A Word from the Principal

I had the privilege last week to attend the Tasmanian Principals Conference and to listen to a local speaker, Robyn Moore, open this conference with the power of stories. Robyn did an incredible job of connecting to her audience with a multitude of stories which made us laugh out loud and cry. So powerful were her words and the images she put to these words. 

As a History teacher, the thing I love most about history are not the dates (which don’t change) or the fact that when you Google the event the facts are there for you, but rather I love teaching and learning history because it is the story of the people of the day. History is the voices of those who lived at that time, what it was that life was really like. This speaks to the humanness of me - sometimes it is raw and distressing; at other times it is inspiring and incredible. During some classroom visits last week I saw Year 10 students watch an interview with a Holocaust survivor, on the weekend I heard Relay for Lifers share their stories of losing loved ones from cancer and then there is Kurt Furnley’s story which he shared with Principals. These raw and confronting moments reveal our character and whilst these events don’t make us they certainly provide the building blocks for how we deal with hardship and adversity. When everything gets hard, we need to shine a light on it and use our strength and the strength of others to pull it together.

A clear message is not to try and move people through the struggle, allow them to lean into the struggle, sit with them, be their strength. That experiencing vulnerability is not a weakness but a strength. That often there are people around us that will help us carry the load, they will let us absorb their strength and to lean into them.

As we come to the close of Term 1, the story of Easter also connects to the humanness of those who experience it. Revealed to us is the human frailty of Jesus - a man who challenges the society he lives in, who focuses on those on the fringes and who talks of loving our neighbours as God loves us. Jesus’ last days in his journey on Earth are a struggle and we are included in this struggle through the power of his story. We see his vulnerability and we see those around him help carry the load.  The rawness of the Easter story ends though with a light - the stone is rolled away from the tomb and there is a lightness to what happens. Hope is born. Hope that society can change, hope that we can change.

Please use this Easter break to rejuvenate and to refresh. Allow hope in the form of Easter egg hunts, family camping trips and the changing of the season to come knocking on your door.  I have included 3 snapshot meanings of Easter from Michael Leunig for your reflection this week. Remember to connect to the stories and feel the hope.