion of Paul, our music teacher.

Not all learning was easy for Dyhlan, a staff memory was when he presented the Maths work he had done that had taken him a long time to achieve and the pride he had in his effort to achieve this learning goal.  It had taken a while but he did it.  This links to the patience that Dylhan would show - whether with his work,  or whether with his relationships with others, he was always willing to invest the time it took to get to the outcome.

Dylhan would often be early to school providing the opportunity for interaction, whether it be chats with teachers, using the time to bury his nose into a book, hover around a mate’s shoulder who had his phone with him or more recently be part of the before school chess program.

While these moments touched on what Dylhan could do, many more moments connected to Dylhan the person.  Overwhelming moments of being a supporting friend and a fun play mate.  A distinct reflection is the care and support Dylhan had for his family and friends.  His ability to put his arm around the shoulder of an upset friend and go for a walk was noticed.  His joy in talking about his family, especially recently with the happiness in becoming an uncle was so significant to him.  When younger, his joy in replicating WWE heroes and manoeuvres with his mates Caiden, Josh and Toni.

Dylhan’s sense of humour and cheekiness was also noted by many and was part of the joy he brought to others.  Often laughing, Dylhan definitely enjoyed the lighter side of life and was able to see the humorous side of most situations.  This allowed him to help others to also see the lighter side when things were getting too heavy.

I would like to share three more specific moments -

Dylhan was recently observed making chocolate balls in the school kitchen. He was being so precise with his measurements that he put the chocolate ball on the scales, and it must have been just a gram over because he picked up the ball and removed just a pinch, put it back on the scales, picked it up again and added a tiny bit back - he did this 3 times.  Watching him, it really brought enjoyment on how patient, precise and focused he was.

Dylan was so generous, bringing in additional costumes for other boys on the day of this year’s production. He didn't end up wearing any of the boxing gloves he brought to school because his friends wanted to wear them and he wanted to share them.  

Dylhan’s good friend Caiden, eagerly shared with a staff member his recount of last summer when Dylhan was teaching him how to swim in the pool near their home and was so excited about the pool re-opening so that Dylhan could continue with his coaching. In great detail he explained how Dylhan would encourage him to get into the pool and let him hold onto his hand until he felt comfortable and then watch him move around the edge of the pool.

It is clear to see that with Dylhan’s passing, we have not only lost the person, but we have lost some of the precious qualities the world is in desperate need of at the moment.