Issue no. 12
From the Principal
Welcome back to Term 2.
The builders have been busy over the break. The deck joining the new Middle School to the oval has started to take shape and the hole for the lift well has been excavated. Internally you can now see where the classrooms and break out spaces will be positioned, with the classrooms in the south-east corner having stunning outlooks given the magnificent views over both Ferguson Park and the oval. All the furniture and IT equipment has been ordered and we remain on track for the new facility to open at the start of Term 3 this year. It’s a great time to be in Middle School at Saints Girls!
As we stated in our Strategic Plan, relevant and responsive communication is the key to an informed and engaged community. Designed to improve communication between the School and parents, our new Parent Portal myLink is now ‘live’ for all parents.
myLink brings together a variety of information. Under sport you will find your daughter’s upcoming fixture including a map of the venue. Similarly under performing arts you’ll find the schedule of rehearsals and performances. The community portal button will take you to the previous version of the parent portal where you can access your daughter’s reports and financial accounts. But the myLink Home button is perhaps the one you’ll find the most useful. This can take a few seconds to load so please be patient as it draws together information from all your daughter’s subjects. You’ll be able to access marks, assignment notifications and general teacher announcements. Should you wish, you can request email notifications alerting you to when marks have been published. We’ll be emailing you with more details. Please watch the instructional videos and don’t hesitate to contact the IT Department if you experience any difficulty. We will have staff available at the upcoming parent-teacher interviews to give you a demonstration of the new system. I have trialled myLink now for a number of weeks and as a parent I’ve found it to be an invaluable tool. I hope that you too find it to be an excellent addition to our communication mechanisms.
In staffing news, Vicky Charlton informed me last week that she will be retiring at the end of this term. Hence you’ll notice that we’ve advertised for a full-time permanent upper primary specialist to join our wonderful Junior School team.
Best wishes for what will be a short but hectic term.
Julia Shea
Principal
A message from our Prefects
What does Kennion House Captain and Prefect Georgia Bateman have to say about the Uniform?
This week in assembly Georgia Bateman (with help from the Prefects) produced a humorous short film about the winter uniform requirements. But, it was her address to the girls after the film, that was of most significance:
“Wearing the uniform correctly should be something that each one of you are proud of. To be completely honest – wearing your uniform incorrectly in no way, shape or form makes you cool or more popular. I can assure you girls you will not be impressing anyone with your socks down and rolling your skirt up, the only thing you will be getting is baggy socks and an uneven skirt.
What I have learnt is that the school uniform achieves three main things for our school. These are: pride, unity amongst your peers, and a sense of belonging. Wearing our uniform correctly and wearing it with pride speaks volumes about us, our School spirit and our respect for representing a school as admirable as Saints Girls.
Not only does it determine our pride as individuals, wearing the uniform creates unity in our community, and makes it a community that can be admired by many. A sense of belonging to Saints is an opportunity not many girls receive, and wearing your uniform the right way shows that you are not only thankful to be here, but you are a proud Saints Girl.”
Georgia Bateman
Kennion House Captain
Generations in Jazz
Generations in Jazz is a music event held in Mount Gambier that attracts jazz talent from across the globe. There is a Schools Section where stage bands and vocal ensembles from around Australia compete against each other in various divisions. St Peter’s Girls has two vocal ensembles and a stage band competing at Generations in Jazz this year. On Friday, the girls will head to Mount Gambier in preparation for the competition on Saturday.
The various divisions have set pieces that they must perform:
ANZ Vocal Ensemble Awards
Div 1 Small – Grass Grows Greener by Anders Edenroth
Div 2 – Sometimes I feel like a motherless child by Naomi Crellin
City of Mt Gambier Stage Band Awards
Div 3.2 – Big Duke by Ross Irwin
On Tuesday 2 May, the girls performed a lunchtime concert in preparation for the competition. It was a great opportunity for them to perform their songs in front of a crowd, and even better for the audience of students to be able to enjoy such great music. The ensembles have been working incredibly hard in the lead up to Generations in Jazz, and they are sounding sensational. We wish the performers all the best and look forward to enjoying a recap of the experience in an upcoming Enews.
Enjoy some highlights from the lunchtime concert by checking out the video on our Facebook page – www.facebook.com/stpetersgirls.
