Let me begin by saying congratulations to the class of 2024. You’ve made it through, you’ve reached the end of the road - or this section of it, at least - and you stand on the threshold of whatever is to come, aka the rest of your lives. 

You’ve done school. School is done. For you, the appellation “school child” no longer applies and never will again. What appellations come next, lie ahead. You and we must wait and see.

The purpose of tonight’s event is to commemorate your achievement in getting this far with such assurance and style, and my role is a ceremonial one: to officially thank you for your contribution to the life of the school, to wish you well, and to speed you on your way. 

It’s a role I assume with the seriousness proper to the occasion. Of all the speeches and presentations I write and deliver each year, it is this one - the one written for our Year 13 graduates - that gives me the greatest pause for thought. 

What words can I say, what ideas can I impart, what message can I send that stands a chance of lodging with you, of living with you, and, by staying in mind, offers wise counsel in a complex and rapidly changing world? Given all the words and ideas and messages you’ll hear not just today but everyday, you’ll appreciate that it’s a tall order - and you’ll be sympathetic, I trust, when I tell you that, in the face of this challenge, I have sought a technological gadget to support my efforts and increase my likelihood of success.

So, before I go any further, I’d like that technology to be deployed among the graduates in the room.

Graduates of ‘24, open your boxes, please. You will find you have two. 

First, you have a multicolour pin. I trust that you will recognise the design. It is offered to you as a memento of your time at ICHK. My hope is that, whenever you lay eyes upon it, the pin will bring fond memories of your life at school. You will think of your teachers and of each other well. You will recall your time at school as time favourably spent. 

Second, you have a white pin. 

Again, I trust you’ll find the design familiar. But maybe, also, you’ll be wondering why you need a second pin and why it should be white. It’s that I’d like to explain - and, in doing so, offer you the message which I find myself thinking increasingly, in these strange and fractious times, is pretty much the only message worth sending or receiving.

My message, then, concerns the absolute preeminence of community in any worthwhile story that can be told about well-functioning, healthy, sane, and sustainable human beings. 

Humans stand and fall on the strength of their communities, of that I am certain; the idea of a human in splendid isolation is a non sequitur, the idea of individual human success independent of other humans is a non sequitur, the idea that humans can prosper and thrive other than in concert and through collaboration with other humans is an absurdity. The human predicament is social. And society, to work, must be based in community.  

The white pin, then, is a technology. It’s a technology to foster, promote, encourage, and commemorate community. It’s white because white is the colour of ICHK’s outermost, maximally encompassing, exhaustive, and inclusive circle. White is the colour of +1, the colour of acceptance and accommodation, the colour of care, compassion, and belonging. White, I say again, is the colour of +1, of the spirit of ICHK’s ultimate and most expansive community. It is membership of this community and allegiance with this spirit to which we should all aspire, and once our status is attained, of which we should be most proud. 

From 2024 on, the white pin is to be available for Year 9 students to claim once they have completed their end of year Rite of Passage and, in the light of that experience, been given the opportunity to reflect on their readiness and willingness to embrace the three most fundamental values of our school on a daily basis. 

You know those values well, for we have celebrated them each term throughout your years at school. Indeed, many of you sitting here this evening, have been formally identified as embodying these critically important values - the values of growth, of courage, of support for others - and have received certificates or scholarships in recognition of your achievement. 

The window for claiming the white pin is limited - and there is no assumption that all students will be ready or willing to make such a daunting commitment so early in their school careers. Far from it; many students will prefer to wait and claim an ICHK pin of a different colour at a later date. That is right and proper, and is nothing more than a reflection of the simple fact that humans develop in different ways, at different speeds. But, whatever the successive cohorts of Year 9 decide, the fact is that you, the graduates of 2024, through no fault of your own, were not availed of the opportunity to decide. 

Now, that seems most unjust, because you have been a superb group of students throughout your time at ICHK. If anyone deserves recognition for their willingness to embrace and model the principles of our school, you do. If anyone embodies the values of ICHK, not just when they are “at their best”, but in their everyday conduct, you do. And if anyone deserves to lay claim to their vital role in building and maintaining a community that is inclusive, accepting, generous, and trusting, you do. 

And so, with your having been denied the opportunity to make the decision, we have made it on your behalf. We bestow upon you the white pin because each and every one of you is worthy of it - and of that for which it stands. 

Our hope - that of myself and of all the teachers gathered here to celebrate your graduation - is that, in the years to come, you will wear your pins not just with pride at the part you have played in the history of your school, but as tangible reminders of how a group of well-meaning, like-minded, kind-hearted people can achieve so much more together than they can apart. 

We hope that you will wear your pins as emblems of your ongoing dedication to the three values that, above all others, we have sought to instill in you as students at ICHK.

The value of personal growth - encompassing a commitment to continuous learning, to honest self-awareness, to an open mind, and to taking responsibility for who you allow yourselves to become.

The value of courage - encompassing a willingness to stand up for your convictions, to face challenge and adversity in defence of a cause, to protect those needful of protection, and to undergo hardship in the name of what is right.

The value of supporting others - encompassing selflessness of thought and action, not just empathy but sympathy for others, a readiness to put personal interest aside in pursuit of common goals, and a pleasure in compassion and paying forward. 

Dedicate yourselves to these values and these ends, and - just as you did during your time at ICHK - you will find that you play an active and vital role in building the communities of inclusive, generous, selfless, sustainable fellowship of which the world you now enter stands in such urgent need. 

Class of ‘24, I wish you every success.