The Stories We Carry
There are some weeks in the life of a school that remind us that education is about so much more than what happens within the walls of a classroom. This has been one of those weeks at St Mark’s. It has been a week filled with stories, creativity, courage, remembrance and, above all, community.
On Friday, our community came together for our annual Kristian Hoogenkamp Memorial Match and ‘Sock it to Sarcoma’ Day, remembering Kristian, a much-loved St Mark’s student who passed away from sarcoma in 2019 while in Year 11. Each year, current students, past scholars, staff and members of Kristian’s family come together through football to remember a young man whose life remains part of the story of St Mark’s. There is something incredibly powerful about that. Many of the students playing today never knew Kristian, yet they know his name, and they know his story. Our past scholars return, his family remains connected to us, and another generation of St Mark’s students becomes part of carrying his memory forward.
Perhaps that is one of the most important things about belonging to a community: we carry one another’s stories. We celebrate together, we grieve together, and we remember together. Kristian will always be part of the fabric of St Mark’s, and ‘Sock it to Sarcoma’ reminds us that belonging does not end when someone leaves our classrooms or walks through our gates for the final time.
Stories, of course, have been everywhere at St Mark’s this week as we celebrated Book Week. There were the usual extraordinary costumes, much-loved characters stepping from the pages of books and into our classrooms, and the wonderful sense of fun that comes when a school embraces imagination.
It made me think of someone perhaps not immediately associated with Book Week – Dolly Parton. Dolly grew up in a home where money was scarce, and books were a luxury. Her father could neither read nor write, something she has spoken about as having a profound influence on her life. Years later, she established the Imagination Library in his honour, beginning with a simple idea: put books into the hands of children. What began in her local community has grown into an extraordinary literacy initiative providing millions of books to children around the world.
I love the simplicity of that. Give a child a book, and you give them more than words on a page. You give them somewhere to go, something to imagine, another perspective to consider and, perhaps most importantly, the possibility of discovering their own voice. I saw exactly that this week at our inaugural Year 8 Poetry Event.
Our students did not simply read the words of others. They stood before their peers, teachers and families and shared words they had written themselves. Their beautiful prose astounded me, but perhaps even more impressive was their courage. Writing can expose something of ourselves; standing in front of others and reading those words aloud requires trust and vulnerability.
They were funny, thoughtful, poignant and brave. As I listened, I was reminded that literacy is not simply about teaching young people to read the stories of others. It is about giving them the language, confidence and courage to tell their own.
Another moment this week made me think about voice and expression in an entirely different way. At our Year 11 and 12 Music Evening, we had the privilege of seeing the extraordinary talent and dedication of our senior musicians. One of our Year 12 students was accompanied by a pianist who is blind. I found myself watching him and wondering how it was possible. He could not see the keys. He could not read the music in front of him. He could not rely on the visual cues between musicians that many of us would assume were essential. And yet he played with extraordinary skill and sensitivity, listening and responding to the young musician beside him.
It challenged me to think about the assumptions we make about what people need in order to succeed. We can be very quick to notice what someone cannot do. Yet here was a musician whose mastery had been built through memory, discipline, trust and an extraordinary capacity to listen. He had not succeeded by pretending his blindness did not exist; he had developed his own way of navigating the music and, in doing so, reminded all of us that there is rarely only one way to achieve something extraordinary.
There was also something else about that performance that stayed with me. An accompanist's role is not to be the star. A great accompanist listens. They adjust. They anticipate. They know when to lead and when to follow. Ultimately, they use their own gifts to enable someone else to shine.
What a wonderful metaphor for community and perhaps for leadership too. When I think back over this week, these moments might initially appear unrelated but I think there is a thread connecting all of them.
Dolly Parton understood that sometimes changing a life begins with something as simple as putting a book into a child's hands. Our Year 8 poets reminded us what can happen when young people are given the confidence to find their voice. Our musicians showed us that there are many ways to communicate and create something beautiful. And Kristian's family, friends, our past scholars and our current students reminded us that stories endure when communities choose to keep telling them.
Perhaps that is what a strong community does. We remember one another. We listen to one another. We make space for every voice. We challenge assumptions about what is possible. Importantly, sometimes, rather than needing to be the person in the spotlight, we stand alongside someone else and help them shine.
This week, in so many different ways, is exactly what St Mark’s has done.
Ms Roseanne Madden
Interim Principal
