Author Archives: Damian Bacchoo

Good morning colleagues, parents, alumni and families watching from around the world, and most importantly, our Graduates.  My name is Damian Bacchoo and I am the High School Principal for the class of 2023.  I am honoured to have the closing words today.  Amazingly, one of our Graduation Class of 2023 walked across the stageContinue reading “Graduation: when everyone is special”

The advice I give to friends who are struggling to choose between schools for their kids is: …you can’t have your cake AND eat it too! There are so many good schools to choose from, but parents can still find themselves paralyzed, unable to make a choice. A friend of mine was recently in thisContinue reading “Which school? You can’t have your cake and eat it!”

It’s the holidays in my house, so when we are not entertaining the kids there’s going to be a fair amount of Minecraft being played and watched on YouTube.  Apparently, Grian is our house favourite (and with 41 million views per month he’s got lots of other admirers contributing to his incredible annual 2M$ income!)Continue reading “Suit up!”

This article started with an innocuous question: “Hey kids, do you think we should still do our Easter egg-rolling competition this year?” My spring traditions The word ‘tradition’ always invokes mixed feelings for me.  Growing up, I could never enjoy the cliche of spring cleaning on the first day of the Easter holidays, and norContinue reading “Rolling with tradition”

Ask any high school student right now.  Deadlines seem to be about as certain as death and taxes.   In a conversation I had with a G11 student this week, he shared how surprised he was that he was struggling with his deadline-management skills. He was frustrated (perhaps a little angry?) that he was not moreContinue reading “Death and taxes (and deadlines)”

“It sounds like a big self-licking lollipop” “What?” “A self-licking lollipop” “What on earth are you talking about?” I was talking to my brother over my Christmas break about my work and the world of international education.   After patiently listening for some time, his paraphrasing went something like this: “So…rich folk pay to send theirContinue reading “Self-licking lollipops”

Noticeship /ˈnəʊtɪs/ʃɪp/ n.informal. The quality or ability that elevates a person or leader to intentionally see something or someone. Resolutions As is my way this time of year, I sat down with my thoughts this morning to contemplate the new year ahead.  For much of my early life this involved me finding somewhere to sit byContinue reading “#noticeship”

“To be noticed is to be loved.” ― Ali Smith, There but for the It starts with a belief system I believe that making children feel noticed is arguably the most important thing that we can do in schools.   Why?  Because my belief system is this: Noticing is the root of belonging.  And belonging is,Continue reading “To be noticed is to be loved”

In preparation for our recent CIS and WASC (joint) preparatory evaluation visitors, I felt our school adopted a “just right” Goldilocks approach to proceedings – a lot of hard work, paced calmly and thoughtfully by a core team who distributed much of the preparatory work in a meaningful and purposeful way with a high degreeContinue reading “Kerbstones, laminators, and staple guns”

I’m convinced that the question of “what can we take away” has been a priority for school leaders since (at least) the Industrial Age.    It has been a central theme in all my time in education, and I imagine it transcends many other work sectors too. How do we find ourselves constantly in this situation? Continue reading “Do the math!”