Cutting edge: Phil Hesse submits to the razor. Picture: Wayne Hawkins
Bold move: Lachlan Burge sports his new look before the entire St Simon’s Primary School assembly. Picture: Wayne Hawkins
THERE'S a new hairstyle fashion at St Simon's Primary School and it doesn't involve any hair — or possibly any style — at all.
Teachers and two pupils at the Rowville school last week braved the razor to shave their heads. It was a gesture to support the World's Greatest Shave fund-raiser for the Leukaemia Foundation.
Among them was grade 6 pupil Lachlan Burge, who was diagnosed with leukaemia when he was three years old, just three years after his older sister had also been diagnosed with cancer.
"It was a pretty tough time," his mother Dianne Burge said. "He had six months of fairly intensive treatment and 1½ years of chemotherapy."
Lachlan finished that treatment just before his sixth birthday. As a grades 1 and 2 pupil, he took part in World's Greatest Shave events and he and his mother decided the final year of primary school would be the ideal time to bring back the fund-raiser.
Lachlan and his best friend, Liam White, shaved their heads last week, as did school principal Phil Hesse and three other male teachers.
Mr Hesse said the teachers were very enthusiastic and keen to support the initiative. "It's a terrific cause. We've had a couple of children with leukaemia at the school, so it's good to be supporting them."
Mothers from the school who work as hairdressers donated their services to ensure a clean shave for everyone involved.
Lachlan, who is the social justice leader at St Simon's, admitted that while he was excited to be going bald, his mate Liam was feeling a little nervous.
But the crowd of St Simon's pupils cheering throughout the shave buoyed them on. The event raised more than $3000 for the Leukaemia Foundation.
Money raised through the World's Greatest Shave supports services for the person affected by the disease and their family with information, emotional care, transport to and from treatment and accommodation for Australians in regional areas who need to move closer to hospital.
Details: worldsgreatestshave.com.au and search 'SS Megastars'.