From the Principal
The past week has been a very emotional and draining one for Redlands students, parents and staff as we have worked through our individual responses to the tragic news of the loss of Jodie Ah Chong.
The funeral service which was held for Jodie yesterday afternoon marked another critical point in saying our farewells. Mr Corcoran and I felt privileged to be asked by Jodie’s parents to assist with the preparation and presentation of the service.
Many students, parents and staff attended the very beautiful and moving service. A number of students, parents and staff from Abbotsleigh also attended, where Jodie’s younger sister is a student.
The service itself was put together by our Senior Campus Chaplain, Ms Bronwyn Lihou, and her counterpart from Abbotsleigh, Rev. Jenni Stoddart. The two Chaplains shared the responsibilities for the service itself. Reverend Stoddart gave a most moving homily in which she reminded us all that taking one’s own life is not an answer for us when we enter times of darkness in our lives, but that our love for one another and the love of God for us all can carry us back into the light where we can find beauty and wonder in our lives.
Mr Sean Corcoran graciously accepted the request from Jodie’s parents that he read for them their reflections on Jodie’s life and he also volunteered to share a melange of reflections on Jodie’s life at Redlands during her eight years as a student with us.
Redlands musicians made further light for all who were celebrating Jodie’s life and mourning her loss and the pain which her loss has brought to her family and friends. A Redlands trio played as we saw images of Jodie involved and delighting in one of her passions, Synchonrised Swimming, a sport in which she excelled. At the conclusion of the service, students from Redlands Chamber Choir performed The Irish Blessing, which is an incredibly moving and beautiful song. Jodie would have loved that tribute from her school friends, as music was another passion in her life.
Thank you to both Chaplains for their very sensitive and thoughtful leadership in the service, and thank you to Mr Kuilenburg and other members of our Music staff who planned the musical performances. Thank you to the many students who came to bid farewell to Jodie, and to those parents who accompanied their sons and daughters,and thank you to other members of staff who also came to pay their respects for a student with whom they had had close contact.
We are hearing many words of appreciation from many students and parents for how the School has managed this extremely saddening event and we are pleased to be seeing and hearing that the opportunities to mourn have been helping to get students back to into a place where light is shining on and within them.
There will still be sadness for some who were closest to Jodie or heavily impacted by her death, but that sadness will lessen over time and we will all move back into the light and realise the beauty which is there if only we look for it, share it with each other, and take care of each other and listen to our children and our friends when they show signs of feeling that they are in a dark space.
I want to pay tribute to the many staff who have shown guidance, love and concern for all our students and for colleagues and for parents in this time of sadness and anxiety. But especially I want to thank and acknowledge Mr Corcoran, Ms McGarry and Ms Shaw who have been at the heart of things; they have shared and understood the need for compassion and understanding of the many different emotions, feelings, fears and anxieties of others, but have not lost sight of the importance of being constantly aware of their challenging task of approaching plans and making decisions based upon careful reasoning. I don’t believe that the School could have been in better hands at this time. They have been our lamp-lighters, “poking holes in the darkness”.
Should you be wondering what I am saying, I am referring to a metaphor used by Rev. Stoddart in her homily, in which she mentioned a story about a very young Robert Louis Stevenson, and suggest you might have a look at https://www.preaching.com/sermons-topics/christian-life-poking-holes-in-the-darkness-isaiah-527-8/.
Dr Peter Lennox
Main photo caption: Fun, friendships and new challenges at Year 3 Curriculum Camp
