05 February 2026
The following address was delivered by Nick Carter, Deputy Headmaster – Learning and Teaching at the Academic Muster on Thursday 5 February
Good morning Headmaster, Official Party, special guests – both in the audience and on stage – and, just as importantly, young men of St Peter’s College.
Our Bible reading from Paul’s Gospel just now was particularly apt; if you are keen to “think upon” an image of “what is pleasing, commendable and excellent,” then look no further than the Old Scholars behind me.
Welcome to our annual Academic Muster, where we celebrate the academic achievements of last year’s Year 12 cohort. For our Year 7 students and new boys, please know that the Old Scholars sitting behind me all achieved in the top 1% of the entire nation academically last year. You will also note that there is a great deal of them, and that is with a number of absentees; we may have to build a bigger stage if our Year 12 cohorts keep working so hard. This is a beautiful problem to have.
If this is not your first Academic Muster, you will have to forgive me as I repeat something I say every year, but it is worth repeating: today we also honour the effort, achievement and growth of every student that left us in 2025, no matter what their brand of excellence looked like. The young men behind me represent the sacrifice and creativity of their entire cohort. We also honour the fact that the cohort’s success was pleasingly and typically diverse; our Year 12s stretched themselves across all our education programs, not just in the classroom.
None of this success and effort would be possible, of course, without the profound and sustained efforts of all the partners in this journey, ranging from these young men’s teachers, Mentors, Heads of House, sports coaches, support staff, operational staff and – of course – just as importantly as any resource one can find within these walls and fields – the parents and carers who give of themselves so selflessly to ensure their sons are the best they can be.
So, on behalf of the School, I offer our deepest congratulations to all of you, and we look forward to honouring you one by one shortly. Before that, I wanted to briefly remark upon the data we gather every year from our highest academic achievers. Over the last decade, we have asked this elite group how they achieved such success in their studies. Their answers are nearly always the same, and the responses of the young men behind me were no different. Their reflections consistently speak to two strands of advice that are worth remembering for all current SPSC students:
- Find and sustain a circle of mates who hold one another to the highest standards
- Keep up your co-curricular involvement; studying non-stop will send you mad
So, to the boys in front of me, I would suggest this advice is now pretty unequivocal. If you wish to do as well as you can academically – and if you attend this School, I suggest you do – commit to both these things.
Beyond this, it is essential not to forget the simple things. We often take for granted the elemental building blocks of academic success, and it was heartening that a few of our academic Old Scholars saw fit to remind us of this. There were three pieces of advice that really resonated with me through their elemental, feel-it-in-your-gut veracity:
- Choose subjects you actually enjoy. Year 12 is hard enough!
- Talk to your teachers and get to know them. They are human too.
- Get enough sleep. Nothing works if you don’t.
These pointers are just as worthy as anything we have discussed.
Without further ado, let us meet and celebrate the old scholars who did all these things and did them so well…
Mr Nick Carter
Deputy Headmaster / Teaching and Learning
