Principal's News

“What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.”-- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

If I have learned one thing after 6 months as principal at our school, it’s that our students have an incredible potential to change their world for the better. At Ballarat High School, it is our duty to nurture that potential so that it becomes actions that count. To do this, we must maintain high expectations driven by our school values, whilst providing opportunities for all students to learn and grow along the way. Helping them learn and grow might well be the best job in the world!

As I write this final newsletter article for Semester 1, I am looking at the school planner for the first half of the year. I can see, on a day-to-day basis, so many examples of events, competitions, excursions, enrichment and community events to raise awareness that have run to provide ongoing contexts for our students to learn and grow. When I first came to our school, I was in awe of the facilities that we have to offer and was genuinely excited about being part of a school that could provide each student with a range of opportunities to find their ‘thing’. However, school facilities are just buildings if they are not filled with student learning: Ballarat High School is so much more than bricks and mortar.

We all know that successful schools are a partnership of three key factors: our families, our students and our staff. For us to successfully provide the wide variety of learning experiences that we do, we are reliant on families to instil within our students the capacity to go for it, an aspiration to learn and the values to guide positive behaviour. Whether it’s on stage, in class, on the pitch or within the multitude of clubs that are accessible to all, we need students to get involved and stretch themselves. The final piece of this jigsaw is filled by staff who are committed to providing opportunities both in and beyond the classroom for students to learn and grow. 

I can also reflect upon the emphasis our staff place on evaluating their practice to get better at meeting each student at their point of need. This is not just limited to academic needs, but more about the development of the whole student. We know the importance of providing our students with the tools and strategies that they will need to navigate the challenges of adolescence and into adulthood. This means a commitment to providing all students with ongoing mental health training so that they have the strategies and vocabulary to support themselves and those around them. We also know from student feedback that we need to constantly revisit Respectful Relationships so that we can provide a safe space for students to talk about boundaries and expectations so that they feel safe, supported and valued within their current and future relationships.

As any parent of a teenager knows, navigating the waters of high school is not always plain sailing. The ups and downs of these formative high school years can be quite extreme as our students find their sense of who they are, who they want to be and where they fit into the world that they know and the world they are about to enter. Experience tells us that students may not always appreciate the line that both home and school take in terms of our high expectations. However experience also tells us that, in time, they understand that by taking pride in themselves they learn to value themselves, by respecting others they get that respect paid back tenfold and by developing a willingness to own their decisions and learn from them, they gain agency over their own lives so that they can choose their direction and achieve their dreams.

For all to flourish, we need to be moving forward together and insist on the conditions needed for a great school improve.  Whilst there may be 150+ staff members who can affect change for the better, it is important to recognise that we have 1400 students who have the power to make this school a place where our community feels connected, where students feel seen, valued and included and where all students find their ‘tribe’ and a place where they belong. 

We are all unique, but we are all part of something bigger and there is strength in being part of making this school the best that we can be. 

I have seen great things from so many of our students so far this year, but none more so than from our senior students. Maybe this is because they are nearing the end of their journey and they have learned their lessons along the way. The heart and compassion and togetherness that they show fills me with enough encouragement to know we are on the right track in terms of our improvement journey. As they come to the end of their six years with us, they know that it matters to show that you care, it matters to check in with others and it matters to be part of a community supporting each other along the way. In organising the inaugural Year 12 Fundraising Dinner, they chose to focus on raising money and awareness around mental health and wellbeing: the event could have just been about stylish dresses and sharp suits, but they wanted to give back what they have benefitted from along the way. They also wanted to make a statement about what matters. Looking around the packed Ballarat Golf Course function room last Friday night, with over 160 students in attendance, I didn’t see individuals having a good time after exams and assessments, I saw a community connecting with their peers and involving others in their lives. In keeping with the theme of the evening, they chose to be the light in the dark for others to see. It takes bravery to be that.

When we think about our purpose as a school, what we are all working together to achieve, maybe that lies at its very heart.

Stephan Fields

Principal