NEWS FROM GRAMMAR 2015

From the
Headmaster’s Desk
Build your kids’
character,
don’t just give
them stuff!
Kindness, honesty and integrity -
these are ways of passing on lifelong values.
Headlines like the one above, which
accompanied an article I found in The Age
in February this year, really challenge me to
consider how we ensure such vital messages
are conveyed to our students.
I used the article as a basis for a talk I
gave at the launch of the new book, Little
Grammar 1930 -1970: our Formative Years
to an audience of over ninety ex Grammar
Preparatory School students. My aim was
to discuss lifelong values and how we form
them. The talk drew parallels between the
benefits of an early childhood education
from a past, perhaps more innocent era
and the ways we now address this vital task
in the learning programmes of our very
youngest learners. These are easy words
to think and write but not half as easy to
successfully enact. Yet we know that the
essential concepts remain the same. Early
Learning is a vital time for growth and skills
acquisition for expanding and inquisitive
minds. Features such as imagination, play,
fun, physical activity, singing, music, nature,
and writing speaking and reading still play as
much a part as they ever did.
What has changed is the media driven
context in which our youngest students now
have to seek their place in the world. A quick
sample of the recent newspapers tells us
about the scourge of radicalisation, drugs in
sport, epidemics of violence against women
and the drug ice, children held in detention
and the local challenges for young people
getting a start in work in our regional city.
As contemporary educators it is essential
that we help young learners to form strong
and enduring values, to develop lasting
character traits for them to apply in the
way they live their lives. The Age article
suggested three essentials of a worthy values
education: a sense of value or dignity, a
sense of meaning, and a sense of belonging.
These traits are found in great abundance
among the various generations of Broadland
and Grammar alumni.
On June 15 this year we celebrate the
school's 169th birthday and thus begin the
school’s 170th year of unbroken operation.
This is a significant milestone when we look
forward to celebrating the life and vitality of
our school, of reminding ourselves of the
essentials of an education of substance and
we make wise plans as we seek to serve the
needs of future generations of Grammar
people.
Stephen Norris
Headmaster
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