From the Deputy Head of College
WHAT IS FOUNDATION DAY?
“In the midst of change there is a need to pause, to reflect, and our Foundation Days give us the opportunity to do just that. There is a sense of permanency about a tradition. Our established rituals at this ceremony – of the Year [12] group planting a tree… take of greater significance when one can cast one’s mind back to earlier occasions… I am confident that we will meet again and again at future Foundation Days to celebrate further growth in our College. The whole is greater than the parts. The heart of the school – the staff, the students, the parents, the governors, the past students and our friends – is beating strong”.
Mr Peter Craig, Acting Headmaster, Foundation Day 1994, cited in Emery, L (2004). A Lovingly Woven Tapestry – Oxley College Bowral 1983-2004.
In 1994, Foundation Day took place on a Saturday in Term 3, prior to the Athletics Carnival. The youngest students in the College (who would have been in Year 7 – there was no Junior School) helped with the signing of the Honours Book by the Co-Curricular Captains; today, our youngest Kindergarteners help with the planting of the tree and the signing of the Honours Book takes place at our Year 12 Graduation at the end of Term 3. Foundation Day, and Foundation Night, now take place on Thursday Week 4, Term 2.
Whilst what happens on Foundation Day has evolved over the years, its purpose remains the same as it did when Mr Craig addressed the College 31 years ago: Foundation Day is the College’s official birthday celebration – a time when we gather as a community to honour the founding of our school. It is a celebration both for the ‘visible’ community of our 855 students from Pre-K to Year 12, our staff and Oxley families, and of the broader, ‘invisible’ Oxley community - which includes all of our alumni, former staff, governors and Oxley families - stretching back to the founding of the College in 1983, when there were just 24 students. “Foundation Night” has come to celebrate and showcase the creativity, dedication, and talent of our students across all ages, both individually and collectively, in the creative arts, the performing arts, and in spoken word. We have the tradition of a long serving staff member speaking at our Tree Planting Ceremony, and we invite an Oxley alumnus to speak at Foundation Night. In 2025, Mr Phil Cunich, who commenced teaching at Oxley 30 years ago this year, will be speaking at the Tree Planting Ceremony, and Old Oxleyan Zac Moran (2015) will be speaking at Foundation Night. We now also have an annual art competition, with entries from right across the College community and five categories of awards, with an exhibition of entries prior to the start of the evening event. The winners of our Junior and Senior Public speaking competitions reprise their winning speeches in addition to music and drama performances. We look forward to enjoying the celebration with you tomorrow night!
Mark Case
Deputy Head of College
