Being accepted into the Dragon School was , for me, a defining moment in my life. I soon realised that I had not entered another school so much as another world. Whether it was my exposure to Latin and Greek language, or acting in the school’s theatre productions, or even finding my position on a freezing and muddy rugby field, the Dragon extended an open embrace, and a parental assurance that I had a place set at the table and a role to fulfil. The school’s hospitality was unreserved and given in equal measure to myself as it was to my peers. This quality uniquely defines The Dragon. It instils confidence and gratitude which I know has formed my worldview, as it did many of my cohort.
If you want to know what the Dragon is about, you need look no further than the name itself. A dragon, as we know, typically has two defining characteristics. They can fly, and they breathe fire. That is also – in a way – what young Dragons learn to do during their formative years at the school. Dragons learn to surmount the hurdles and challenges of life such that they often soar into those rarefied airs of whatever field or industry they find themselves in, without fetter. And further, when doing so, they have this tendency to inject warmth into the environment which they frequent (with a joie de vivre to boot!).
One need only look at the long and venerable list of actors, artists, athletes, and professionals, and more, all of whom began their journey here. This is a place where life-vocations are born. It must certainly explain the school’s chosen motto, Arduus ad Solem: Reach for the sun.
