Starting a new year is a chance for change. Things are different now, for everyone who’s in this room, to how they were last year. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been at this school all your life or if today is your first day – this year is a new year and we have different responsibilities, expectations, privileges and opportunities.

With all this potential for change, the one piece of advice I think I can give is to give everything – absolutely everything – a go. This school offers so many varied opportunities through this whole year – in sport, creative education, social activism, service; the list is endless. I can tell you that, if the last two years are anything to go by, then this year will be over before we know it and there are chances in the next one, two or three years for everyone here to take these opportunities – because they won’t present themselves in this number and variation again.

Whether you’re the songbird of this generation or tonally challenged, House Music is coming up later this term, so give it a go. Try out for all the events at House Swimming and House Aths. You can actually make a positive difference through helping with the charities that the School is involved in, or star in the upcoming Senior School Play. The School offers amazing trips throughout the year, some of which are experiences you could have nowhere else. The opportunities are practically endless.

I guess the scary thing about trying something new is leaving yourself open to failure and criticism. Maybe the thing you try turns out to be something you’re not too good at. Maybe the people around you will judge you for it. But if there’s anything that High School Musical taught us, it’s that we don’t always have to stick to the status quo.

And if you do begin to try just some of the things that the School offers, you’ll soon find that life can be pretty busy. But in my experience, the happiest people at this school are also the busiest – I mean, look at Asho – he never seems to ever stop moving and is possibly the most unwaveringly upbeat person most of us have met.

I don’t want to tell you that you should have no regrets this year. That makes the assumption that we’re perfect, that we can physically be busy all the time, or that we don’t need down time. But, if this year you come across an opportunity potentially new, give it a go. It might just be worth it.