February 18, 2022

From The Principal 18 Feb 2022

A year of recovery, renewal, and impact Now we are back at school and are finding our new routines, I have had time to reflect on how Firbank Grammar School has emerged as an invigorated community from the pandemic. A School determined to be a champion of leadership; a School thinking carefully about how and why we engage with the world is encouraged; and a School committed to taking academic achievement to new heights in a responsible, sustainable, and mindful way. If the academic cycle of 2019–20 were the years when we responded, collectively, to the shock of a global pandemic, the year 2020–21 was the time when we knuckled down and got on with the work of education and research in difficult and constantly changing circumstances. Adapting to the new environment demanded resolve, resourcefulness, and resilience – all which Firbank Grammar School’s community displayed in abundance. We did it with mindful innovation, feedback, and collaboration, and we should be proud. But our community did much more than adapt. It rolled up its sleeves and tackled its biggest crisis in living memory, demonstrating not only why schools matter as educators of the next generation but why the Firbank Grammar School matters to the community. We have been reconnecting through our parent events and now need to embrace the school’s efforts to engage with the local community through the upcoming Sandringham Firbank Grammar School Fair, our international Women’s Day Breakfast, Starlight Cinema, Mother’s Day lunch and the much-anticipated launch of the Louis Williams Arts Precinct. These events will create a positive impact on our community. I urge you to get involved and find out more by reading the features in this Newsletter. The impact is not just a buzzword or an aspiration – it is a concrete outcome of our core values, the ideas we develop, and the shared cultural legacies we pass on. It is about making a difference in the world – even when that difference is not immediate. It is at the heart of the story we need to be telling about our School. It is what we will continue to pursue as we set out on our journey of renewal and recovery. We are not yet out of the pandemic woods, but let’s strive to focus on what we want Firbank Grammar School to be known for: For nurturing minds and hearts, for aspirations and helping educate young people with ideas that make the world better for all.