Principal’s Message 04 December 2019

Principal’s Address given at the Grade Seven Awards Evening

We are breaking from tradition this evening, by having an evening Awards ceremony just for our Grade Seven girls – although we do have the Grade Six girls here to support the Grade Sevens, and also to experience what they can enjoy in a year’s time. So, I thought I would break from tradition even more, and begin with the quote by the theologian David Haas that I usually use to end this address:

“O how blessed is this place where we touch God’s own face in the presence of each other.

May we who pray and draw near, know that our God is here, who is Father and Mother.

Here where all children are blest, stranger will be our guest, one with Jesus, our brother.”

That first line always blows me away every time I say it: O how blessed is this place where we touch God’s own face in the presence of each other. Such powerful words for such a tangible feeling. Many of the girls sitting in front us me here have been at Springfield for ten years– an enormous chunk of their thirteen-year-old lives. This place is a second home for them – indeed a blessed place, and indeed one where we touch God’s own face. This year the girls sitting here were fortunate to move into their new classrooms on the upper floor of the senior primary building and put their own personal touch on the space. While their time there has been short, I am sure they will never forget the time spent in these state-of-the-art classrooms.

My message this evening is specially for the Grade Seven girls, who end their Junior School time at Springfield tomorrow. There is a wonderful story told of a young girl who lived in a valley of a very mountainous country. From her house in the valley she could see the mountain looming in front of their home. From a very young age, all she wanted to do was climb that mountain. When her parents asked her why she was so keen to climb the mountain, she would say, “So that I can see the whole world from the top of the mountain. Down in this valley I can see nothing.” She joined a mountain club, and every year as she got older, her dream of climbing the mountain came closer to being reality. Until finally, on her eighteenth birthday, her father said she was ready to climb that mountain. So, they set off on this difficult journey, so that the girl could follow her dream. And finally, after a great deal of struggle and a very difficult climb, she reached the top of the mountain. They stood looking out from the top of that mountain, and her dad said to her, “Well done, my girl, you’ve achieved your goal. You’ve reached the top of the mountain!” But the girl looked sadly back at her father and said, “But I can’t see the whole world! All I can see is more and more mountains to climb.”

How apt this story is for life in a junior school such as ours. Each and every girl sitting here this evening has climbed at least one mountain this year. Whether it be the Grade Sixes who moved to the serious upper corridor (a mountain in itself), or the Grade Sevens whose mountains came in the form of serious study and many leadership positions. And they all did experience what that young girl experienced: when you reach the top of one, there are plenty more waiting to be climbed. For some girls the mountains have been in the form of disappointments, and illness, and grief, and even that difficult choice of deciding on another school for the next five years, but the Springfield family has been there to climb beside them, and help them through the difficult journey. A blessed place, indeed!

My best wishes go to our Grade 7 girls here this evening – these young thirteen-year-olds who are about to embark on a whole new mountain to climb. You have been an exceptional group of young ladies – responsible, hard-working and fully involved in school life. May you use all you have learnt and experienced here in the Junior School as a solid grounding for your five years of senior school. Girls, embrace everything the senior school has to offer, and never forget that there is indeed, as it says in the book of Ecclesiastes, a ‘time for every purpose under heaven’ (Ecclesiastes 3:1). For some of you who have not managed to reach your full potential in the Junior School – perhaps the season of Senior School is your time to excel. As St Ignatius of Loyola said: “Go forth and set the world on fire”. I ask you to use as your role models the strong Dominican women who have been part of the life of Springfield for the past 148 years. When I think of these women, I am reminded of the words of Maya Angelou: “Here’s to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them”. You can be very proud to be part of that deep heritage of strong women raised at Springfield – never lose sight of that.

I would like to take this opportunity to express our deepest thanks to the Sisters who live within the Springfield community: Sisters Francis, Rosemary, Caroline, Siobhan and Jacinta who live in the Springfield Convent, and to Sister Francis and all the Sisters in Rosary House, we extend our gratitude for your love, support, prayers, and leadership. You are the spirit within the soul of Springfield. This year we mourned with the Sisters on the deaths of Sister Kathleen Boner and Sister Pia O’Connell, both of whom were indeed strong women who impacted the lives of many students here and at other Dominican institutions. May they rest in peace.

