Wellington 2015 Graduation

We move on in life. It may not always feel like it, and it may not always be comfortable, but we do. Life moves on.Sometimes this is so slow that you can barely notice it; age, for example, is a bit like that. It moves on, but we don’t really notice until we find things are just a little slower and a little more painful than they were 10 years before. Change like that is easy; it’s manageable. We can cope with it because we don’t really notice it is happening. But there are also times of sudden change; these can often be unsettling because they represent a leap in the dark, a step into a future that has little familiarity. I can see a host of young people in front of me today who face just such a swift change in their lives. Former US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld once laughably described part of the war against terror as involving  “known knowns and known unknowns”. His phrase may only be memorable because of its impenetrable logic, but here today we have a group of young people who face just that situation, albeit without the added fear of a war in Iraq. School is of course THE great “known known”. It has been the scene of years of good friends; of shared learning; of exam triumph – or exam disaster. School has been a constant for so much of our loves that we may sometimes not be able to envisage a future without homework, cruel teachers or strangely flavourless food. It is familiar. It is comforting. I hope our leavers here today feel that school is all that and more to them. I trust Wellington is a source of the happiest memories and the source of so many stories for you all in the years to come – be they funny ones, sad ones, maddening ones, or just crazy ones. We have seen these children grow into young adults. They have grown with the school, and while we remain in our infancy, they are ready to move on to another phase, another challenge in life. To some people, this next stage can be a daunting one. Life beyond school, at university or wherever, represents one of Secretary Rumsfeld’s “known unknowns”. They know where they are going, but they have no idea of how their lives will be once they get there. This can be a scary step, but I know that these young people have the tools to cope with such a change. They have grown up in a school which has supported them, challenged them, encouraged them and fostered in them a spirit of adventure that makes them ready to meet their new world head on. •    These are school leavers who have performed on this stage; who have sung, or danced, or acted, or just stood here and made us laugh. •    Many are outstanding intellects, imminently to move on to some of the finest universities across the world. All of them go on to continue their education. •    Even more are dedicated sportsmen and women who have competed for Wellington across the globe. •    They have all given service and leadership to others; supported their friends and younger pupils from across the school. •    Each one has inspired the next generation of pupils to try new things and to face new challenges. All of them are fine examples of young people; all of them can be proud to call themselves, for the first time this evening, Old Wellingtonians. This evening is for them. I am often prone to uncertainty in my job, but as even Donald Rumsfeld would have to agree, this much I do know: these young people have been the living embodiment of our 5 core values: courage, respect, integrity, responsibility and, perhaps most importantly of all, kindness. Their journey through Wellington is just ending, but wherever they go, whatever they end up doing, they will always remain a part of the Wellington family. So, as their next stage of their journey moves on, please join me in wishing all the Wellington College International Tianjin Graduating Class of 2015 wonderfully happy and successful lives. Master of Wellington College International Tianjin Julian Jeffrey