Issue no. 39
In this edition
From the Deputy Principal/Head of Middle School
Starting a new school year is always filled with mixed emotions.
For many students, it’s an exciting time, a chance to share stories from the holidays, catch up with friends, get to know new people from their Home Group, and create new relationships with a variety of teachers. This year we’ve also the added excitement of learning how to navigate the School around our building works, and imagining what might be going on behind the hoardings!
It’s also a nervous time for many. Change can be unsettling, so whether it’s the move from one established class group to another, from one ‘known’ set of teachers to another, from one room to another, from the Junior School up into the Middle School, or from a completely different school to Saints Girls, it is quite natural for all of our students to be experiencing some degree of anxiety.
In the Middle School we are aware that much of that anxiety is caused by the uncertainty surrounding friendships, relationships with staff, and establishing routine. Consequently, by design, our first term of the year is filled with a variety of opportunities for students to mix widely, to engage in communal activities, and to develop a sense of belonging.
In the first few weeks, Home Group time is devoted to activities designed to help students get to know each other, and for teachers to learn about their students. Year 9 students have spent the last two days away at Aquatics Camp, mixing fun and water-based activities with discussions about goal setting, the upcoming year, their hopes and fears, and what it might mean to make the journey through the traditionally ‘difficult’ Year 9 as an adolescent girl.
Week 4 sees the Swimming Carnival, and an opportunity to embrace House spirit, and engage in an enjoyable day with girls from all year levels. Just two weeks later, Years 7 and 8 go away on their week-long camp. There’s nothing quite like a week under canvas with limited facilities and challenging activities to promote supportive relationships, empathy and a sense of shared triumph over adversity for students and their Home Group Teachers!
Immediately upon return from Camp, the build-up to Choral Night begins. Arguably the most eagerly anticipated night of the year, its success depends upon the hard work and cohesiveness of all members of each House, so ably led by their prefect team. Once again, it’s a perfect way for all students to become embedded in the cut and thrust of life at Saints.
Throughout the term, of course, there’ll be new learning experiences, clubs to join, teams to play in, assessments to take, and perhaps an audition for the school Musical – ‘FAME’.
So, Term 1 really is a mixture of excitement mixed with a little anxiety – but learning that anxiety is a common and, in moderation, useful feeling, and that it can be overcome, is an important part of growth for all of us.
I wish all members of the Saints Girls community an exciting, challenging and prosperous 2017, and look forward to catching up with as many of you as possible in the coming weeks.
Richard Lisle
Deputy Principal/Head of Middle School
We’ve done it again! Five Tennyson Medals in a row!
The SACE Merit Ceremony has been held this week at Government House with another outstanding achievement by St Peter’s Girls’ School. 23 of our students from the Class of 2016 received awards, including Kritika Mishra who received five merits and has been awarded a Governor of South Australia Commendation. Kritika also shared the top SACE ATAR of 99.85 with Mila Loechel.
Ashleigh Jones was awarded the Tennyson Medal, recognising the highest mark in English Studies in SA. Congratulations to Ashleigh on her remarkable achievement, and also to Michael Butler-Wills and the entire English Department for inspiring our students to excel.
The achievement is an exciting one, as it’s the fifth time in a row that the Tennyson Medal has been awarded to a student from Saints. This is the first time that has been achieved since the Medal was first awarded over 100 years ago.
Congratulations once again to the 2016 SACE and IB cohort on their fantastic results, continuing Saints Girls’ long history of consistently strong academic results. For further analysis, including tertiary placements, visit stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au/student-results.
Drinks on the Lawn tonight!
The St Peter’s Girls Parents’ and Friends’ Association is hoping you will attend the traditional Drinks on the Lawns from 6.30pm tonight, Friday 10 February. This annual event is a great way for new parents to meet and socialise with existing parents in an informal atmosphere.
Year 10 High Performance – Strapping and Taping course
Year 10 High Performance class has begun the year discussing bones, joints, ligaments and tendons. We then took part in a Strapping and Taping course, bringing the theory learnt into a practical setting. The girls perfected their strapping techniques on each other’s ankles and fingers to prevent too much ligament movement when playing sports. Hopefully, this will assist the girls if they, a team-mate or a family member require strapping before training or matches.
