Ahead of Mr Jim Boddy's 44th and final Evening of Celebration and Prizegiving, our entire community formed a guard of honour from St Andrew's House to the Town Hall. As we all wished him well with a combination of cheers and tears there was a quiet sense that we were witnessing the end of an era. Walking that familiar route for the last time, after 44 years of service, was never going to be an easy moment for Mr Boddy – or for the generations of students, staff, parents, Old Andreans, Hessians and friends who lined the way to cheer him on. 

Earlier in 2025, Jim received the Legacy of Light award from the Deputy Premier, Pru Carr as part of our 140th Celebration assembly. This formally recognised what our community has known for decades: he has been a shining, steady presence at St Andrew's Cathedral School and Gawura School. Beginning with a job offer that arrived by telegram in 1982, his early days as a graduate science teacher and his roles as Head of Year, Head of House, pastoral leader, Duke of Edinburgh coordinator, sports coach, choir tutor and, in recent years, Junior School and Gawura science teacher, Jim has poured himself into this place.

The messages that have flowed in on his retirement paint a strikingly consistent picture. Former students remember entertaining science lessons, rugby and basketball games in the rain, bus trips, choir tours and post-match barbecues in Katoomba. Some recall the day every plant in a science experiment died and Jim turned it into a lesson that "no result is still a result", a small classroom moment that became a life lesson about failure, curiosity and having another go. 

Others remember something quieter but just as significant: the teacher who noticed when a student didn't have lunch and quietly fixed it; the Year Coordinator who made a every student feel seen, heard and valued; the leader whose office was always open, who could deliver a firm word with humour and who never stopped believing in his students. Again and again, people describe feeling safe in his classroom and encouraged to become the best version of themselves. 

Staff speak of a man whose joy in teaching never dimmed. They talk about his upbeat energy in the corridors, his encyclopaedic knowledge of SACS, his passion for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander science, his willingness to go the extra mile, his advocacy for Gawura and First Nations perspectives long before it was common language. They will miss the Blue Mountains commute stories, the travel plans, the gardening tips and the way a conversation with Jim always left you a little lighter. We have calculated that Mr Boddy's commute from the Blue Mountains has covered a distance of the moon and back six times over all these years. 

Perhaps the clearest sign of his impact is the constant refrain we hear from Old Andreans returning to School, often with their own children: "Is Mr Boddy still here?" For more than four decades, the answer has been yes. He has taught children whose parents once sat in his classes; he has cheered on siblings, and now a new generation of St Andrew's students. He is the only teacher able to say to a student 'your grandfather used to do that'. 

Jim's warmth, humility and generosity of spirit have left an imprint on this community that will last long after that final guard of honour has dispersed. As he swaps early trains for slow mornings in the Mountains, we give thanks to God for a remarkable career and for the countless lives quietly shaped by Mr Boddy's legacy of light. 

Mr Richard Hansen (OA2003) 

Alumni and Development Manager