Principal
It is fairly safe to suggest that in the 129 years of Nudgee College’s operation, no student has ever started their time at the school as Jackson Zhou (Year 8 Duggan) has done. Jackson is 14 years old. He was new to the school and commenced as a boarder in January this year. Nothing remarkable in that path, which has been well worn by many Nudgee College boys before him.
However, Jackson is an overseas student from China. He arrived at a time where COVID-19 was only just emerging in our consciousness. At the time, overseas students from China who were entering the country had to be isolated for 14 days. Jackson spent his first two weeks in this country living in isolation in the school. This meant living in a temporarily erected ‘donger’ adjacent to the Health Centre at the back of the school. He spent those two weeks in isolation with two other overseas students, who were returning to the school. During that time, Jackson was well supported by our Health Centre and Boarding staff. However, as a young boy it was an incredibly challenging situation to confront with no friends or family around him and elementary English language skills.
All of this took place at the College weeks before a pandemic was officially declared and well before many of us had genuinely engaged with what COVID-19 meant for the way we live our daily lives. Since January, Jackson has not seen his family due to the closure of borders. He has had to adapt to school life like everyone else, but without some of the support structures on which many of our boarders rely. Despite this, Jackson has remained positive throughout and displayed some remarkable personal qualities.
I share Jackson’s story with you because at Tuesday’s Assembly he received a significant award - the Patrick Donovan Award (which is one of the Nudgee College Old Boys’ Awards). It is a remarkable achievement and a testament to Jackson’s resilience and character. It is also a credit to the staff who have taught, supported and cared for Jackson, as well as our other overseas students. In particular, I thank Ms Alice Windeyer, our English Additional Language (EAL) teacher, who has gone above and beyond reasonable expectations in her level of care.
Congratulations to Jackson and to all the boys who received awards on Tuesday. Over the course of several weeks we will present a range of academic awards to many boys from Years 5 to 12 during our modified assembly. (N.B. The Patrick Donovan Award is worth noting due to his remarkable accomplishments. Included in the Student Formation section of this newsletter is all the outstanding Old Boys after whom the awards are named).
As I have mentioned previously, Term 3 is a time in schools where many young people in the secondary years are making important decisions about courses and subjects for next year, and beyond. There is much to consider in making decisions and our staff are always available to provide guidance and advice. Importantly, these decisions are not life defining for young people. The pathway through school and beyond to further study and work is not as straightforward as it once was. An open-minded and flexible approach is best adopted by parents and students alike.
It is perhaps timely then that the Federal Government has tabled a recent report, Looking to the Future. It is a very detailed report of the review of senior secondary pathways into work, further education and training. I commend the executive summary to those parents who have an eye to the future, while the detailed report may be of interest to parents working in these areas.
I have only read the introduction and summary but I was taken by the following words from the report’s Chair Professor Peter Shergold AC:
“The present transition pathways presented to young adults at school are too often framed in a manner that they perceive to narrow choice. The dominance of a ranking score, the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR), privileges academic capability over the value of vocational education and training. Many students believe that those headed for university are accorded higher status at school than those who prefer to pursue a trade apprenticeship or traineeship.
More profoundly, the heavy focus on scholastic performance is seen by students to pay too little regard to the other skills and attributes that they require for successful adulthood. The general characteristics of students need to be given greater weight in the final years at school. The ATAR should be regarded as just one important measure of success. We need to educate for and assess the diverse learnings that make the whole person. We need to open doors, not narrow pathways.”
The concept of educating the whole person resonates with Nudgee College’s emphasis on holistic education. As our Year 12s enter their final semester of schooling, as the first cohort in Queensland in the revamped Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE), there will no doubt be an unnecessary focus on the ‘score’ achieved by individuals and, by association, schools. It is helpful to see the bigger picture (as identified in the report mentioned above) and to realise that young people are entering a world of work that no longer relies on one score as an indicator of suitability or success. Young people now require an education passport. This passport for the workforce of the future is an ongoing collection of experience, personal qualities, training, upskilling, study and certification. It will be the passport of the lifelong learner who can adapt, change and evolve their career, or careers, to meet ever changing employment scenarios.
Just as COVID-19 taught Jackson some lessons for life, it, along with other megatrends such as automation, are fundamentally changing work as we (the older generation) have known it.
Finally, I wish our Cross Country team every success at next Tuesday’s GPS Championships. It has been a remarkably long season of training and preparation, with no lead-up races with other schools. The persistence and commitment of many boys has been outstanding. We wish team Captain Declan Cabot and Vice Captain Ben Brandt well for next week. We also extend our thanks and appreciation to Cross Country Director Ms Jaimee Trembearth and Head Coach Mr Chris Gale for their leadership of the program.
Mr Peter Fullagar
Principal