Music Camp
For any students in Years 5 – 12 involved in a school musical ensemble, our annual Music Camp will be held in Week 3 this term, from Wednesday 15 to Saturday 18 February.
Music Camp is a wonderful opportunity to make friends with girls from across year levels in a relaxed environment, receive fantastic tuition from our instrumental tutors and enjoy playing fun music in large ensembles. Different ensembles will depart for Ardrossan on different days.
The camp will culminate in a special concert at the Ardrossan Town Hall at 3pm to help fundraise for their local boy, Riley Nixon, a meningococcal survivor. We encourage parents and family members to join us in Ardrossan for the concert. Tickets are available for $10 at the door. The concert should finish at 4.30pm. The town hall is located on the corner of First and Fourth Street.
If you have any questions regarding Music Camp or the ensembles offered at School, please contact Jeanne Phillips or me in the Arts Office.
A draft rehearsal schedule for our different music groups is also now available:
Sally Rounsevell
Director of Music
Swimming Carnival: Years 4 – 12
On Friday 24 February, St Peter’s Girls’ School will be holding the annual Swimming Carnival for Years 4-12 at the Adelaide Aquatic Centre, North Adelaide. Students are expected to be at the Aquatic Centre no later than 8.30am, with the carnival concluding at 3.30pm followed by presentations. The day is to be treated like a normal school day; therefore, attendance is compulsory for the whole day.
Girls who travel to school on school buses will automatically be taken to the Adelaide Aquatic Centre in the morning and will be taken home in the afternoon. As the girls will be dismissed directly from the venue, all other students will need to be dropped off at the Adelaide Aquatic Centre in the morning and picked up in the afternoon.
There will be no specific lunch break but girls can eat during breaks between their races. Students have the option of bringing money for the pool canteen for their recess and lunch on the day; otherwise, they will need to bring their own food. Water bottles should be brought for the day.
Students are reminded to wear their complete PE uniform with bathers underneath as well as their House swimming cap that can be purchased from the School Shop. Extra House-coloured ribbons are encouraged, but coloured zinc and body paint are not permitted in the pool. House tattoos will be sold on the day of the carnival. We ask that the tattoos are not visible outside the girls’ school uniforms when returning to school (tea tree oil works well to remove them).
We encourage all girls to compete in a number of events, with their preferences being discussed in PE lessons and House meetings. A program for the day will soon be given to the girls and placed in the School Enews, outlining all event times and records. We will be using both 25m pools in the morning session and only the deep-end pool in the afternoon session. We look forward to lots of parent support on this exciting day in the calendar.
School teams for SAPSASA (Years 4 to 7), SSSSA (Years 8 to 12) and IGSSA (Years 7 to 12) will be selected from the Swimming Carnival results.
Reminder: Uniform Policy update
Parents and students are reminded of the revised uniform policy, applicable to students in Years 7 – 12.
Below are some key requirements within the policy as well as some explanation of how the policy will be implemented over the coming weeks.
What changes should I be aware of?
> Summer uniform: the length of the dress must sit no higher than mid-way through the knee cap when standing upright and no longer than mid-calf.
> Earrings: one per lobe. Earrings must be plain, small, non-offensive metal studs or sleepers. Middle or Senior students may wear a small diamond or pearl stud.
> Nail polish: only clear nail polish is permitted.
> Make-up is not worn at school.
> Mobile phones: not on show or in top pocket.
All policies are available from the Senior and Middle School Canvas page if you would like to review these with your daughter.
How long is the transition period?
Students have two weeks to ensure that their uniforms meet the required standards. Senior students who may have outgrown their uniforms are advised to contact the School Shop. The standards apply to all students and our older girls are expected to lead from the front. Two weeks also allows a suitable timeframe to remove additional piercings and gel or acrylic nails.
The revised standards will be applied from Monday 20 February and students who do not meet the revised standards will be sanctioned. Friday detentions, which are a sanction within our current Code of Conduct, will be utilised in ensuring the new standards are met.
Detentions will be held from 3.30 – 4.30pm on Fridays and take precedence over all other school events. You will always be contacted in a timely manner should your daughter receive a detention.
The support of our parents as we work to implement the Uniform Policy is crucial and we greatly appreciate your assistance in coming weeks.
