From the Acting Headmaster

Each Wednesday at lunchtime, I do playground duty at our Springwood campus. It is one of the most enjoyable times of my week. The reason is that I get to walk and talk with some of our youngest students. I hear their ideas about staying warm, take my 'McDonald's' order from their make-believe drive-through restaurant, and call out to release them when they are 'stuck in the mud.' We discuss critical world matters like why honey goes crunchy on a sandwich, the difference between multiplication and division, who will get the chance to ring the bell and how old you have to be to start tying your own shoelaces (generally while I am crouched down attending to such a task).

What I love about these conversations is how 'matter of fact' our young people are about the world. I enjoy their innocent and naive solutions to some of the big problems and what appears to be a very healthy sense of optimism. It has reminded me that, as adults, this could be a valuable lesson from our young people. Do not just focus on the problem, but imagine creative solutions.

Over the coming weeks, I will share some of the research and writings on future schooling to contextualise the approach to learning we design at Blue Mountains Grammar School. Future schooling is a reimagining of what we teach and how we teach it. It is about taking the optimism of our young people and using that to inform how we design learning. It is about being reminded that the hope and optimistic outlook we adults have for the future of our young people will translate into our language, attitudes and actions. Indeed, that is the approach to learning that we pursue at Blue Mountains Grammar School. 

King David writes in Proverbs 17:22, "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." We look forward to growing optimistic, purposeful and joyful young people alongside you.” 

Mr Steven Coote 

Acting Headmaster