Ms Haynes said she had been instructed by the school to remove comments from a speech earlier this year in which she said that “Ravo isn’t perfect”.
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“About half way through this year at a time when my family and I needed Ravo the most, it let us down”, she said.
“It seems to me that today’s schools are being run more and more like businesses, where everything becomes financially motivated”, she told teachers and students in a speech which earned a standing ovation from fellow pupils.
‘There are a lot of flaws in the whole procedure but my aim today isn’t to point out all of those in a personal vendetta, ‘ she said.
“Thrust into a position of leadership, I was able to see the best of what our school had created, and not naively, some of the challenges that all schools face in a modern education environment”.
“These aren’t things to be proud of and they aren’t things to look up to but they certainly aren’t things to be ashamed of”.
She made particular reference to a staff member asking her to amend remarks in a previous speech where she had admitted “Ravenswood isn’t perfect”.
‘This is unfortunate because it detracts from the Year 12 celebrations, but it is seemingly unavoidable.
But Ravenswood School for Girls has said it can’t comment further as parts of her speech relate to a matter before the courts.
“I fell for this image that the school presented to me”.
Mark Webb, chairman of the school’s council told Fairfax: “Girls have the right to express their individual opinion”.
‘Some people work hard and get noticed and good on them.
Miss Haynes said she wrote two versions of her end of year speech so that she could send one to the censors and the other to actually use.
The captain of one of Australia’s most prestigious private high schools has given teachers, parents and administrators a lecture about elitism and censorship.
“It was definitely taking a risk but I respect the girls in my community too much to be insincere so I took that risk”, she said.
He said the speech was sparked by “an incident of alleged bullying”.
“I was never trusted to say the right thing …I sent this to those in charge of me and received a reply: ‘Great speech but change the ending”.
She said she could not have got up and delivered a speech where she pretended she “still loved everything about the school when so many know that I don’t”.
“There is nothing wrong with realising that what you love [the school] isn’t flawless”.
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“If a school can’t admit that it isn’t ideal, how can it expect some extraordinary adolescent girls to realise that perfection is unattainable?… It’s important to know that to be valued within a school you don’t have to be a model student”.
