Ardoch is the school I went to for the longest time.  I went to Springvale Primary, Goodwood Primary, Lenah Valley Primary, Box Hill South Primary and Box Hill Technical College all within my first six and a half years of school.  It was then I went to Ardoch to complete my studies.

Ardoch was an alternative school, we called teachers by their names, wore no uniform, had a lot of electives even in year 7, and I did one on Aboriginal History from a perspective sympathetic to our first nations people, not something always found in Australian schools.  The students were an odd mix of the local Greek community, the children of progressive parents, kids who had been kicked out of other schools and then some quite random local children for whom it was just the closest school.

Like most people I am now left to wonder how I might have been different if I had gone to a more normal school, or had had more stability in my earlier education.  I'm not sure, but I think some parts of Ardoch and particularly a couple of my fellow students and teachers there, profoundly affected my outlook on the world.  I was a terrible student, easily distracted and emotional immature, dealing with a lot of the petty internal demons of youth, but somehow I was set on a right course that would bear fruit in my later life.  Certainly dealing with so many different people kinds of people left me with an appreciation of difference.

Anyway it was a beautiful campus, and I look back on the school fondly.  I wasn't always happy there, but I don't think that was Ardoch's fault.

A meaningless coincidence, it is seven years to the day this photo was taken that I am writing this.