PRINCIPAL'S REPORT

As we look to emerge from lockdown, I reflect upon the time we have spent dealing with a range of circumstances, not just recently, but over the past two years. It has been difficult for us all and I was recently speaking with my mum and dad and they asked me how I managed the things in my life during these complicated times. For me, at the heart of everything has been the love of my family. Strength, wisdom, patience and unconditional love emanate from them and it is this that has made all the difference. When faced with the adversity of COVID-19, I personally rely on the same 3 Bible verses, a quote from an NFL coach and a poem that have guided me throughout my professional life (I beg your forgiveness for the gender-specific language of the poem – in 2021 it is gender-neutral and sage advice).

I leave these with you and wish you all the very best for the final week of Term 3 and the upcoming holiday break:

Have faith
Do not speak nonsense or disparage others
Love one another
Work and think to the best of your ability and do not get caught up in nonsense
Trust in yourself

Philippians 4:13

13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Ephesians 4:29

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

1 Corinthians 13:7

7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

“Do your job”

A quote from Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;

If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

And treat those two imposters just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run –

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!

Rudyard Kipling

1910

Paul Humble | Principal