It is said, and rightly so, that a school’s greatest resource is its teaching staff. I wholeheartedly agree. I am blessed with truly amazing teachers, who put the children first, who go above and beyond the call of duty, and who are of the highest calibre. However, they are not alone. In a school such as ours, there are so many others who are involved in the children’s lives as well on a daily basis, whom we rely on and who do so much for our girls. I’m speaking about our school secretaries, Our Education Support staff, Counsellor and therapists, our Learnership students, our Pre-School assistants, our After-Care staff, our extra-mural co-ordinators, our sports’ coaches – so many dedicated, caring people who join the teachers in forming the fabric of our school. To our teachers and all those who touch the lives of our children every day, I say an enormous thank you – you are indeed blessings. You are very special people, and I do not thank you often enough for all you do for our girls. We are so fortunate to have such an excellent staff here at Springfield. Thank you for all you do for me, for the girls and for each other.

I would like to say a special word of thanks to my Management team: to Mr Stephen Meehan, my Deputy, for his excellent leadership, infinite compassion, boundless energy and constant support and encouragement to me, to the teachers and to the girls; to Ms Gillian Stubbs and Mrs Diane Viljoen, for leading their departments so ably and with such sincerity and dedication. You are a rich blessing for me and for Springfield. My grateful thanks also go to Ms Lindy Hardiman who carries an enormous load as Head of Sport, for her great passion for the physical well-being of our girls. To Mr Keith Richardson and his deputies for the support, encouragement, help and leadership they give us, I would like to say a very big thank you.

A school cannot run efficiently without the hard work and support of our excellent team of ground staff, led by our Estate Manager, Mr Garth Andrews, as well as our tireless cleaning staff from Berco. We are most grateful for all they do, and thank them most sincerely for their help, their cheerfulness, their constant willingness to drop whatever they are doing because we need them, and for working so efficiently behind the scenes. I know the children and parents join me in our most grateful thanks. I would like to add to this my deep gratitude to the members of administrative staff in our Finance office, who play an enormous part in the running of the school and often go unthanked – we really appreciate all you do for us.

Girls, you need to join me in thanking your parents. I know that many parents make enormous sacrifices to send their daughters here – thank you, parents, for entrusting your special daughters to our care; for your support of all we do, for your help on so many occasions, and for the many times you affirm us in what we do. We are deeply grateful.

At the end of this year we say farewell to Ms Maria Colussi, who retires after 42 years in education, all within Catholic schools. Thank you, Maria, for your love, friendship, commitment and loyalty to us all at Springfield. When I think of Maria I am reminded of the quote by Nelson Mandela, which epitomizes her life: “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made in the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”

I would also like to thank Ms Judith February and the members of the Springfield School Board, for the time and dedication they give so willingly to our school, as well as for the support they give me and all in the Junior School. These women and men give tirelessly of their time, expertise and wisdom, expecting no reward other than knowing they serve us all. I have enormous respect and admiration for our Board members and thank them for all they do for the school.

Springfield is a unique school and a place of blessing and enrichment for us all. This year I end this message with a quote by Lyman Frank Baum who wrote the children’s story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It is this saying that keeps me going every day, and forms my mission as head of this amazing family in our Pre and Junior School: “In all this world there is nothing so beautiful as a happy child.” Girls, always strive for happiness; everything else will then fall in place.

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Use of Springfield premises for private tutoring and extra lessons

We wish to inform parents that it will be Springfield Junior School policy from January 2020 that no private tutors may use Springfield premises for extra lessons. The arrangement made by parents for private tutoring and extra lessons for their children is a private contract made between the parent and the private individual, and this contract needs to include that these sessions may not happen on the school premises. There will be no exceptions to this rule, as exceptions cause precedence, and we cannot do for one what we cannot do for all. We thank you for your understanding of this decision.

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Our thanks…

The teachers join me in thanking you most sincerely for the wonderful gifts and good wishes you have showered on us in the last few days of term. You have made us feel very special indeed!

We would also like to thank all parents and girls most sincerely for the lovely gifts brought to our final Mass, for distribution to charities as Christmas presents for poor children. You were most generous in your gifts, and thanks to you there will be many very happy children at Christmas.

Thank you for a wonderful year together.

"May the Lord continually bless you with heavenly blessings

as well as with human joys." (Ps 128:5)

Merry Christmas… Ikrismesi… Geseende Kersfees

MAY THE JOY OF THE NEW-BORN CHRIST CHILD BE IN YOUR HEARTS AND IN YOUR HOMES DURING THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS.

Alison Dunn

Junior School Principal