It's time to farewell our Year 12 students. It’s been an extremely emotional week, not only for the students who are saying goodbye to their teachers and younger members of the community, but for the teachers and staff that have encouraged and inspired these people for many wonderful years, some since Preschool.
The very last day of their Glenaeon journey started with a Year 12 breakfast on the deck, with Head of School Andrew Hill as master chef creating a barbeque feast.Following on, in one of the great traditions of Glenaeon, all the children from Years 7-11 and Class 3-6 create a “walk through” with pairs of students raising arms in a tunnel shape through which the Year 12s walked for the final time towards the Hall for the Farewell Assembly.
There were tears shed as the school community gifted each of the Year 12 students with song, poems and performances and presented personalised and heartfelt keepsakes for them all to remember their school life at Glenaeon.
The Assembly opened with a whole of school performance of ‘For the beauty of the Earth’ (John Rutter) adopted as the unofficial school song. This was followed by Class 3 singing a Hebrew Song, Class 5 an African Indigenous song, Class 6 with an Irish song that brought back many memories for the year 12s. Appropriately, the Year 7s recited the J.R.R. Tolkien poem ‘Journey’s End’. The Year 8’s presented colourful long-stemmed gerberas to each soon-to-be alumni.
Mentor groups comprising students from Year 9-11 delivered a puzzle piece to each student for them to bring back to reunions with the message to reconnect with their cohort; a pot of rosemary symbolising the importance of remembrance and the beauty of nature; and, handcrafted mugs from which they can sip a warm drink and contemplate their time spent at Glenaeon.
The final performance was an ingenious rendition of One Night in Bangkok with cleverly reworked lyrics to wish the Year 12s well on their way.
Students were then cheered and clapped as they exited the Hall and made their way to the bus ready to depart on the group surprise Mystery Tour designed to give the Year 12 a fun filled city adventure together and create some lasting final memories of their most important formative years.
Our message to the Class of 2019: Goodbye and good luck. We wish you all a happy and meaningful life. Don’t forget your Glenaeon family. We will miss you!
Thank you to Lee Hill for these photos