FROM THE HEADMASTER
As he begins his tenure as Headmaster, Mr Stuart McPherson offers some salient reflections on how Grammar’s vision, sense of community and open-minded approach to learning gives the School a steadfast foundation in a rapidly changing world.
There’s a photograph, taken in 1959 by the famous Old Sydneian photographer Max Dupain, which depicts a small crowd of boys crossing College Street at the end of the school day, hard-shelled school-cases in hand, wide-brimmed hats emblazoned with Grammar shields on their heads. A policeman – or perhaps it is ‘Mick’ Wells, the School Sergeant – stands, apparently to attention, his back to the traffic, holding the cars while the boys cross. Several boys are running; they’re holding their hats; Sarge must have given them the hurry up. One senior boy is a way off from the crossing at this point – one wonders if he was allowed to cross or was made to wait for the next chance.
Pictured: Crossing College Street by Max Dupain, 1959
Sixty-seven years later, it’s still a familiar scene, even though in 1959 there were one thousand boys at College Street and today there are just over twelve hundred, and considering that Sydney was much smaller, too, and probably less intense as a city. Today’s photo would probably have a mobile phone or two in one or two of the boys’ hands as they crossed the road, but there’d still be a Sergeant on duty. Lessons at College Street still last 40 minutes, as they did in 1959, but then Sarge rang a bell to end them. Then, the masters knew the boys, and the boys knew the masters, and the boys moved from one activity to the next, from lessons to games, and from games to music, and the School ran like clockwork, and everyone was happy to be here, just like they are now.
This conversation between the past and the present has been a feature of my first few months as Headmaster. I have quite a lot of reference points from having been here before, but I have been equally delighted by the freshness and energy that runs through today’s school – from Edgecliff and St Ives to College Street, Grammar is full of serious purpose, accomplishment and enjoyment everywhere you look.
Pictured: Junior swimmers secured the Junior Division trophy at the 2026 AAGPS Swimming Championships
Grammar’s approach to education has developed amongst the boys over the generations a culture characterised by confidence and humility, determination and poise, openness and good humour, intellectual curiosity and rigour. Johneen and I have seen these qualities in action at everything we’ve attended in our first term back at Grammar, and especially at concerts, in lessons, art studios, debates and at all the fixtures and end-of-season dinners it has been our pleasure to attend. And it has been our experience of ordinary school life, too, where the boys – indeed the whole community – have been very welcoming and keen to share something of their Grammar life with us. Sydney Grammar School looks to the future with the strength that comes from firm foundations and a clear sense of who we are as a school. Our vision has always been that we will be a school that encourages boys to approach their studies with an open mind, and to seek connections across the range of their academic, cultural and sporting endeavours that lead to deeper understanding and an appreciation of learning that far exceeds any public examination ambitions.
We remain true to that vision today, and I’m proud to be its custodian as Headmaster.
Pictured: Term I Concert
Pictured: Preview performance at assembly of
Catch Me If You Can
I am excited and honoured to be part of the Grammar story again, and I am much looking forward to all that Term II and the future has in store.
Pictured: Our Firsts, AAGPS Tennis Premiers 2025/2026
Sydney Grammar School
College Street, Darlinghurst
NSW 2010 Australia
Phone: (02) 9332 5800
Edgecliff Preparatory School
Alma Street, Paddington
NSW 2021 Australia
Phone: (02) 9366 0100
St Ives Preparatory School
Ayres Rd, St Ives
NSW 2075 Australia
Phone: (02) 8302 5200
