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Students play at the Merton Hall Music Concert
Students play at the Merton Hall Music Concert
From the Principal
In our recent Valedictory season, I spoke to the graduating Class of 2022 of how their strongest quality was that they were community builders and that they reminded me of bees. Each Year 12 cohort has a motto and in 2022, it has been “Lead the change. Be the change!” I have witnessed our Grammarians as hard workers interested in positive change.
They have also been great fun and are always up for a dance, playful in their approach. So, playfully, I explored the notion of ‘bee’ rather than ‘be’, using the bees, beehives, and bee organisational structures of working together to create purpose and joy as my metaphor for the Class of 2022. I reflected with this group on the important role bees play in maintaining our planet. We need bees to pollinate the food crops we need to survive and many of the trees and flowers that provide habitats for our animals and wildlife.
Bees are natural experts at creating communities and I likened the qualities and characteristics of bees as community builders to the way in which the Year 12s had approached the 2022 academic year.
This year’s Year 12 cohort has been very united; they have focused on working with our younger Grammarians in bringing everyone together after the two years of separation in our third calendar year of a global pandemic. They have built strong networks across the whole School and have focused on inclusivity, respecting difference and diversity.
They have also been great fun and are always up for a dance, playful in their approach. So, playfully, I explored the notion of ‘bee’ rather than ‘be’, using the bees, beehives, and bee organisational structures of working together to create purpose and joy as my metaphor for the Class of 2022. I reflected with this group on the important role bees play in maintaining our planet. We need bees to pollinate the food crops we need to survive and many of the trees and flowers that provide habitats for our animals and wildlife.
Bees are natural experts at creating communities and I likened the qualities and characteristics of bees as community builders to the way in which the Year 12s had approached the 2022 academic year.
This year’s Year 12 cohort has been very united; they have focused on working with our younger Grammarians in bringing everyone together after the two years of separation in our third calendar year of a global pandemic. They have built strong networks across the whole School and have focused on inclusivity, respecting difference and diversity.
They have also been great fun and are always up for a dance, playful in their approach. So, playfully, I explored the notion of ‘bee’ rather than ‘be’, using the bees, beehives, and bee organisational structures of working together to create purpose and joy as my metaphor for the Class of 2022. I reflected with this group on the important role bees play in maintaining our planet. We need bees to pollinate the food crops we need to survive and many of the trees and flowers that provide habitats for our animals and wildlife.
Bees are natural experts at creating communities and I likened the qualities and characteristics of bees as community builders to the way in which the Year 12s had approached the 2022 academic year.
This year’s Year 12 cohort has been very united; they have focused on working with our younger Grammarians in bringing everyone together after the two years of separation in our third calendar year of a global pandemic. They have built strong networks across the whole School and have focused on inclusivity, respecting difference and diversity.
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Dr Meath spoke to the graduating Class of 2022 of how their strongest quality was that they were community builders and that they reminded her of bees.
Dr Meath spoke to the graduating Class of 2022 of how their strongest quality was that they were community builders and that they reminded her of bees.
Each year, I present a piece of valedictory jewellery to each graduand at their final assembly. In designing this year’s piece, I combined the silver crosslet that represents our Anglican heritage, and a common visual pattern across the School, with a small golden bee. Bees have been a symbol of wealth, good luck, and prosperity since ancient times, and they represent community service and prosperity. Additionally, bees are a universal symbol of ethical virtues, such as diligence, sociability, wisdom, and creativity.
In watching how bees interact with each other and with nature and viewing the magnificence of the structures they build to live in, we as humans have learnt much about harmony, integrity, wisdom, the strength of a collective, and how to be interdependent.
In 1923, philosopher Rudolph Steiner stated, “If we watch bees, we are shown how they are not a group of individuals, but rather live as a great single organism. They are in tune with each other through avenues of communication humans are only beginning to glimpse, and by way of this communication, they are also quite sensitive to energies of animals, plants, and people. And, so, they appear as emblems of intuition, of listening to nature, and of oneness with the life-force.”
The lived actions of the Class of 2022 remind us of how healing and refreshing it is to be one of many with a shared purpose. At Melbourne Girls Grammar, community is important and we place it as one of the four elements of the 2020-2025 Strategic Plan. We value it and we explicitly teach our Grammarians that interdependence and collaboration are crucial for the common good. A golden rule of teaching is that when we pay attention to something and reward behaviour, we get more of it. This creates positive change. I am pleased that in 2022 community continues to be our focus.
Reference: Steiner, R. 1923, Nine Lectures on Bees, Translated by Marna Pease and Carl Alexander Mier
Each year, I present a piece of valedictory jewellery to each graduand at their final assembly. In designing this year’s piece, I combined the silver crosslet that represents our Anglican heritage, and a common visual pattern across the School, with a small golden bee. Bees have been a symbol of wealth, good luck, and prosperity since ancient times, and they represent community service and prosperity. Additionally, bees are a universal symbol of ethical virtues, such as diligence, sociability, wisdom, and creativity.
In watching how bees interact with each other and with nature and viewing the magnificence of the structures they build to live in, we as humans have learnt much about harmony, integrity, wisdom, the strength of a collective, and how to be interdependent.
In 1923, philosopher Rudolph Steiner stated, “If we watch bees, we are shown how they are not a group of individuals, but rather live as a great single organism. They are in tune with each other through avenues of communication humans are only beginning to glimpse, and by way of this communication, they are also quite sensitive to energies of animals, plants, and people. And, so, they appear as emblems of intuition, of listening to nature, and of oneness with the life-force.”
The lived actions of the Class of 2022 remind us of how healing and refreshing it is to be one of many with a shared purpose. At Melbourne Girls Grammar, community is important and we place it as one of the four elements of the 2020-2025 Strategic Plan. We value it and we explicitly teach our Grammarians that interdependence and collaboration are crucial for the common good. A golden rule of teaching is that when we pay attention to something and reward behaviour, we get more of it. This creates positive change. I am pleased that in 2022 community continues to be our focus.
Reference: Steiner, R. 1923, Nine Lectures on Bees, Translated by Marna Pease and Carl Alexander Mier