Monthly Archives: September 2012

When values change, the value changes Mr Trent Driver, Dean of Academic Development I am putting the finishing touches to this piece of writing on Tuesday 18 September, knowing that in several days’ time on Friday 21 September 2012 things, for a great many people, will never be the same again.  Ever again, apparently, if one is to believe the media hype. This Friday, the iPhone 5 goes on sale in Australia – it will be faster, lighter, shinier and contain a different digit than the previous edition which, on Friday, will be obsolete. It will be so significant that thousands of people will queue overnight outside Apple stores all around the country to be among the first to call it their own. But buying an iPhone is not like buying a book or a beanbag or a packet of chips. From the purchase price, through to the details of a contract with a telecommunications company,…

Mrs Lyn Chakravorty, Head of Beanland House and Year 11 Co-ordinator For our Year 11 students, the protective layer of the seniors is slowly disappearing and they will soon be the ‘big girls in the leadership play’ for 2013. What factors contribute to leadership success and how are our students preparing for this? Leadership is not something that just happens. Lessons about leadership begin early in life and are ingrained well before leaving school, according to Dr Terrance Fitzsimmons. At a function held by the Alliance of Girls’ Schools at Brisbane Girls Grammar School in August, Dr Fitzsimmons presented the results of his inquiry into the career paths of Australia’s CEOs. These provided valuable insight into the importance of family, school, society and childhood experiences in the attainment of leadership positions by women in the corporate world. Women CEOs in this study grew up in small business families where children were introduced to the world of…

‘A future more discerning’: A tale of two systems Mr Stephen Woods, Director of English I really like our school song, for two reasons. The first of these is its inherent quirkiness; it’s a jaunty and original tune, not your run-of-the-mill rewording of a familiar anthem.  It starts with gusto, proceeds stridently, and ends emphatically. The tempo is brisk, and I get left behind. I belong to that half of the world’s population who come in half way through the line of a song anyway, so I have no chance with ‘Nil Sine Labore’. One of the line endings I do better is ‘a future more discerning’ which I like to do with a bit of a trombone-ey effect (a musical colleague tells me this is called ‘portamento’). The other, more edifying reason I like that line, is its use of ‘discerning’. It is why and how we inculcate and foster discernment that has had me…