Edition 136 August 2019 THE WESLEY COLLEGE COMMUNITY MAGAZINE Getting to know Nick Evans Music making – a full body-brain workout for students Ilya Milstein’s illustration odyssey ‘Robot proof ’ – educating creative problem solvers Vale Bill Lyon Contents Editorial Editorial 2 Both excitement and apprehension often accompany any Principal’s lines 3 significant moment of change within a community. This edition of Lion celebrates a special moment for Wesley Features College – the arrival of our 17th Principal, Mr Nicholas Evans. Getting to know Nick Evans… 4 Happily for us, we can embrace the excitement of the moment without any of the apprehension. In this regard, his first ‘Principal’s lines’ and the feature article about Music, the brain and learning 8 him written by long-time friend and colleague Dawson Hann are instructive. Clearly and strongly rendering who Nick Evans is as a person, they go a long way to help us My personal odyssey: anticipate who Nick Evans will be as our Principal. The recurring note in Dawson’s Ilya Milstein’s passion magnificent piece is of Nick’s readiness for his role. For us as a community, there’s for illustration 10 also a feeling of rightness, for Nick has been closely connected to our community for most of his life, variously as student, teacher and school leader; Wesley is a place ‘Robot proofing’ our students 14 he already deeply understands and loves. We offer Nick a warm welcome home, and best wishes for a long and successful College snapshots 16 tenure as our Principal. We have no doubt the ensuing years will be enormously rewarding on his watch, both for him personally and for us a community. In memoriam: Bill Lyon 22 In this edition we’re also celebrating the centrality of music in our school culture. It’s always been an essential part of who we are as a school, its importance perhaps best understood via the late, great music educator Richard Gill’s assertion that, ‘Without Archives 24 music, no culture can call itself complete.’ The natural extension for us, of course, is that likewise, no true education can be complete without it. The vitality of the music program at our school is plainly captured in the ‘Snapshots’ within these pages. The Foundation 26 value of playing music as an ‘extracurricular’ creative act is innately understood by us all, but increasingly, many are starting to recognise its value in enhancing learning generally – something our school has understood for a long time now. At Wesley, OWCA music is becoming strongly curricular, the positive effects that playing music has on the development of young brains being now well understood. Features and reports 32 In his excellent feature article, ‘Music, the brain and learning,’ Geoff Smith, Head of Music at Glen Waverley, outlines the research that shows the significant mental, social Contributors and emotional benefits music has for young musicians. Of the skills developed when Publications Manager: Steve Holden learning an instrument, strings teacher Louise Hildyard in our ‘Snapshots’ section Editor: Paul Munn simply states, ‘It’s literacy and numeracy, but combined with the heart.’ Features writers: ‘Combining with the heart’ is something that Wesley does very well. According to Dawson Hann, Paul Munn Morag Howard in her timely feature on ‘Robot proofing’ our students, our unique OWCA Editor: Lucy Gilfillan capacity to feel, to be creative and truly to think is something that our students can Design and layout: Robyn&Leon use to their advantage in their bright futures. One only has to read the affecting and College Correspondents engaging piece by Ilya Milstein (OW2008) about his struggle and eventual success as an illustrator to understand how bright our students’ futures can be. Jacinta Janssens: Elsternwick Campus Dean Triplett: Glen Waverley Campus I hope you enjoy this edition of Lion. Paul Munn: St Kilda Road Campus Paul Munn Ben Marsland: Clunes Lion Editor and features writer Kate Hogarth: Outdoor Education Front cover image: Principal, Nick Evans Old Wesley Collegians' Association T + 61 3 8102 6475 E [email protected] Wesley College Foundation T + 61 3 8102 6385 E [email protected] To find further information and news about Wesley College, visit our website at wesleycollege.edu.au Admissions T + 61 3 8102 6508 Like us @WesleyCollegeMelbourne Follow us @Wesley_College E [email protected] We acknowledge and pay respects to the Elders and Traditional Owners ISSN: 2209-3699 / Print Post: 100018730 of the land on which our Australian campuses and Studio School stand. 