Patrick Wallas: Long-serving All Saints Anglican School headmaster to retire in 2024 after 23 years

One of the Gold Coast’s longest-serving headmasters has made a major decision about the future. He reveals the next step and the biggest challenges faced by students.

One of the Gold Coast’s longest-serving headmasters is retiring after more than two decades at the helm.

Patrick Wallas will step down as the head of All Saints Anglican School at the end of the 2024 school year.

Mr Wallas, who was appointed in 2001, is only the second headmaster the school has had since it opened in 1986.

While bringing down the curtain on four decades as an educator, Mr Wallas says it shouldn’t be regarded as the end of era.

“It will be the beginning of a new chapter in the school’s history and I still love every minute of what I do but you have to know in your heart when the time is right,” he said.

All Saints headmaster Patrick Wallas will retire in 2024 Picture: Tertius Pickard

“By the end of next year it will be time for someone with fresh ideas to come in and take the school forward with dynamism, optimism and I think it will be a very exciting time.

“There is sadness and a little bit of fear at leaving this behind at the end of next year but excitement at what may lay ahead but a deep, deep sense of gratitude to have lived out a role which has given me nothing but reassurance that the youth are going to solve the problem which are currently facing with love and determination.”

Mr Wallas’ exit is the second major departure from the Gold Coast’s elite private school scene following the July announcement of Somerset College’s Craig Bassingthwaighte retiring.

Patrick Wallas with students Emma Taylor, Zeba-Allen Ashton Roman Bilios and Kyan Sutcliffe. Picture Glenn Hampson

School chairman John Fradgley paid tribute to Mr Wallas and said he had dreaded the day

“I personally hoped this day would never come, but such thoughts are selfish, as I know through discussions with Patrick over the last year or more, he knows he is ready for retirement and to take on an exciting new phase in his own life which will, of course, include his time as a doting grandfather to his three beautiful grandsons,” he said.

“We have each been made a better person for simply having the privilege of knowing him and for this we will be forever grateful.

“Over all of those years, I have never known Patrick to become angry, or willing to do anything but see the best in every person and situation. He is a living example of the school motto of ‘Truth, Faith and Compassion’.”

Patrick Wallas was appointed in 2001 and will retire at the end of the 2024 school year

Mr Wallas’ time at All Saints has included some of the most tumultuous events in living memory.

He was appointed in the aftermath of the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks and saw the school community through dramatic changes to the education sector as well as the trauma of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The veteran teacher said the lockdowns of 2020 and the events of the pandemic years would have a long-term impact which was yet to be seen.

“It was a terrible time and I do not think we have begun to have the conversation we need to have about the legacy of those times in terms of the mental health of our students,” he said.

Teachers including principal Patrick Wallas (pictured) dressed up and surprised the students with a confetti canon and rock music to make the end of the final QCS test. Picture: Tim Marsden

“It defined for all of us the importance of family and it gave parents a new respect for the role that teachers play in their children’s lives but it was a terrible time to walk to through our school and see all those empty classrooms … it was soul-destroying.

“However I also remember the joy which came on the day the students came back to the school (after the lockdowns ended) and it was remarkable because I think the teachers and students missed each other.”

After spending four decades in classrooms, Mr Wallas said he had strong faith in the future of education.

Long-serving All Saints Anglican School headmaster Patrick Wallas says the time is right. Picture: Supplied

“The darkest days always involve human tragedy, sickness and despair, those challenges which are a part art of being human and in a community of 5000 people, they occur on a regular basis,” he said.

“My prayer for every student is that they leave us with a clear sense of purpose, with optimism, an understanding, however vague, that they are loved by God and with an understanding that kindness will be their greatest friend through life.

“A great source of pride is to see the extraordinary work that so many of our graduates are doing on the world stage and, more importantly, to see what fine men and women they become.”

Long-serving All Saints Anglican School headmaster Patrick Wallas. Picture: Supplied

Mr Fradgley said the search would soon begin for a new headmaster, who will be appointed in 2024 ahead of taking up the reins for the 2025 school year.

“The important task of selecting our new Head now falls to (the) school Council and undoubtedly this will be the most important decision we will have to make since the God-inspired decision to appoint our dear friend Patrick Wallas all those years ago,” he said.

“This will be a careful and prayerful process on the part of the Council as we look forward with great expectation and excitement to the future.”