Message from the Headmaster
‘Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others’
Philippians 2:3-4
Dear Students, Parents and Carers
Humility – What is it?
Shore prides itself on humility, if that is not in itself a contradiction in terms. This sentence in itself indicates the difficulty of defining and distilling the concept. Nonetheless, it is part of the loveliness of Shore and its history that boastfulness is frowned upon; rather, humble service is prized.
An aspect of this approach to humility is that it actually leads people to disguise their excellence, partly out of fear that they will appear arrogant. Many, many Shore boys and staff are genuinely humble. Do they need to hide or suppress their achievements?
But what exactly is humility? A recent parent of my last School, Rev Dr John Dickson, is an Ancient Historian, Theologian and Professor. His book, Humilitas examines the Christian concept of humility and its implications in the Ancient world. He points out that humility is not humiliation, but rather assumes the dignity and strength of the one possessing the virtue of humility. This being the case, it does not imply a low self esteem or being a doormat for others. It is not about thinking all of oneself, it is actually about redirecting our concerns and interests for the sake of others. This is very much the Christian concept of Service. The Apostle Paul defined the concept comprehensively: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4).
Humility therefore should not be confused with modesty. Being humble does not require hiding one’s gifts or even achievements. It is more about having an image of self which is not overinflated or arrogant or self-focused, but rather, as is sometimes said, thinking more about others than oneself.
The ancient world prized arrogance. Humility was thought servile. The Jesus revolution was absolutely radical. Our desire to be humble is placed firmly in the after-glow of Jesus’ brilliant transformation, through the work of the Christians who followed, of mainstream culture.
This theme has been featured previously in the Shore Weekly Record. Why write about it again? There are two reasons: the difficulty with definition and application is always hard to resolve and so the matter remains relevant. Additionally, School Council and the Executive Leadership Team have come to the conclusion that when our students perform brilliantly in some domain, it is appropriate to “tell the world”. This is simply giving them their due, rather than an attempt to overclaim or to nourish arrogance. Moreover, we are better equipped than ever before with information about our students’ performance. For the first time ever, this year Shore, along with all other schools in NSW, was granted access to the Australian Tertiary Admission Ranks (ATARs) of the previous Year 12. The suite of HSC / ATAR data gives us highly granular information on the results of our students not only across various types of questions in each of their HSC subjects, but also access to the “passport” into University that was previously only made available to the students themselves. This being the case, we want to celebrate and affirm our students for their diligence, leading so often to magnificent results, and we want to thank the staff for providing the framework to allow such excellence. It is difficult to have a balanced and appropriate view of oneself in reference to others and indeed the rest of the world. The quest is nonetheless appropriate and is part of the wellspring of Shore’s distinctiveness and, indeed, loveliness.
Girls at Northbridge
After twenty happy years, Shore has made a momentous decision at School Council level about our deep commitment to educating boys.
Commencing in 2026, Shore will no longer accept female students for enrolment in these specific class groups, Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2.
The change comes after careful deliberation by the School Council, which took into consideration ongoing feedback from families as well as dwindling numbers of parents wanting to enrol their daughters past the Early Learning Centre level. Essentially, this decision reflects the actual reality of the lack of demand for girls’ places. This, we note, is driven by the desire of parents to secure schooling which will take their daughter right through to the end of Year 12. Indeed, there are many excellent schools for girls within our demography. We have been finding that girls, when enrolled, do not actually commence at Shore (the entire 2024 Kindergarten enrolment of girls disappeared to girls’ schools by the actual commencement date in the first Term). Similarly, there has been regular attrition of girls during Kindergarten to Year 2, such that by Year 2, we may perhaps regularly have just one girl remaining.
Despite providing an excellent offering, effectively, the market has decided that the School should move forward with boys’ education from Kindergarten to Year 12. While we love having girls at the Northbridge Campus, the time is now right to respond to the market by formalising the change. Of course, all the Shore girls and their families will remain a cherished part of the School community, and we look forward to hearing ideas on how we can best mark their important legacy and retain their relationship with the School.
While there will be no changes at a classroom level, and current female students can continue their education at Shore until they finish Year 2, the gradual transition will mean that by 2028 all the K,1,2 Northbridge classes will all be made up of boys.
The change will not impact enrolments at the Early Learning Centre (ELC), which will continue to be a co-educational space.
Enrolments at Shore
An online newspaper article has caused some confusion and even consternation amongst our community. For quite some years, Shore has been in possession of an approved DA (Development Application) to increase the number of students on site at North Sydney by 450. While this is empowering in a sense, there is no intention to do anything of the kind. Shore desires to remain large enough to offer an extensive range of choices within curriculum and co-curricular activities but not so large as to lose pastoral connectivity. Any growth at Shore will be modest. We anticipate possibly an extra 26 students next year across the range of Kindergarten to Year 12. Any future expansion, even if desired, would be limited by the lack of adequate classroom space to accommodate extra students.
Incoming Director of Boarding
As you know, after 20 years in Boarding supervision, Mr Alistair Roland has resigned as Director of Boarding and will commence next year at MLC Burwood as Director of Welfare, Years 7 – 9. I am very grateful for his leadership during his time at Shore. We will miss him very much.
As of today, I am able to inform you that our incoming Director of Boarding is Mr Daniel Bradford. Currently, he is Director of Boarding at St Stanislaus, Bathurst. Prior to that, he was Director of Boys’ Boarding at Rockhampton Grammar School and before that a Boarding Housemaster at Riverview. He is well experienced and has been very effective in these roles.
Mr Bradford will bring to our Boarding community his wife and daughters, currently in Year 4 and Year 2. He will be able to commence at Shore at the beginning of Term 2, 2025. Until that time, we will make interim arrangements for the overall supervision of our Boarding Houses. Mr Bradford has met our Boarding Housemasters, been briefed by Mr Roland and is expected to be able to attend Shore’s Induction Days and Staff Development Days in January 2025. He is excited about commencing at Shore. He is very personable and I think is a wonderful “catch” for Shore.
Headmaster Steps Briefly Out of the Wheelhouse
As this edition of the Shore Weekly Record is appearing, I am about to submit to the medical specialist’s timing for minor elective surgery, which will see me working from home for much of the week while convalescing. I hope to bounce back on deck for the following week, which is the last week of Term (Camps week). Travelling to visit camps is probably off-limits so soon after surgery, but sitting in my office chair is expected to be perfectly fine. I will be absolutely recovered, renewed and revitalised in time for Speech Days that Thursday (Preparatory) and Friday (Senior School).
Dr John Collier
Headmaster