From the Head of School

 Graduation

Tomorrow, ISA honours our Grade 12s  through the ceremony of graduation.  

In simple terms, they are graduating because, over the last four years, they have gained the credits to earn a high school diploma.  

But, if they had done no more than sit at desks and accumulate knowledge, we would have failed in our mission as a school.

Gaining abilities is always something to be proud of, but it isn’t an end itself.  To truly be considered a success, academics should be seen as part of personal growth, a flowering of character: a development of  tools which enable us to be more effective family and community members.  

Tomorrow and in the summer when Grade 12s get their IB certificates, we must remember that their education has been about far more than the numbers on these pieces of paper.  

It is also about all the things they did outside the classroom, the things that cannot be summed up in an exam or acknowledged with a credit: learning Spanish and Italian just for fun; coding and cooking; shooting and animation; air cadets and pottery.  Not because it was required but as part of their own engagement with the world.

It is about Grade 12s’ citizenship in their nearest community -  the school: in the helping out in elementary art classes, acting as life guards for kindergarteners, making it happen behind the scenes for the Grade 4 play, mentoring a middle schooler at homework club or just being there for a friend.

These small acts of kindness may not have the glory of a charity run, but are what bind communities together.  Our Grade 12s have been part of that binding.

Not just here, but in their communities beyond the school: the nearby old people’s home, their local charity shop, on shire beaches where they picked litter; in helping those with learning disabilities and in fundraising for local charities.  

After all this, not in place of it, Grade 12s have been global citizens: raising awareness of global issues, supporting global charities.  They have not been sealed off from the world

Tomorrow we honour Grade 12s academic successes and remember their contributions to our communities.  We also celebrate the qualities of character they revealed and developed in meeting the challenges of rigorous courses while contributing to a wider community.  The learning to manage time, to plan ahead, to listen to those they disagreed with and the willingness to work together.  The self-regulation, the perseverance and the kindness.  

Our mission is written in handbooks and mounted on walls, but it is achieved through our students; their willingness to reflect, improve and apply.  

Grade 12, from all of us, congratulations.  And from the school, thank you.