Walk the Mile

Public speaking is not everyone’s favourite thing. For some, it can induce terror and anxiety just from the thought of it. But it can be a useful tool for a variety of reasons. Speech lessons have been an integral part of our school’s practice for a long time and the benefits are obvious. In this episode, Speech and Public Speaking  Co-ordinator Elizabeth Walsh, and her student Celia Watson in Year 12 share their love for speech, how it has helped them, how they go about producing a speech and what makes it important. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

This is the second part of my conversation with two of our History Staff, Amy and Marie. This time they are speaking about their own history and how that has helped form not only the teachers that they are today, but also the people they have become. I hope you enjoy our chat.

“Study the past if you would define the future.” — Confucius.

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.