Principal Report

Over the course of a lifetime, you get to see a great deal of changes along the way. The stuff of science fiction from our childhood are the things that our children now take for granted. Ideas and perspectives that once seemed groundbreaking and revolutionary now seem to fall short of the standards that we know now that we should expect. 

Things move on and it is our collective responsibility to make sure that each change is for the better. 

For my generation, ‘tolerance’ for other people and other ways of living seemed to be a massive leap forward from what had gone before. The rejection of some outdated values gave us great pride in the belief that we were creating a more tolerant society. 

In retrospect, what we thought we had achieved was by no means enough 

The dictionary definition of the word tolerant is ‘showing willingness to allow the existence of opinions or behaviour that one does not necessarily agree with’. How arrogant that position now seems, reflecting the privilege that comes with being able to make the decision to allow other people to live the lives that they want to live. It reflects an inequality in that one group of people got to choose what was acceptable and what was not. 

However, I constantly take encouragement from the the fact that the generation of students that now attend Woodmans Hill Secondary College believe more in creating a community based on acceptance and respect than tolerance. Perhaps tolerance was a stepping stone away from the ignorance of previous generations. It certainly feels like we are moving more in the right direction now.

June is ‘Pride Month’ and provides an opportunity to celebrate with the LGBTQIA+ community in our school the strides we have collectively made in the way we see each other. June is the chosen month to recognize the moment in 1969 when New York citizens pushed back and protested against the brutality that was continuously inflicted upon the LGBTQIA+ in that era. Whilst so much has improved in the 53 years since that important night in Stonewall, it can still be tough for young people who still experience homophobic slurs whilst walking down the street. 

At Woodmans Hill, we believe that every student should be celebrated and protected from any form of victimization. 

The students who are part of our Pride Group will be working with staff (under the guidance of Rachael Silverman from our Wellbeing Team and Jess Rainsford who runs our Student Leadership program) to make improvements so that we are a fully inclusive school. The recent visit to our school by Victoria’s LGBTQIA+ Commissioner, Todd Fernando, emphasized our commitment in this area to keep improving by listening to our students and acting on their advice. 

That is why it is important for us as a community, in 2022, to stand with our LGBTQIA+ students so that they know Woodmans Hill Secondary College is a safe space for all students. We can do this in so many simple but powerful ways such as acknowledging and using the correct pronouns, creating safe spaces for students to socialize and by standing up and challenging the ignorance of persecution. It is well within our control to keep moving forward as a community and to ensure that every student knows that they can be as proud of who they are as we are of them. 

At Woodmans Hill, we stand together.

Stephan Fields