At the midway point of our final term there is much going on. Our Years 10, 11 and 12 students all sitting their exams, our campuses are finalising the next year’s student leaders and our teachers are finalising reporting communications with families. It is also almost the start of Advent, which is the start of the liturgical New Year for many Christian churches including the Anglican Church. And, of course, the Christmas paraphernalia is already in the stores.

It’s easy to look at this time as moving toward the end of the year, when we often feel like we are limping to the finish line. We can be tired, short-tempered but but another angle is to look at this time as moving toward the start of a new year. I would like to encourage us all to look forward to finishing well over the next month or so, so we can enjoy the holiday period, which will give us a much-needed rest and set our resolutions for 2023.

New Year is not really just one second of the clock ticking over from 11:59:59 to midnight on December 31 to January 1; it is a whole season of reflecting on the past and preparing for the future.

Our Garnsey Campus is moving into Rollover shortly, which means our students will finish our subjects from this year and look towards at the subjects we will be pursuing next year. This certainly brings up a time of reflection for us as we analyse what we know and what we perhaps don’t know, yet.

When many of us receive our results it can be a time of celebration but for some of us it can be a time of disappointment or questioning. If it is a time of celebration, I would like to encourage everyone to reflect on how we got to that point; what we did to achieve the results we are happy about; what we can do to keep that momentum going or even help improve further. If it is a time of questioning or disappointment, there can be both internal and external factors at play. Internal, being what we can control. External, being what we can’t control but what we might be able to control our response to.

If they are internal factors, what can we do to work on that subject next time? How can we focus on the things that we are good at and apply some of the skills to be successful in other areas? Who can we turn to for help when needed? How can we choose a pathway that best uses our strengths?

If there are external factors, how can we adjust the way we respond or operate to help us negotiate the things we can’t control?

In just under two weeks Thanksgiving will be celebrated in US. Americans see this as the start of their New Year journey. They reflect on things such as what I have mentioned, good and maybe not so good, and they give thanks.

So let us give thanks for our School, our Students, our Staff and our Community.

I wish the Gippsland Grammar Community a reflective lead up to the end of the year and a celebration of what we have achieved.

Warm regards,