KNOWN for his love of language and ability to lift the spirits of children, it is hard to believe Headmaster Patrick Wallas hated school as a child.
The head of Merrimac’s All Saints Anglican School (ASAS) was raised in Seaford in coastal England but spent his early years in an all-boys boarding facility.
“Only the boys in my family were sent away to boarding school at the time and I hated it with a passion,” said the youngest of four.
“They still had a lot of corporal punishment, and I was a naughty boy so I was regularly caned.
“One thing that when I look back on those times, I think you got a good sort of academic education but I left high school with an EQ (emotional intelligence) of minus 100.
“They had zero interest in the emotional wellbeing of the boys. The other issue of course I was absolutely terrified of girls.
“I spent most of my 20s unlearning most of what I learnt in school.”
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Originally expecting to be lawyer like his father, Mr Wallas didn't discover his passion for teaching until years later when he had a dream while in Sydney on a round-the-world trip with his wife.
“In Sydney, I know this sounds a bit ethereal, but I had this very vivid dream, like this moment of an epiphany where I was going to teach a class, I was going to be a teacher.”
After returning to Oxford to study education, Mr Wallas eventually found himself at ASAS in 2002.
Since then the school, which caters for 1700 students from Prep to Year 12, has become known by both students and teachers as a nurturing place for the “whole person”, a stark contrast to Mr Wallas’s early-learning experiences.
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“There is a tendency or a narrative among people my age tempted to look back and say our childhood was less complex more simple,” he said.
“But in reality I am absolutely confident kids today are more developed and school has taken on the role of really caring about emotional wellbeing. Schools I went to, parents were basically shot on-site.
“At All Saints we talk about enrolling the family not just the child.
“While in some ways it is a bit more exhausting to teaching staff I think there is a genuine care for and love of the children we serve at this school.”
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