BMG 2020 Grammarian Issue 3

3 FROM THE PRINCIPAL I first set eyes on Bacchus Marsh Grammar early in 1998 when I was thinking of applying for the position of Principal. I visited the site one weekend with Phillippa and my then young daughters Stephanie and Antonia. My memory of the visit is that it was extremely hot, and Phillippa and I decided that I should put in an application. Two months later, I was offered that job. I was in two minds whether to accept it, but after some advice from my father and the Head of the School that I then worked at, I accepted the position. Our then plan was to come to BMG for three to five years before moving off either interstate or overseas. Twenty-two years later and I am still here. Apart from finding the area a very pleasant place to live, the growth and changes to the school have basically allowed me to face three or four different experiences as a Principal, whilst staying at the same school. The early years at the school were very tough. Enrolments were low and the relationship between the Board and all Principals had not been a very harmonious one. My first two years in particular were very difficult and caused me to contemplate leaving on numerous occasions. On my first day in the role, Michelle Graham and I ‘found’ the enrolment book. We both monitored these using a small exercise book. We both, I think, recognised there and then how dire the situation of the school actually was, with enrolments in 1999 heading for a further decline from their already perilous level. On that day, the strategic imperative for the school was set. Baxter Holly had secured a better deal in relation to funding; the next step was to grow the enrolments of the school quickly to avoid a spiral into closure. Early initiatives were taken in relation to changing the curriculum offerings of the school and many of the attitudes and practices in relation to basic processes of learning. There were early decisions to improve facilities, in particular, the conversion of the core of the under-utilised Science Technology Building and the development of a very rudimentary oval, which subsequently died off in the great drought at the turn of the century.