Branksome Hall - Slogan Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

Page 10 text:

Have there been many changes since you were there? It won ' t be difficult for you because you ' re a Branksome graduate. You must notice a big difference coming to Branksome from a large secondary school, Sucn are the questions and remarks often directed to me. Of course there have been many changes, for it has been over twenty years since I graduated, and nothing can remain the same, and, certainly, it is difficult to assume a different position in a new e nvironment among people one does not know. But, strangely enough, I have always found a sameness in people wlrerever I have been, and so, in many ways, I do not find Branksome so very different from my other schools. Most of what I say now stems from the fact that Branksome is a small school. I see it as a school with a real sense of community. We assemble together every morning, we know each other and where we belong, we are aware of what activities are going on in the school, and have the opportunity to participate fuljy. Brank- some is a school of few rules other than those pertaining to uniform and safety. The buildings, iri)ajense, be- long to the students. There are few locks and few places in the school which sSannot be fully used through- out the day. It is a school where most activities are actually run, and run well, by the students themselves with little staff intervention. It reverberates with chatter and laughter. I always like to welcome visitors for this reason, for Branksome has the happiest atmosphere of any place I have been. Finally, it is a place where grievances and suggestions for improvement CAN be heard, discussed, and quickly acted upon if possible. But too often students passively accept or grumble quietly when they should consider it their responsibility to speak, or they resort to games of cops and robbers when they should be reasoning out solutions. I admire and love Branksome students — and I really mean this — for their vitality, humour, ready assist- ance and their dependability, but I would like to see Branksome grow as a result of increased student involve- ment, of their taking more responsibility for the excellence of their school as a place of learning and recrea- tion and as a place of residence. i t } M f i 1 i I 1