Vaulting her way to the top
Upon hearing that Year 4 student Lucy Kitching has been selected for a gymnastics clinic at the AIS from 29 May to 2 June, we sat down with her to find out a little more about her amazing dedication to gymnastics.
“I started gymnastics when I was eight months old and then when I was four years old went to Saints Gym Club and fell in love with gymnastics. I was identified by one of the Gym-JETS coaches who also coached at Saints Gym Club.
At five years old I started training at Gym-JETS down at Marion, and now I train seven sessions a week which are 3.5 hours and on Tuesday it is 6.5 hours because I have two training sessions (23 hours a week)! As part of my training I do two testings for strength and flexibility a year but I also have an IDEAL Skills testing two times a year so I can be identified by the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). This clinic is based on skill acquisition and is by invitation only for each age category. At the AIS, you have to do a ballet section, more strength and flexibility testing, and you learn new skills from different Australian coaches. You stay in dormitories with different girls from around Australia and you stay at the AIS for about a week and get to use all the different facilities, like the cold pool for recovery.”
We wish Lucy all the best with her gymnastics journey, and hope that she enjoys the clinic and finds it a rewarding experience.
St Peter’s Girls’ Mooting Team heads to Queensland
On Monday 8 May our Mooting Team will be heading to the Gold Coast to compete in the National High School Mooting Competition, hosted by the Faculty of Law at Bond University. The competition is held from Monday 8 to Wednesday 17 May with finals being held on Saturday 3 June. St Peter’s Girls will be represented by –
Captain and solicitor: Olivia Parkinson
Senior Counsel: Charlotte Minney
Junior Counsel: Shardia Russo
The aim of the event is to give the students an opportunity to research a legal issue and make an oral presentation against an opposing counsel and before a judge. This gives students an experience reflective of a real-life law case, and a taste of what being a practising lawyer may be like. Teams are assessed on their advocacy skills, rather than the merits of the case itself.
We look forward to catching up with the team upon their return to hear about their experience. Good luck girls!
Calling all budding pianists
If you are a keen piano player, consider entering the St Peter’s Girls Piano Competition & Recital. Girls will have the opportunity to perform a piece to a panel of judges, who will critique their performance based on accuracy, technique and musicality for their specific music level. Ten students from across the Junior, Middle and Senior School will then be chosen from the competition to perform at our recital on Wednesday 31 May at 7pm in MB 120. This is a great opportunity for girls to perform in a supportive environment and get some feedback on their playing.
The Piano Competition will be held on Friday 26 May and the Recital will be held on Wednesday 31 May.
Parents and friends are welcome to attend and we encourage students to enter regardless of where they may have piano lessons. The deadline for entry is 19 May so please don’t delay in registering. Forms can be picked up from the Arts Department office.
Please contact Arts Administrator Jeanne Phillips if you would like more information.
Vale Sister Audrey CSC
It is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of Sister Audrey, a treasured figure in our School’s history.
Born in Ballarat on 2 May 1924, she joined the Community of the Sisters of the Church (CSC) in 1959. In 1972, she was elected Australian Provincial of the CSC, a position that saw her play a pivotal role in education not only at our School, but also at St Michael’s Grammar School in Melbourne and St Michael’s Collegiate School in Hobart. She was heavily involved in facilitating the change of ownership of our School from CSC to an Incorporated Association managed by a Board of Governors.
She died in Melbourne on 18 April 2017 and was farewelled during a Requiem Eucharist. Past Chair of the Board of Governors and Old Scholar, Meredyth Sarah AM, delivered a eulogy describing Sister Audrey as a well-educated woman with a strong faith in God, and a gift of foresight enhanced by a good business acumen, knowledge of governance and an ability to be a good judge of character.
St Peter’s Girls would not be where it is today without the passion, dedication and vision of people such as Sister Audrey. She epitomised our core values of courage, compassion and creativity, bringing inspiration to generations of girls past, present and future. She will be sorely missed and the School passes on its deepest condolences to her loved ones. As we approach 125 years of excellence in education, Sister Audrey’s legacy will live on.