Sports News
With Round 1 upon us it is an important time to remind everyone to ensure they check teams and venues to ensure they arrive at the correct venue at the correct time.
Term 1 Sports draws are available and all parents and students should receive a copy. These will also placed on the sports notice boards for Junior, Middle and Senior students and can now be found on the the school website here. It is very important that students check the boards, and especially the teams and venues as these can change.
Parents should receive regular communication about teams each week, but if you know in advance that your daughter is unavailable, please phone or email the PE office to let us know in case teams need changing.
Neil Fuller
Director of Sport
Contact Numbers
Basketball
Open – Peter Krantis, 0414 609 795
Middle – Vanessa Brooks, 0437 840 419
Tennis
Open, Middle and Junior – Neil Fuller, 0433 518 461 or Chris Flynn, 0409 696 856
Softball
Open, Middle and Junior – Neil Fuller, 0433 518 461
Volleyball
Open and Middle – Mr Dan Searle, 0402 460 052
Archery
We welcome to Saints Ailani Cox (Year 8). Ailani is involved in archery and current holds a number of State and National records. Although Ailani is in the 12 and under age, she holds records in Intermediate (14 and under) and Cadets (16 and under). She is still waiting for three more records to be recognised, one in the open women’s compound division. She will be representing South Australia at the National Youth Championships 7 –13th April where she has entered into Intermediate and Cadet competitions in the hope of shooting scores high enough to qualify for selection onto the National Youth team. At last year’s National Championships she won a gold and two silver medals and recently placed 4th in the South Australian national match play competition which is an open competition and where she beat the 2nd ranked Australian women. Welcome to Saints Milani!
Rowing
Saints Girls first eight had their first races of the year and came out strong with Sophie Freeman stroking, Emily Webb in 7 seat, followed by Carys Jones, Rachel Kameniar, Olivia Habel, Charlotte Parker, Olivia Compare and Victoria White in bow seat, with Grace Edwards coxing. After a good start in the first 500m which was maintained enabling Saints to stay ahead of Wilderness all the way. We ended up winning by a good length, and were all excited for the next race. The crew slightly changed for the next race, having Rachel Woodhouse in three seat instead of Charlotte Parker. Our main competition in this race was Scotch, and once again we got in front at the start, holding our lead and winning again. Great effort on Saturday girls, we are all excited for the season ahead. By Grace Edwards
The Inter A crew (Eve Habel, Olivia Law, Zoe Vine Hall and Sarah Carrodus) had a very successful day up at Murray Bridge. The conditions in the first race were horrible and although they were battling into a head wind, the girls managed to pull off a win by several boat lengths. Their second race was 2km, 500m more than usual, and it was one of the best races I have witnessed this crew row. They started off strong getting out in front straight away and by the end of their race they had caught up to the previous race and even beat one of the crews in the race before theirs! I’m so proud of the girls and if they row as well as they did their 2km race, a win at HOR looks like it’s in sight. By Amy Carrodus
Inters B Crew – Neve McCormack, Brooke Weymouth, Amy Rice, Anna Pryor rowed extremely well. The first race over 1500m was quite tough for the girls as their technique seemed to let them down a bit as they were trying extremely hard to get in front. Nevertheless, the girls pushed through and all put in 100% to the race, placing 3rd. The second race was a 2000m race which the girls were more nervous for as they have not competed that distance. This race however was a huge improvement to the prior race as the girls worked together and put in an amazing effort. The girls should be extremely proud of that row as I think it was their best race as a crew! Overall it was a successful day for the intermediate B crew. By Annabelle Langley
The year 9B crew consisting of Imogen Parkinson, Hannah Keough, Isabella Bernardi and Kate Reade rowed excellently. In their first race they came 2nd to a Uni crew coming first and in their 2nd race they came 1st but it was a battle between Loreto and them the whole race. The girls rowed really well by keeping the pressure up the whole 1km but they needed to focus on improving the timing and balance. By Charlotte Creek
Junior Crew gave it 100% throughout the race against very strong competition. They had a great start to the race and got out in front for the first 10s seconds or so, but the other crews seemed to have a great power piece that caught our crew. The girls did not give up and fought for second position with the other crew. The girls stayed consistent throughout the race – it was a great row overall and the girls should be proud of their efforts. By Annabelle Langley