From our 2025 student leaders
This article is adapted from the 2025 student leaders’ address at the Leadership Assembly this week.
HARRY: Welcome back to Term 4! We hope everyone had a restful holiday and a brilliant time on OLE week; we can’t wait to hear about all your adventures, challenges overcome and memories you made. We feel incredibly honoured and privileged to have the opportunity to lead the college alongside Izzy and Banjo and the rest of the year’s student leadership team and are keen to harness the prospect to lead the college into 2025.
I remember when I first visited the campus on a tour back in 2018. My sister had been offered a place for year 5, but I was still on the waitlist for year 7. I was absolutely taken aback at the sheer beauty of the campus. Everyone was so friendly, and compared to my school back home in Fiji, the facilities here were spectacular. I remember being in absolute awe; watching the firsts basketball boys’ scrimmage inside the PCC and hearing some killer jazz solos from a stage band rehearsal in the orchestra room, briefly observing practicals as I peered in through the windows of the science block, and hearing how much fun everyone was having in Hoskins for drama. So, when I received a second round offer for enrolment, I felt incredibly grateful. I was so excited to be given the chance to be part of this school that I promised myself not to squander it. I literally signed myself up for EVERYTHING that the school had to offer and didn’t look back.
As an anxious 12-year-old boy who just moved countries to pursue a fresh start and having not known anyone at the outset, I felt out of my depth. However, on the first day of orientation it was the words of the College Captains that genuinely resonated with me. They said, “What you get out of Oxley is what you put into it.” I can honestly say that pushing myself outside my comfort zone to try new things was the best way for me to meet new friends, become more confident and to become part of the Oxley community. The student leaders at the time were instrumental in making me feel at home in an unfamiliar environment and inspired me to be my best. As your college captains, we hope to be able to provide you the same guidance and inspiration that was afforded to me, so that one day you will do the same for the next cohort of students.
CLEM: And while Harry crossed an ocean to be here, I, just as eagerly, strolled through my front gate.
But regardless of our arrivals, we both entered a community where Oxleyans both big and small, from near and far, stand together unified by college culture in which one is encouraged to get involved and aspire to achieve.
Harry and I have just returned from Outback, a rite of passage for collegians. We left the College driveway bright and early; but a broken air conditioner, a nasty kangaroo encounter and 14 long days later, we returned to that same driveway. If you were to apply a critical lense to the trip, our destination was exactly where we left – but it symbolises something greater, that it’s all about the journey. Outback tests you on every level, for each attendee it could’ve been a mental journey, emotional journey or just merely a physical journey but nonetheless we were on this journey together, accumulating to represent our whole school life. School isn’t just about that one-day you graduate or final exam you sit, it is 13 formative years punctuated with emotions, memories, hardships and triumphs that’s led Harry and I up here today.
Amongst the chaos of the trip, we got a chance to chat about the upcoming year, our ambitions and values. And as we set off to Uluru, presented with both responsibility and possibility, it became easy to think big; Whilst we set our sights high, it’s important to recognize the smaller more foundational factors that allow us to achieve. It’s the friendships we form, spirit that drives us, the kindness we show and moments when we choose to lift each other up that define our success as a collective. Valuing approachability as a leadership team; we want to make it clear that we are here to support you. We are committed to making the school a place of student voice and vision, hoping our team can be the vehicle through which those dreams are both heard and valued.
HARRY: With a focus on Oxley’s values of courage, kindness, wisdom, we aim to really nurture a culture of teamwork and having each other’s backs, with spirit, excellence and unity at the forefront of our vision. With an emphasis on authenticity, enthusiasm, and creativity, we hope to encourage you all to have a presence within the school, and to showcase what it is that you have to offer, that will help bring the school’s values to life. Oxley is a wonderful place to learn so don’t be content to look on from the sidelines as we encourage you to get involved and truly find what motivates you.
CLEM: A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way” we are privileged and proud to stand here today representing year 12 2025.
To our fellow leaders, we are excited and eager to start this journey together. Each of you bring unique strengths and a commitment to make a difference, and I know that united, we can achieve something meaningful this year. We hope you can trust in us as we truly believe in the potential, we share as a whole.
HARRY: To the wider Oxley and Pin Oak community, thank you for this opportunity. We promise to do our best, to serve, to listen, and to make the college a place where everyone feels valued and inspired.
Clem H & Harry K, College Captains 2025