Sarah Haynes tells speech day crowd she felt let down and ‘betrayed’ by school’s drive for ‘unattainable’ perfection

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A student leader at one of Sydney’s most prestigious private schools has used one of her final speaking engagements as captain to criticise the “unattainable” perfection peddled by its businesslike management.

Sarah Haynes, the outgoing captain at Ravenswood School for Girls on the north shore, felt let down and “betrayed” by the school and the “wondrous perfection that it wants to sell everyone”.

A video of the 18-year-old’s address, given as part of the school’s speech ceremony at Sydney town hall on Wednesday 3 December, was subsequently posted to YouTube.

She said that as captain she was expected to “[sell] the school” and encountered resistance from staff when she sought to be honest about what she saw as its shortcomings.

Every speech she gave had to be approved by staff, she said, and so for this occasion she had written two.

Earlier in the year she had been told to remove “Ravenswood isn’t perfect” from one of her speeches because “no parent wants to hear the school isn’t perfect”.

Haynes and Ravenswood’s director of marketing have both been contacted for comment.

In the speech Haynes denied having a “personal vendetta” relating to her sister’s departure from the school earlier this year – which she said was the subject of “rumours and gossip” – but an attempt to highlight the school’s flaws.

“I’m sharing this today because I want to be honest with everyone here, and I would have felt insincere if I had to get up here today and pretend like I still love everything about the school, when so many people know that I don’t,” she said in the speech.

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Haynes said that Ravenswood, which asks as much as $28,600 a year in tuition and activity fees for year 12 students, fostered a culture in which failure was unacceptable.

“If a school can’t admit that it isn’t perfect, how can it expect some extraordinary adolescent girls to realise that perfection is unattainable? ... The only dangerous thing about mistakes, which I think Ravo might have lost sight of this year, is being able to recognise and admit them.”

She said many opportunities she had had during her time at Ravenswood had not been extended to other students, and some hard-working and struggling students were “overlooked”.

“I don’t know how to run a school but it seems to me that today’s schools are being run more and more like businesses, where everything becomes financially motivated, where more value is placed on those who provide good publicity or financial benefits.

“Perhaps this is a naive view ... but either way, I’d love to see Ravo work towards something better, where each member of the school feels valued equally, as they should be.”

The speech has been viewed more than 6,500 times on YouTube; most of the responses have been positive.



Haynes’s sister Rach said on Facebook the speech was “a refreshingly honest take on Ravenswood”.

Dani Brazier, a former student, replied that Haynes was “so brave and wonderfully collected”.

“I only wish that someone had been able to verbalise all those things when I was a lost and conflicted Ravo girl,” she said.

In a statement posted to the school’s website, Ravenswood school council chair Mark Webb said it was “unfortunate” that attention paid to Haynes’ speech was detracting from the year 12 celebrations.

He said it was not possible to comment on the specifics as it related to a matter currently before the courts, and he did not wish to compromise the students involved, their families or the legal system.