Walk the Mile

“Study the past if you would define the future.” — Confucius. The study of history is not only an important part of civilization’s progress but a necessary discipline for our students to understand who they are and where they have come from. We can receive it in all sorts of ways but it is what we do with it that is crucial. Two of our History staff members, Amy Satchell and Marie Salakas, both with a long history attached to SCEGGS (both Old Girls) speak about their love of history, its significance in culture and the impact of women in history. This is part 1 of a two part conversation. In part two, they share some of their own history. I hope you enjoy our chat.

I have great admiration for those people that work in the medical field. We hear a lot about the difficulties that some of these professionals have to face and wonder how such an important resource can continue to sustain itself. We also observe the tragic conditions that those in places around the world that are in the midst of war or natural disaster and acknowledge the incredible stress and pressure that these people work under. This conversation is with one of our ex-students, Ellie Cook, who works in the area of pediatric oncology. Ellie talks about what drives her, what had led her into this work and the challenges that she faces. It is an area that I had no idea about but found our conversation enlightening and encouraging. I hope you do too!

One of our hopes as a school is that we would be helping to create the leaders of the future. How that is done and the best way to do that is a complex process which requires lessons in all forms. Ian Narev has been a leader in a number of large organisations and is currently the CEO of SEEK, the leading online employment agency in Australia. He is also a father of three daughters at SCEGGS and a long standing Director of the School Board. In this conversation, we discuss what it takes to be a leader, creating future leaders and how passion and commitment play a big part in leadership. We also talk a little bit about rugby!

Many of you will know that one of our buildings, Wilkinson House, has undergone a major refurbishment over the last couple of years. We looking forward to its reopening sometime later in 2025. One of the outstanding features of the new building will be an artwork by one of our Visual Art Assistants,  Michaela Gleave. Michaela is also a professional artist in her own right and has created this wonderful artwork that will stand as the centrepiece for the rejuvenated building. In this episode, we discuss Michaela’s passion for contemporary and installation art, and how her practice draws together a wide range of disciplines and resources to create an amazing product. We talk about science, religion, philosophy, light, sound, creation, humanity and everything else. Its a pretty wild conversation!! I hope you enjoy it.

Do you ever wonder about how you learn? As in you, personally? As a school, our main business is about learning, but how do we do it? And is learning different for different people? In this episode I speak with Katie Brett, Head of Learning Support. We discuss how students may be supported in their learning, how we might learn and the question of success. This is an important discussion for everyone as it goes further than being delivered information so that we can retain it. I hope you enjoy our conversation. 

One of the strengths of our school is the long serving members of staff who leave a legacy of teaching and learning. Last year, a devoted and accomplished maths teacher, Katherine Bailey, retired after 44 years of service to the SCEGGS community. In this episode, we discuss her path to teaching, what she has seen change over the years, the importance of a maths education and how she has sustained such a long stint being a teacher. It was an encouraging conversation and I hope you enjoy it as well. 

I wonder if you have ever tried to learn a language? My own attempts have never been that successful, always stumbling around accents and fearful of making a fool of myself. Angelique Deleeuw and Vivien Dong are two of our language teachers that have had vast experience in not only teaching other languages but also learning new languages. In this episode we discuss the benefits of learning a language beyond the basics, the variety of ways you can learn a language and how it can enhance the whole person. I hope you enjoy the conversation.

As the school year begins, it can be a nervous time for some of our students for all sorts of reasons. This can also be the case for some of our parents too. This episode addresses the issues that might occur when starting school, from a parent’s perspective,  whether it be for the first time, a new school or a new year. Rob Jessup and Anna Chandler are both parents that have children in both the Primary and Secondary School. This year, they have one starting Kindergarten and Year 7 respectively. They share their concerns, good advice and experience as they get ready for what is ahead. I hope you enjoy the conversation and find it to be helpful.

The idea behind this podcast was that Peter Eyers (Head of Drama at SCEGGS) and I would chat about the year gone by and all that it held. What eventuated was a discussion about religion, power, loss and community!!  A very interesting conversation about how we take what has happened and look towards the future. I hope that you enjoy it. It’s the last one for this year and I want to say thank you to everyone that has listened, been a guest and given feedback. I am proud to say that we have made it to 60 episodes with a growing number of listeners and doing its job of building community and communities. I look forward to another 60 conversations!

I have conducted over 300 weddings in my 24 years as an Anglican minister and many of those have been for students that I have taught. This is always a great privilege and honour to be invited into such an important event in their lives, to continue that connection post school and to recognise that the SCEGGS community means something to people, even after they no longer walk in through the green gate. I first taught Unity Patterson when she was in Year 1 back in 2002. Who would have thought that one day I would be conducting her wedding to Chris Warren in January 2025? In this episode, we talk about marriage in the 21st century, the reasons why some people choose it and others don’t, the value of commitment and the perceptions that we place upon it. I hope you enjoy our conversation.