2 AUGUST 2019 Principal’s lines Campus Executive. It seems like fate that he was asked to be Acting Principal until my arrival. The past six months have seen Richard extend himself above and beyond for his College, in a wonderful act of service. I thank him, both personally and on behalf of the entire College community. The reason Richard has been in the chair for the past six months is due to the generosity of the College Council, firstly in allowing me to work out my notice at my previous school and, secondly, allowing me Term 2 as a pre-service sabbatical. This truly was a gift. It has allowed me to reflect, to think and to plan. It was also time for me to hone my vision for the College. Vision is a word with which I have had a somewhat problematic relationship. It can have, for me at least, an unfortunate association with corporate jargon, with a touch of the messianic leader attached for good measure. All that said, it provides a framework for my view Nick Evans (OW1985): 'What do I wish for our students? That they do the best they can. of Wesley College and its future. That they strive. That they learn to think.' What then do I wish for the students of Wesley College, both present and future? wonderful lesson for a young teacher. It is with deep pride mixed That they laugh. That they learn There is little to be gained by standing something of themselves, and their with humility that I write my still, and thoughtful and considered place in the world. That they have change is a necessary part of a vibrant first Principal’s lines for Lion. opportunities to explore, to connect intellectual community. with people, thoughts and interests. I feel very fortunate to be so doing. My third piece of good fortune was in That they are exposed to great teachers My first piece of good fortune was in being mentored by wonderful, dedicated and are inspired by some of them. attending this great school. Wesley That they make great friends. That they College has been a part of my life, man and at times eccentric colleagues. experience the joy of victory and of and boy, for more than half my time on Long-serving teachers are the heart and success and, equally, the sting and this mortal coil. Like many Old Wesley soul of a school. I was very lucky to have disappointment of defeat and failure. Collegians, I feel a deep sense of debt the guidance of some highly talented That they learn from the latter. That they and gratitude to my parents for the teachers in my early years. do the best they can. That they strive. sacrifices they made to send me to I wish, in this context, to pay particular Wesley. I am deeply humbled by the tribute to one long-standing servant of Finally, that they learn to think. thought that such sacrifices continue the College, Richard Brenker. My first In a visit to the John F. Kennedy to be made by Wesley parents, who encounter with Richard was when Presidential Library, I was struck by his invest so much hope and love in their he was the long, lean, moustachioed address to the graduating class of Yale children. I hope that I, and the College Year 9 homeroom teacher of some in 1962. He said, ‘We subject all facts I have the honour to lead, can continue of my friends. to a prefabricated set of interpretations. to be worthy of such trust. It was a long time ago. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without I went to an all-boys school. I was, the discomfort of thought.’ therefore, to find a completely different Richard then became my first Faculty How timely those words seem 57 years school when I arrived as a callow teacher Head, and we shared an office for five after they were uttered. My vision, my in 1994. This was my second piece years, before he was promoted to Head hope, for Wesley students present and of good fortune. Wesley College had of Middle School. After a variety of moves future is that they learn to think, and changed beyond recognition in nine in various directions, Richard was once never enjoy the comfort of opinion years. There were some familiar again my boss as Head of the St Kilda without the discomfort of thought. traditions, lots of familiar faces and the Road Campus, when I was Head of songs were the same, but Wesley had Middle School. I spent four very happy Nick Evans (OW1985) essentially reinvented itself. It was a years working as a member of Richard’s Principal Features 4 AUGUST 2019 Through strenuous reading and reflection, he has an assured Getting to know understanding of how the past informs the present. It is not something remote and inaccessible, but a compelling Nick Evans… part of grasping the self, and the lives of others. I was fortunate enough to Former long-serving St Kilda Road teacher be on a Music tour to the World War I Dawson Hann provides some personal insights battlefields in 2011 – we were both there to provide ‘the history’ – and will into Wesley’s seventeenth Principal forever remember the short talk he gave the students at Pozières, where more In certain parts of the Wesley Nick’s most recent five years as a clearly Australians lie buried than anywhere community, ‘Who is Nick Evans?’ may outstanding and much-admired Deputy else on the planet.