CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL YEAR 12 2022
AND ALL THE BEST FOR MANY MORE SUCCESSES AND ACHIEVEMENTS
AS YOU MOVE ON TO FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS.
I would like to start by acknowledging the traditional custodians of this land on which we meet, the Wiradjuri and Wolgalu people. We come together to again celebrate a significant milestone.
I would like to pay my respect to our Elders both past, present and emerging. On a day when we honour the role of education, let’s remember that for many thousands of years Aboriginal people used the lands we work and live on to educate younger people in their community. We sit here on what always was and always will be Aboriginal land.
So why is today so significant and who is it significant for? Today is the last formal school day for Yr 12 2022. It marks the end of 13 years of formal education. We now have the opportunity for us all to reflect on the importance of this milestone and use it to celebrate a big moment in these students’ lives.
For our school system, today represents the opportunity to showcase the quality of people it has produced after 13 years of schooling. Today we give time to reflect and allow the rest of the school to witness what an amazing group of people these students have become. For the remaining students in the MPC you get the opportunity to see what the ultimate goal of schooling is.
In many ways the real goal of education and of school, put simply, is becoming a good person and a more capable person than when you started this journey. Year 12 can walk out of the gates today knowing you have now become living examples of what good and capable people look like.
For all your teachers, whether they be from Year 12 or Year 9 or Year 7 or even in Year 4 or Kindergarten, this is the moment they all can look back on and feel a sense of fulfilment in knowing they have made a contribution to who you have become today. Your teachers have all been amazing and even though you will remember some more than others, schools will always be places that work most effectively when staff, both teaching and non-teaching work together. On a significant day like today we all get an opportunity to feel good about who you all have become.
For your parents and carers, today will be significant for many reasons. No one person or family is the same but for each family and for each carer, today will be their opportunity to reflect on the ups and downs, the sacrifices, the tears, the laughter. And amongst all of this it will ultimately be a time they can walk away with a real sense of what you have achieved and of who you have become.
For Year 12. Take a moment to celebrate what you've achieved and appreciate the memories that this part of your education has given you. Most of you have been here since Year 7, some of you only here from Year 11. However all of you have had opportunities to engage in learning both in and out of the classroom. Enjoy reflecting on these many and varied experiences and as you do comprehend that these have been provided by your local comprehensive Public High School.
When reflecting with some of you early this week it was heartening to hear of both the quantity and quality of opportunities offered and taken up since Year 7 and through to Year 12. Each year, apart for Year 11 you all had the opportunity to attend numerous whole year group excursions including trips to Laurel Hill, Tathra, Yarrangobilly Caves, Jamberoo/Kiama, North Qld, Canberra. You were able to participate in ski trips to Selwyn, week long walks in the Snowy Mountains, cattle parading in Canberra and camping at Goobarragandra. Academically you were given opportunities with the Tournament of Minds, Debating, enrolment in Aurora, Chess and participation in subject related excursion in History, Geography, Art, Music, reset days in English. Your participation in Work Experience, Transition Week, TAFE, ABW, Careers Days Uni Expos, Early Entries and the trip to UOW all part of the opportunities provided for you in determining your career pathways.
Of course, sporting opportunities were endless in Soccer, Athletics, swimming, Rugby League and union, Oz Tag and Touch, Basketball, Dance, netball and cross country.
So many of you achieved both individually and in team results in sporting and academic fields well beyond the expectations of a country regional high school. So many of you traveling to Sydney, other parts of the Riverina and NSW to compete, I am sure there have been some who have even gone interstate.
Of course there were so many other opportunities that many of you took up. Culturally our Aboriginal girls have attended Burrabinya since Year 10, our Aboriginal boys volunteering to be a part of Clontarf and both groups benefiting from amazing mentors. In leadership your Yr have been a big part of the SRC since Year 7 and your roles in the Batyr Group reinforced that leadership is about what you do, not what title you hold. The captains within your group have been self-motivated, taken up the opportunity to be active and effective and have represented the school and year group with confidence and insight.
The list goes on and I know I have only scratched at the surface with all of this happening in a time where 3 of your school years have been significantly impacted by COVID. However I hope what I have said highlights one of the key reasons you are where you are as a collective group. You are a group who have collectively taken up the opportunities presented to you. You are a group who have used opportunity to overcome adversity and with this have developed a resilience that few year groups have matched before you.
Finally, life has all those twists and turns which your year group have already experienced at the more extreme level. You are a credit to the school, your families and most importantly yourselves in how you have handled your schooling. We maybe yet to see the full long term impacts on how the COVID epidemic impacts on the way our societies evolve but you leave today as good people who have the resilience and capacity to deal with what lays ahead.
Regards, Mr Don Dixon, Principal
