How hard is it these days for us to live up to and educate in accordance with the values framework of our School – and what are the issues that challenge us – 106 years on?  I think it is really hard – but has always been so, because living up to high standards is a daily challenge for all of us... and inherent challenges for schools are now shared globally...

In preparation for our annual Birthday Celebrations and Service, we take the time to reflect on where we stand – and where we are heading.

Social commentators and futurists share the view that it is becoming increasingly difficult to ask more of young people and therefore more difficult for them to gain the wisdom (as opposed to knowledge) to be discerning, to reflect, and to make good decisions and judgements – in a world that will sorely need their gifts and contribution.

We know that there are global issues that seem to be without solution and relatively new serious issues to be addressed by all schools (with parent support) and that this is making some parents reticent to offer the kind of challenges to teenagers that are essential to their emotional, intellectual, physical and spiritual growth. A decade ago, bullying, drug and alcohol abuse, body image and misuse of information communications technology were identified by Heads of Australian Independent Schools as the ‘top four social issues’ for teenagers in our schools. Today, to that list we would add mental illness and a much broader issue of self-harm and disconnection.

What does this mean for Frensham Schools – in a context where support and encouragement of others are a duty we share and where we have the responsibility to be the best we can be in order to be of service to others?

Futurist Mark Pesce (Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of Sydney) has described secondary-age students as being constantly connected and in constant communication, with unlimited access to information – yet ‘struggling to enjoy meaningful relationships, easily discouraged and less likely to acquire wisdom’. Collaboration, connection and community are the three ‘c’s that Pesce suggests educators must emphasise in our teaching: collaboration to make connections that will strengthen our community. 

• ­Community is the place where we learn that life is not just about ‘me’ but about ‘us’.
• Community is a place where we can learn to value and honour people with whom we might not get along and the place where we can learn to respect and celebrate our differences. 
• In an image-conscious culture it is easy for any one of us to, unwittingly, turn a blind eye to those around us whom we perceive do not ‘fit the image’ – including those for whom our attention in even the smallest part could make a life-changing difference.
• We are therefore challenged to be people who are aware, not oblivious – people for others, rather than people who have only their own interests and needs in mind and at heart.

I like the advice offered to young people by Hugh Mackay in his 2008 work Advance Australia Where?: to be active in solving the world’s problems, each young person must be prepared to take one small step at a time and set the example… there is no magic wand… we exist in a circle and it is up to every one of us to ‘join the dots!’

From the exhaustive studies of the past two decades into happiness, optimism, positive emotions and healthy character traits let’s celebrate the findings that ‘almost every person feels happier when they’re with or responsible for other people’ and that ‘the use of personal strengths to serve some larger end is identified as the most meaningful component of happiness’. 

On our 106^th Birthday let us agree to keep our expectations high and address together the hard issues when they arise so that we can sustain and further develop an education where humanity flourishes, and hold tightly to the belief that no greater good can we do than prepare the inner self of students for a life of change in a world that awaits their leadership and contribution – their love, care and compassion, their deep sense of hope and their appreciation of beauty and wonder.

Acknowledgement to:

• Amelia Carpenter (Year 8) and Annabelle Ranken (Year 10), qualifying to represent IGSSA at the NSW Combined Independent Schools (CIS) Cross Country Championship;
• Frances Alldis, Charlotte Dulhunty, Miriam Hopkins, Sophie Lyne, Mairi Menzies (Year 11), selected for the competitive entry National Art School HSC Intensive Studio Practice;
• Duke of Edinburgh’s International Awards recipients – Bronze: Grace Amos, Jessica Billett, Julia Bottom, Annie Burke, Natasha Long, Madeleine Scott (Year 10); Silver: Charlotte Brigstocke, Abigail Clark, Mia Horsfall (Year 11);
• Year 10 students Madeleine Mulligan, Caitlin Quinn and Georgia Shakeshaft (representing Sweden) awarded the UN Peace Prize in the Rotary Southern Highlands Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA) and progressing to the finals;
• Frensham’s Red Shield Door Knock Appeal student team, raising $1,594.00; 
• Frensham Madrigals for their success at the recent City of Sydney Eisteddfod: 1^st – Female Choirs U19 and 2^nd – Voice Ensemble U19.

Julie Gillick
Head of Frensham
Head of Frensham Schools