Newhaven College celebrates Foundation Day and 42 years of excellence

Newhaven College’s students, teachers, parents and alumni were joined by College Life Governors, Board members and special guests on Friday May 20 for a special assembly to celebrate Foundation Day, marking the College’s 42nd birthday.

Senior School Captains Jack Papas and Madison Grand-Court led the assembly that included special guest speaker Rebecca Naughtin.

Rebecca finished Year 12 at Newhaven College in 1997 and along with her siblings, are the children of one of the College’s Life Governors and former Board Chair Bill Naughtin.

Rebecca shared her career as an architect, both through her own award-winning firm and in the area of education and advocacy. 

Just like the houses she designs Rebecca referred to Newhaven College providing students with strong foundations for life and the ability for the College to arm each child with the necessary tools to succeed. 

Rebecca has now come full circle as a Newhaven parent with two children at the school.

As a teacher, deputy principal and volunteer for more than two decades, Mr John Ward was inducted as a Life Governor of the College.

John’s contribution has been enormous, and this was a fitting recognition for his efforts. 

John said he felt incredibly humbled at the appointment and urged the students to find a dream and work towards it as so many of Newhaven College students have in the past.

He also paid tribute to Reverend John Leaver who was instrumental in shaping Newhaven College’s future during the 1980s.

Principal Mr Tony Corr applauded the College Founders who showed dedication, vision, and faith.

“Foundation Day is a celebration of our school,” he said.

“It is a day when we appreciate and recognise what we have and the efforts of those who have contributed to what the school is today. It is a day when we celebrate who we are.

“American poet and activist Maya Angelou said:  “You can't really know where you are going until you know where you have been”.

“Foundation Day is one way we can better understand where we have been.

“Over the past year we have been working on our next strategic direction for Newhaven College.

 To prepare it we needed to ask ourselves how we want the school to look into the future? 

How do we want the school to look on its Golden Jubilee 50th Anniversary in 2030?

“In following Maya Angelou’s advice to plan our future we reflected on the past,” Mr Corr continued.

“Where we have been and what has made Newhaven special. And whilst this school has changed a lot over forty years, we want to maintain much of what the College’s first principal  Frank Moore established. A community that has a strong sense of its place in the world, of belonging and of care. 

“As our school song reminds us “Improving knowledge is never enough If we don’t live and share caringly”.

“Care, as much as learning, is what makes this school special. What sets it apart. Care for one another, for students, for staff, for our community and for our environment.

“One of my early adages in my teaching was that “students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. A caring community is what we aspire to be.”

Newhaven College’s chaplain Rev. Ian Turnnidge said it was important to recognise Foundation Day.

“This year’s Foundation Day assembly reminds us that the facilities and campus we now enjoy are the dreams and hard work of the people before us.

“The humble pictures of the school, in prefabricated buildings and muddy playgrounds, are but a shadow of the dreams realised over the past decades.”

VET Music band Indi and The Bones performed Kyoto before the Prep students were presented with their House Badges by the Year 12 House Captains.

The ceremony concluded with the audience and the Combined School Choir singing the College Song.