Old boy back to inspire next gen of TSS students
ANDREW Hawkins is in the business of making men.
At just 41 years old he will next year become the first old boy to lead The Southport School (TSS), one of the city’s most prestigious colleges.
The century-old Southport institution was a childhood home for Mr Hawkins, having been a boarder there because his family hailed from the central west Queensland town of Emerald.
“My family were in grazing and then worked in mining while my brother and I did boarding school,” he said.
“I grew up in Emerald, was the school captain of the local primary school and loved it.
“I know you look back with rose-coloured glasses, but from growing up in Emerald to when I came here (TSS) – it was just amazing.
“Especially for a young boy, the choice of sport, anything you could possibly choose from was here, except for AFL and rugby league but that was in the good old days.
“To this day, I am so grateful my parents invested in me as a young guy. They worked so hard, I was lucky to be offered that.”
After graduating from TSS, Mr Hawkins weighed up a career in law.
That was until he fell in love with teaching during his gap year as a PE assistant in the UK.
“For me it was watching the teachers change and help students grow. It struck me that in education you could have a more profound impact on society to help others than in any other role. It was the right fit for me.”
He returned to the country to study and eventually worked at Corinda High, Indooroopilly State High
School and Brisbane Grammar until in 2003 he returned to where it all began, the red brick alma mater, TSS.
At TSS, Mr Hawkins moved from head of the
health and physical education department to boarding housemaster, dean of students and deputy headmaster – head of senior school.
Next year he will become the ninth headmaster in the school’s history.
Mr Hawkins said he believed the lack of strong male role models was all the more reason to focus on the next generation. i “Good men are few and far between. We are seeing less and less really good male role models in the public sphere.
“We see amazing leaders like (New Zealand Prime Minister) Jacinda Ardern, she is such an amazing and strong leader and I think where is the male equivalent, where are the men to put in front of our boys so they can be the leaders, husbands, colleague and fathers our society needs?
“I believe it is our job to help these leaders and men grow.”
Despite his enthusiasm for new ideas, Mr Hawkins is still a man deeply embedded in tradition, and says parents can be assured TSS won’t undergo major change.
“I have been here for a long time and I have been mentored by Greg (Wain, current headmaster), so in 12 months’ time parents are not going to get an email or a phone call saying ‘ hey we are heading in this completely different direction’.”
Instead, Mr Hawkins likens the school to a cruise ship (a pre-COVID analogy).
“Just because of our age, our size and our location we are an enormous ship, 1550 boys, with all the staff and parents, you can’t just turn it and stop it.
“There are all these tweaks and directional changes you can make as you go along at the school but it is heading in the same direction.”
One of the tweaks mentioned includes the possible introduction of an agricultural program.
“It is unacceptable we don’t have an amazing agricultural studies program. We have probably 320 boarders of which maybe 280 come from rural Queensland or NSW.
“But in terms of our bigticket items and what we stand for remain unchanged.”