Daniel Cash and Bea Froomes-Houseman have been friends since they met in Prep at Grimwade House in 2011. They were Co-Captains at Grimwade House when in Year 6.
Now in Year 12, Bea attends Melbourne Girls’ Grammar where she is a House Captain. Daniel is the 2023 Captain of School at Melbourne Grammar School.
Despite attending different schools since Year 7, Bea and Daniel have remained in contact with each other through personal connections and through the regular formal and informal engagement between students at their two schools.
However, like many students who attended Grimwade House, their connections to that campus are also important to them.
A Year 12 reunion
Former Grimwade House students who are completing Year 12 this year were invited to a special on-campus breakfast in September this year. Around 90 students attended, drawn from a variety of secondary schools.
It was an opportunity for the students to catch up with peers and former teachers, celebrating their shared time at Grimwade House.
“It was a pleasure to see so many old faces,” says Daniel. “Meeting peers for the first time in years was an odd and endearing thing – we’ve all grown in different and diverse ways, yet we are drawn together by a shared history and mutual happy memories. Seeing past teachers was so lovely, and the spirit of the day was one of reconnection and real nostalgia.”
Reflections for staff
Further, we invited Daniel and Bea to speak about their time at Grimwade House at a recent Staff Development Day. Here are excerpts from their presentations.
Daniel Cash: Learning
Something that runs throughout Melbourne Grammar is the pursuit of excellence, unapologetically so, yet this ethos exists … while not leaving anyone behind. At Grimwade there was music, drama, academia, sport. You could have excelled at all of these or none of these and still had a spot here, still have enjoyed yourself just as much.
When I was at my most impressionable, as primary school kids are at that age, this is what rubbed off on me – the idea of healthy ambition, positive achievement, and … I hope I’ve taken with me the warmth and safety I felt at Grimwade and continued to grow. It comes somewhat from being taken seriously.
…In this polarised world, what we see and are taught in our growing years, especially at primary school, is … crucial. We can have views affirmed, stances hammered into us, or we can be not dictated to but equipped with. This I think is another strength of Grimwade.
We left with the beginnings of critical thinking capabilities, so, when presented with political or social points of view we were armed not with biases [teachers] gave us but with the rationality and clear-mindedness which [teachers] instilled … and I am very thankful for that.
Bea Froomes-Houseman: Leadership
… One of my favourite memories [of Grimwade House] was when I was awarded Class Captain in Year 2. Whilst I albeit let that one singular dark green badge go entirely to my head – and thank you Mr Bater for that opportunity to feel on top of the world as I put on a blazer that went to my ankles – I can look back on it now as one of the pivotal moments of my education…
…Despite it now not being the most influential nor demanding position I’ve held, I can honestly say that that one role helped alter my perspective entirely on the importance of, and the immense happiness I got from, being a leader.
Having an opportunity for leadership at such a young age helped develop me as a person and, within such a supportive environment full of opportunities to step up and be many kinds of leaders, Grimwade helped me become who I am today.
…The… phrasing [I heard in] Year 6 – “younger years look up to you” – still evokes such a sense of pride within the way I [carry} myself [today].
We wish both Bea and Daniel all the best for the years ahead and hope their friendship continues to be a source of enjoyment for them, and that they remain connected to Melbourne Grammar School in the future, wherever that may take them.
