Daisy Turnbull, Director of Coeducation

George Orwell wrote that progress “is not an illusion, it happens, but it is slow and invariably disappointing.” This week at Assembly, however, progress was the opposite of disappointing, it was energising and affirming. 

It is unusual to write about one student, but this student highlights how Cranbrook has progressed in our move to coeducation. In 2022, in my first year at Cranbrook, I taught a Year 9 Commerce class including one Archie McConnochie. While he was always a strong student, he was not, as all year 9 students are not, the person he was going to be. There was the odd joke bandied about in class, a few workbooks left in the Boarding House. But, as we so often see, glimmers of who they are becoming. The next year, Archie and Minal Rowjee were the two Year 10 mentors on my first CITF camp with Year 7. Their leadership was exceptional. They taught the Year 7s how to build bivvies, start fires, put out arguments, and all while passing a rugby ball between the two of them on every single hike. 

This year, Archie has been Cranbrook’s Brookie Booster. The Brookie Booster is the pillar of School spirit at sporting events, carnivals and assemblies. This morning, in handing the Brooke Booster blazer over to Benji Robinson, Archie spoke about the importance of the Brookie Booster next year as we move into being a coeducational campus. He told the School that while keeping the legacy and culture of the Brookie Booster, the role must be inclusive for the girls joining Cranbrook, it must engage all students from Year 7 to Year 12, and it must show the breadth of Cranbrook activities. 

After the Assembly, I congratulated Archie on his year as Brookie Booster, and on his handover speech, asking if anyone had helped him with it. No, he said, he wrote it himself. When we have students who are hours away from graduating, continuing to lead and support coeducation at Cranbrook, when we have students passing on a legacy with consideration and excitement for what future Cranbrookians will need, and when we have Year 11s starting their leadership journeys knowing that they will be leading boys and girls, the progress is in no way disappointing, it is incredibly exciting. 

Whether it be through SWP sessions, conversations in mentor periods, discussing issues in class or engaging with schools in the local area, our outgoing Year 12s are prepared for a coeducational world, and evangelists for coeducation at Cranbrook. Matt Downes, Second Head Prefect, and Sam Collison, Community Prefect, started the Student Coeducation Committee, and the prefect body across Houses have been engaging younger students in what coeducation will mean for them. While they won’t be there to see it, they have been an integral and essential part of our coeducation journey, and the history of Cranbrook. Thank you, Year 12,  for your leadership in this very important time. 

Daisy Turnbull
Director of Coeducation