This was my address to Year 6 girls and their parents this week at the Ceremony of Achievement - our prize giving, reflection, final assembly and celebration.
Today is a special and
emotional and exciting occasion for our lovely Year 6 girls and parents who are
moving on to the next step in the educational world. For me, and for all of the
teachers, this is a poignant and bittersweet occasion too, as we see those we
have cherished and nurtured leaving our nest, and spreading their wings. I am
not sure whether or not I should be saying "despite all they have achieved these
girls are just 10 and 11", or that I should marvel and say that "I am surprised they they are already
10 and 11". Whichever it is, this is my moment to say how proud I am of each and every
one.
My message to the girls today
comes in many parts, but the first request is to use your humanity wisely. I
thank God for my colleagues and my friends, and for each one of you every day,
and I try always to remember that the good that has come into my life is a gift
to me, and I pause, often, to remember that. In this wide world few people have
what we have here, and it is right that we should be grateful and to ask what
we can do to stretch out our hand to others who need our help.
To become a Head Teacher I
studied hard, collected some qualifications and served many years as class and
a subject teacher. I have given many hours, endured more than a few sleepless nights
and had lots of ideas: some brilliant and some just mad, alongside a brilliant
and committed team of talented people to teach the children in our care.
I have sat through some very
dull meetings and on the other hand been part of many exciting projects. I have
also listened to people who were good at what I wanted to do, and learned from
them. I have tried to understand what is just and fair, and I have stuck to it,
even when it has seemed difficult or I have been challenged.
I have respected great role models: Sr
Christina who was my own headmistress and who always had time for everyone, my
mother who is always calm, philosophical and kind, St Jeanne who picked herself up after many
setbacks, failures even, in order to achieve her vision, and most recently even
Mr Plummer.
I have always 'put my hand up' to do jobs that no one else wanted to do. I have cleaned up a lot of rubbish. I
have put out and put away literally thousands of chairs and I have even cleared up
too many nasty puddles. I don't wait to be asked.
I have soothed people who
were angry, cried with some in great sorrow, listened to the troubled and
laughed with as many people as possible. These things do not take
qualifications, they take kindness, humility and integrity – things I hope and
pray you have learnt here at Notre Dame, and can take into the world with you. Using
your gifts to improve the world is what a true education is for, so if you have only learnt how to pass exams then you have not learnt much.
Because I believe that your
parents chose this school to give you an edge in the world – something to put
you onto the path to success. And I believe that the academic, physical and
creative education is a start – but the special thing I hope you have learnt is
that you are a unique, cherished, talented, recognised child of God who calls
you into this world by name, and has surrounded you with the love of friends,
family and this community to give you life to its fullest abundance, and to
provide the foundation for your lives from this point – lives that you are now
ready to take some responsibility for as you head forward into the next stage
of your educational life, lives you can choose to use for good.
So here is my advice for your
future:
1. Share everything. Collaboration is a great key to
success. Work together; be in a team, a choir, a group. Value your colleagues
and friends, combine your talents with the talents of others. Combine their
knowledge with yours, however limited. Credit everyone with what they have
offered to the process. Not only can you achieve more together but also you
have more people for the celebrations afterwards.
2. Recreation is important. And I do mean play. But I
also mean re-creation, time to recharge, reassess, redesign, most importantly
to reflect. You will achieve significantly more if you take time to do that! And
your attitude makes a difference too: treat every day as if it was a busy
holiday and you should enjoy it to the full.
3. Learn things, even boring things, because they will be
useful. Think about what you have learned. Think about how you have learned it.
Make connections. Ask questions. Accept that you don’t know everything and
think about where you can find out what you need to know...
4. Be gentle. Be the best person you can be: don’t react
to other people, instead respond to them. Be compassionate. Give people the
most valuable thing you have, no, not your expertise, give them your time and your
friendship.
5. Wonder is important. Mysteries are not all for
solving. The creation of this beautiful world was God’s gift to us and we can
scarcely guess at the variety within it. I heard recently that ‘life is not
measured by the number of breaths you take, but the number of moments that take
our breath away.’ Appreciate those moments.
6. Take care to tell the truth. Do this with kindness. If
it is better not said then just don’t say it, or find words to express what you
mean that will be heard and are meant in the right spirit. And don’t lie to get
yourself out of trouble – it will get you in a mess that will become more
tangled over time. Don’t lose yourself in that tangle.
7. Always stick with your commitments. The people we want
to know and the people we trust are the ones who do what they say they will do.
8. Treat others equally, no matter how you feel about
them. Being polite, smiling back and giving people another chance is what we
all deserve.
9. Never be afraid of failure. We learn best when we can
review and improve on our mistakes. We all fail sometimes, if you haven’t yet,
then you will: you will make a slip, a mistake, an error or you might get
something really wrong. You will, because you are just not that different from everyone
else. What marks you out is your ability to pick yourself up and to challenge
yourself to go on, to get it right, or sometimes to start again.
10. Finally – advice that my father gave to me: remember
that nobody gains anything unless they put in hard work. A wonderful, happy and
successful life is not free, but nor can you, nor your parents, pay for it with
money – the exchange you make is the effort, good humour and the humanity you
put in. And the measure of that success is not position or wealth or belongings,
it is happiness, wisdom and fulfilment.
I ask God to bless you children,
and all of us, as we leave here today with renewed hope and energy for a bright
and blessed future.
