From the Principal 

It was a delight to attend the Hamilton Eisteddfod this week to see many of our young musicians performing. In the short hour and a half I was in attendance on Tuesday afternoon, our students were recognised with a number of honourable mentions, two second places and a first across various sections. This recognition is nice, and well deserved, but I was equally proud of the students who got up, bowed, and performed even when their playing wasn’t as strong musically as some of their peers. There is an art to music, but there is a separate art of performance. The Eisteddfod gives the chance for students to practise, in an authentic setting, skills of personal command, holding and overcoming nerves, and seeing through something difficult. We are fortunate indeed to have a local event of the scale of the Eisteddfod to provide students from across the school with the opportunity to perform. 

I’m not sure all students would view having to sit exams as an ‘opportunity’, but they are really not so different to a music performance. They are offered to our Senior School students because they help train them in that same art of performance - personal command, holding and overcoming nerves, and seeing through something difficult. Whatever we individually feel about the prevailing paradigm of senior secondary assessment being exams, it remains a reality and therefore one we need to prepare students for. Well done to all students who have faced down a test of whatever sort this week.

Michael Horne

Principal