Viewpoint

The appointment of these new leaders was undertaken within a reformed selection process. The College has always provided for voting by students and teachers, and this was maintained. For House positions, the voting results were considered as before, and we ensured that six students from each House were interviewed for the three leadership roles. This has been made consistent across the sixteen (16) Houses. Qualitative assessment of students has always been a part of the process, so we wanted to ensure that interviews took place in each House.

For the student executive, ten (10) students were chosen by student and teacher vote. These boys then went on a day of formation before being interviewed for the roles. Recommendations were then made for all leadership positions to me and Fr Tom, and we approved the final appointments.

This reformed process is consistent with our traditions and ensures a greater level of Ignatian discernment.

My address to the Leadership Assembly can be found at the bottom of this column.

As we welcome our new leaders, the Class of 2026 have returned to classes following their HSC Trial Examinations. It was good to see them upon their return, and we spent time on Monday taking them through the plans for their final weeks at the College; encouraging them to commit themselves to finishing well academically; and reminding them of the behavioural expectations we have of them as they conclude their time as students.

The final HSC Showcases have also taken place this week.

On Tuesday night, our Music students performed for their family, friends and teachers in the Music Showcase. Congratulations to the following musicians:

Music Extension and Music 2
Stephen Barchinski - Voice

Music 2
James Gibson – Voice; Matthew Lee – Piano; Alex Teoh - Oboe

Music 1
James Edmunds – Piano; Jaden Lee - Alto Saxophone/Piano; Raphael McLachlan – Oboe; Clayden Tam - Tenor Saxophone; Caius White - Drum Kit

In Memorial Hall, our Year 12 Industrial Technology Timber students have been showcasing their superb craftsmanship following the HSC marking on Monday. Congratulations to the following students:

Toby Brown, Noah Coble, Luke Delany, Oliver Eisenhauer, Zachary Elias, Jack Haire, James Hannaford, Boston Kirkby, Thomas McClintock, Charlie McEvoy, Joshua McMeekin, Angus Menegazzo, Lucius Pimpini, Ed Shorter, Nicholli Thompson, Jack Tsokos, Caius White, Angus Young

Finally, our Year 12 Design and Technology students have also been showcasing their excellent major projects. Congratulations to:

Toby Adams, Brandon Armstrong, William (Billy) Brown, Oliver Burgess, Joshua Dyster, Jake Gomez, Oliver Jones, Archer Love, Antony Nobilo, William (Will) Petersen, James Pittorino, Miller Siasat, William Star, Deuchar Waldren

Congratulations to the following Year 12s who have been selected for national representation in Rugby. To have five students from Riverview selected is a tribute to the commitment and talent of the boys themselves, and the love and support of family and coaches. Congratulations to:

Australian U18 Rugby Squad:
Hunter Reich
Jack Plamondon
Taj Scarr
James Hannaford

Australian Schoolboys
Isaac Perkins

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Last Monday, 31 August, the College hosted once again the Latin Reading Competition on behalf of the Classical Languages Teachers’ Association. Students from seven schools competed in the solo prose, solo verse and group choral recitations, reciting extracts from the great orator Cicero and epic writer Virgil. Our soloists, Nicholas Hudson and George Kilby of Year 9, gave very creditable, enthusiastic performances.

They were joined for the group recitation by Year 9 students James Koch and Finn Hutchins, and by Year 8 students Oscar Rogers, Tom Payten, Grayson El-Agha, Hamish Berry and Zander Brinkmann. The group performed admirably and was commended by the adjudicator for their expression, securing first place in the choral recitation section. Well done, boys!

Happy Father’s Day to all Riverview dads and father figures in our community. I hope that you (and I) are spoiled on Sunday.

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Speech delivered by the Principal, Mr Tannock, to the Leadership Assembly on Wednesday 2 September 2026:

Good morning, Father Rector, Mrs Smith, Mr Walker, staff and students.

Congratulations to those who have been named today as our College leaders for the next 12 months. Your recognition by your peers and your teachers is a credit to the qualities you have displayed as students at Riverview—not just in recent months, but throughout your time at our Jesuit school. We pray that you will lead us well and in a manner that is aligned with our essential identity as a Catholic school.

For those who may be disappointed that their name has not been called today, have hope. Your time will come. You are young men, and you have so much in front of you. This is not your last opportunity to lead. It was only the first.

At the entrance to Centre Court at Wimbledon – the best tennis tournament in the world - there is a line from one of Rudyard Kipling’s works, perhaps his most famous poem, If.

It offers sage advice for those who have had their names called today and for those who have not.

It says, “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same.”

Rudyard Kipling was a British writer and poet of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, best known for works such as The Jungle Book and Kim. His writing often explored courage, duty, self-command, adventure, empire, loss and resilience. Though his legacy is complex because of the context that he lived in, Kipling remains one of the most widely remembered English-language writers of his age.

If— is a beautiful poem. Kipling wrote it for his son, John, who would later die in the Great War of 1914 to 1918. In the poem, Kipling offers his son guidance for life: how to grow into a healthy manhood, how to meet success and failure with steadiness, and how to find peace in a world that will not always be fair nor easy.

Fathers have this role in the lives of their sons. We seek to love and nurture our sons who carry the best of us, but who (we hope) don’t reflect our worst. We desire for our sons both meaning and happiness.

Our natural protective instincts for our sons must be consciously let go as they grow into manhood. We let them go into the world, trusting in God that we have prepared them well for the inevitable triumphs and disasters of their lives.

As we approach Father’s Day this Sunday, you might take an opportunity to ask your Dad or a father figure in your life about triumph and disaster in his life and what he learned from both experiences.

I’ll finish with Kipling’s poem:

If you can keep your head when all about you  

   Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,  

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

   But make allowance for their doubting too;  

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

   Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

   And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;  

   If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;  

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

   And treat those two impostors just the same;  

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

   Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

   And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

   And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

   And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

   To serve your turn long after they are gone,  

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

   Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,  

   Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

   If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

   With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,  

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,  

   And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!