Sitting on stage at our Junior School Speech Day, I immersed myself in the generous talents of the Prep to Year 6 students. I felt great pride and appreciation for our Junior School learning community. It was a wonderful celebration of a year of learning at Myrniong. Thank you to the team that put the successful day together, and congratulations to the major Year 6 prize winners for 2023:

Dux of Junior School and Art Prize - Hannah Young
Angus Wilson Award - Tahni Brown
Service to School Community and Liam Picken Medal - Yolanda O’Sullivan
Ann Scott Award - Georgia Kennedy
Music Prize - Andrew Sun

2024 SCHOOL CAPTAINS

It gives me great pleasure to announce that the junior school captains for 2024 are Emma Milne (Laidlaw House) and Sidney Hawker (Learmonth House). Emma and Sidney received their badges and leadership ties on Speech Day. Both were selected from an extremely strong field of 16 Year 5 applicants.

REFLECTION AND CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

As the end of the year approaches, I want to take a moment to reflect on the incredible journey we’ve shared in 2023. It has been a year of many highs and I congratulate and thank the Myrniong learning community.

We farewell Miss Rebecca Walker and Miss Sophie Ross, and wish them all the very for best for the next chapters. Miss Patricia See and Miss Simone Brabham take maternity leave in 2024. We wish them great happiness as they await the birth of their children. To our departing students and families, thank you for your investment and partnership with the Junior School over many years. We wish you well in the next leg of your educational journey.

The summer holidays are a time of joy, reflection and connection. It is a time to celebrate, relax, recharge and enter the spirit of giving, kindness and unity. Our Junior School learning community has worked industriously, showing resilience and determination in their collective pursuits. Our dedicated and passionate staff have continued to look to do more, not less and inspire our students.

Wishing you and your loved ones a joyful, relaxing and peaceful holiday season. I hope you have plenty of days of nothing to do and all day to do it.

Some food for thought. Earlier in the year, I shared with you the Japanese notion of Ikigai and the 10 principles that underpin this. The new year is a great time to set goals and focus on small incremental changes in our lives.

Stay active; don’t retire. This is about finding value in our lives outside of when our professional lives end. It is about the activities we choose that allow us to bring purpose into our lives.
Take it slow. We feel more grounded when we have the sense of urgency under control.
Don’t fill your stomach. “Less is more when it comes to eating for long life, too. According to the 80 percent rule, in order to stay healthier longer, we should eat a little less than our hunger demands instead of stuffing ourselves.”
Surround yourself with good friends. Ikigai is found in interpersonal relationships; when we devote time to our friendships, it brings value to our lives.
Get in shape for your next birthday. “Water moves; it is at its best when it flows fresh and doesn’t stagnate. The body you move through in life needs a bit of daily maintenance to keep it running for a long time.”
Smile. When we smile, we remind ourselves of our blessings.
Reconnect with nature. Being in nature brings us peace; it helps us to feel settled and feeds our soul.
Give thanks. Spending time each day to be grateful allows us to recognise the good things that surround us.
Live in the moment. When we are mindful of the here and now, we tend to be less anxious about the future as well as less focused on what happened yesterday.
Follow your Ikigai. The small things we seek, as well as our big-picture goals, will help us to follow our reason for being.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all.

Boarding House

- Mr Andrew Monk