Newington will struggle down the sport path with the new headmaster I presume. With the departure of David Mulford who lead the school out of the dark ages and into a golden era of sport (2012 a year that comes to mind with rugby and senior athletic premierships) the new head has a focus on improving the academic results in the coming years. One only hopes that Newington does not go down the path of Shore, Grammer and High and become uncompetitive in the rugby competitions.
Just because there has been a change of Headmaster, the direction of the school is unlikely to change fundamentally. He will be bounded and influenced by a variety of standards to maintain. He is a product of James Ruse, so academically, the school will can continue flourish, although, in the direction of the IB and not the HSC.
But with regards to sport he will be under pressure to maintain and continue the standards already achieved. Too much money, time and effort have been invested in numerous sports for a drop in standards. Newington is not Shore or Grammar, where the Headmaster has a greater capacity to reign as he pleases. The last Headmaster before David Mulford, tried to go against the grain of the school and was luck to see out his five year contract. The school including parents, staff, Old Boys and even the school council rose up in rebellion. A No Confidence Motion was passed, by the Staff Common Room against him. It was a very unhappy time for Newington. He became in essence a lame duck Headmaster, where certain decision making capacities were apparently taken away from him.
I don't think Mackerras of Grammar or even Dr Wright would survive in Newington's strongly democratic nature. There is no divine right of Headmaster's at Newingon. To be a successful Headmaster at Newington, the capacity to work with numerous and diverse groups is essential. Also, the word that shall not be mentioned on this site is well established, and is now part of the school's ethos. This attitude widely promoted in official school publications.
With such an attitude and strong lower age groups emerging in the 13s and 14s for Rugby, its possible New Rugby could very well get even stronger.Certainly, all trends point to a structure and programme that promote a stronger Rugby School. How many other GPS schools are organising regular UK Rugby tours.
