PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE: 21 AUGUST 2019

I have been preparing a prayer service for our First Communion parents next week, and I became re-acquainted with this beautiful poem (author unknown):

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

I dreamed I stood in a studio

and watched two sculptors there;

the clay they used was a young child’s mind

and they fashioned it with care.

One was a teacher, the tools she used

were books and music and art;

one was a parent with a guiding hand

and a gentle, loving heart.

Day after day the teacher toiled

with touch that was deft and sure;

while the parent laboured by the side

and polished and smoothed it over.

And when at last their task was done,

they were proud of what they wrought,

for the things they moulded into the child

could neither be sold nor bought;

and each agreed he would have failed

if he had done it alone.

For behind the parent stood the school

and behind the teacher, the home.

At the same time, I am thinking back to last Friday when our parents, grandparents and other relatives and friends came to support us and their children at the opening of our annual Art exhibition. What a special afternoon that was! I don’t tell parents often enough how much we appreciate their support, and also the way they support each other. Yesterday we heard of the death of one of our Grade Seven dads, the second dad to pass away in the last three months. Again, a mom left with two children… and the support given by other parents in the Springfield family has been incredible. The meals, lifts, prayers, endless offers of help just cement the total family feeling we all experience.

Thank you… Thank you… Thank you, precious parents, for your “guiding hands and gentle, loving hearts” and for working with us to “sculpt” your beautiful daughters.

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We are in week seven of our “new look” Newsletter, and I’m sure you all agree with me that the look is professional and reader-friendly. I thank our secretaries, and especially Mrs Mehl, for making each weekly Newsletter a work of art! Please can I ask all of you to continue sending your news through to us. Please send to the jnrpost@springfieldconvent.co.za address, and can we ask that you write a specific “blurb” when you send photographs, especially with outside activities where children from other schools also feature. I can assure you that everything that is sent to that email address will also reach me for Monday and Wednesday Assemblies.

Alison Dunn

My Message to the new School Leaders

Brad Paisley, an American Country singer, wrote in one of his songs: ‘Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one’.

The school leaders who were announced to the school last Friday now have a wonderful opportunity of writing up on the blank pages of their own books, their hopes and ambitions, their dreams and their goals, their personal vision and the legacy which they intend to leave over the next twelve months.

They will soon find out that their role is similar those conductors of orchestras who, in order to assist the musicians to play beautiful music, have to turn their backs on the noise of the audience. There will always be many cynics and pessimists who will sew doubt in their minds, but if this book is to reflect their journey of growth and development, its pages will need to portray clearly their own moral purpose, their own values, their own objectives.

To assist them in writing their personal book, will be parents, teachers and mentors. Our new leaders will not be alone on this challenging journey of leadership. By this time next year, when their term of office has come to an end, I have no doubt that the pages of their book will reflect the contributions of the many people who have helped them on their journey.

I do not believe that anyone is born to lead. This skill evolves over time for those who are willing to take on challenges, to make mistakes and learn from them, to put aside their egos and to serve.

Earlier this week, I took the liberty of giving our leaders my personal Ten Tips of Leadership:

Be faithful to your vision (Veritas?)

Be positive - negativity spreads like wild fire

Be humble and grateful for the opportunities you have been given

Be passionate and inspire (‘inspire’ means to breathe enthusiasm into people)

Be a team builder – unlike so many of world leaders at the moment who seek to divide

Be a life-long learner – once you stop learning you are no good as a leader

Be appreciative of the contribution of others who are helping you on your journey

Be organised and plan well in advance

Be willing to serve

Be courageous and ready to try new ideas.

If our young leaders go out into the world with these attributes, what a difference they will make to the lives of others. The beauty of these ten points is that anyone can develop and work on them. They will then also be leaders regardless of whether they wear a badge or not.

Many years ago, a matric pupil who was nearing the end of his matric year, wrote this to me:

We move on but will always have the warm feeling that I was part of a marvellous whole. Something worth caring for, and working for, and where there were many others who were prepared to commit themselves in the same way.

It would be wonderful if our 2020 matrics could write something similar in late August next year.

Keith Richardson

Headmaster

WEEKLY INFO LETTER – 21 AUGUST 2019

All Music Photographs are now on display outside the Secretaries’ Office. To order please quote the Photo Number on the order form and place payment in an envelope and hand in to the office by no later than Friday 31 August. Order forms can be collected from the office.

NB*** All Interhouse Cross Country and Athletics trophies to be handed in as soon as possible please.

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**DATES TO REMEMBER**

Monday 26 August: Happy Hampers go on display.

Tuesday 27 August: First Holy Communion Prayer Service for Grade 3 Parents will take place in the School Chapel at 18:45.

Friday 30 August: Grade 1 Outing to the Planetarium.

Friday 30 August: Grade 7 Quiz Night taking place in the Art Room.

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