Peer Support Program
The Peer Support Program provides a fun and engaging environment for students in Reception to Year 6 to address social issues. Trained Peer Leaders (Year 6 students), supervised by a teacher, facilitate structured activities with a group of 8 – 10 students from Reception to Year 6. The Peer Support Program will run in Term 2, with the first of eight 30 minute sessions taking place in Home Group lesson on Thursday 5 May.
The Peer Support Leaders had training to develop the skills required to be strong leaders. It was held late in Term 1, and focused on leadership skills, relationships with others, and strategies to lead a group.
As peer leaders we are looking forward to…
“Making people feel more welcome and working with a co-peer leader to do some enjoyable activities.” – Phoebe Black
Skills we have to assist us to be effective Peer Leaders…
“Being organised, being a good communicator and working together well.”
– Ruby Croston-Melling
The Peer Support Program will provide many opportunities for students from different year levels to work together and get to know each other, further developing the sense of community at St Peter’s Girls.
Fame – The Musical needs your help!
Shout out to all costume extraordinaires!
As rehearsals continue for the amazing production of Fame – The Musical we are seeking some help with making costumes.
That means, if you can sew, then we need you!
We will need some basic dancing wrap skirts made (around 15 of them) and some very simple style graduation gowns for the whole cast – that’s about 50! If you think that this is something you can contribute to, or if you might be able to organise a little working bee of volunteer sewers, then please contact Ms Abby Davey at adavey@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au.
Dr Tom Nehmy to visit St Peter’s Girls’ School
We are delighted to announce that in Term 2 we will be working with the highly regarded Clinical Psychologist Dr Tom Nehmy. Tom will be working with our Year 8 girls and Home Group Teachers to deliver the Healthy Minds Program.
To launch the program, Tom will be conducting a parent information session at 6pm on Wednesday 10 May, during Parent Teacher Interviews.
This 8 week program, consisting of a visiting speaker session and a Home Group lesson each week teaches students:
• The thinking skills that prevent or reduce risk of depression, anxiety, eating disorders & body image problems (without specifically focussing on any particular psychological disorder)
• How ‘unhelpful perfectionism’ plays a troublesome role in mental health, achievement, and general quality of life. Contrary to popular belief, some types of perfectionism actually inhibit achievement.
• The keys to understanding the function of emotions, and the most helpful ways of navigating their emotional lives
• Psychological flexibility
• Realistic thinking (this is the key skill of modern cognitive behaviour therapy)
• Self-compassion as an antidote to self-criticism (and why this is far more important than self-esteem)
• Ways to understand and deal with procrastination – these work for school, work and life
• To challenge the unrealistic media ideals that promote body-image dissatisfaction, which can lead to disordered eating and depression
• The cultivation of gratitude as an everyday perspective (it has been shown to improve sleep, immune system function, and happiness)
• The motivational techniques that change problem behaviours into helpful, healthy, and high-performance behaviours
We are looking forward to working with Tom and his team, and hope to see all Year 8 parents at the information session on Wednesday 10 May.
Mums’ Night Out
Enjoy a great night socialising at the upcoming Mums’ Night Out. Meet other mothers from St Peter’s Girls whilst enjoying gourmet finger food and a complimentary drink on arrival!
Bookings close soon – please hurry so you don’t miss out!
Purchase your ticket now at www.trybooking.com/PEWW.
Free Parenting Seminar
Parenting SA is holding a seminar for parents of teens and pre-teens called ‘Understanding the boy-code’.
It will be held on 30 May at the Adelaide Convention Centre, 7-9pm. It will be presented by Dr Justin Coulson, nationally recognised parenting speaker, author and columnist.
Register to attend in person or view the live webcast at
http://parentingsa.eventbrite.com.au
Sports Survey
Saints Sport Support Group (SSSG) is seeking five minutes of your time to complete the Annual Sports Survey. SSSG aims to help increase student involvement in sporting pursuits, whether as participants or in a coaching or officiating capacity, not least because of the health benefits of being physically active. Funds raised in 2016 were used to provide Level 1 coaching skills courses to all our student coaches and mentors, a new high jump mat, and the opportunity for Year 10 students to complete the Royal Lifesaving Bronze Medallion. We continued to support the end of year Sports Awards by acknowledging student coaches and sponsoring the Student Coach of the Year Award. We use the survey to gain feedback from the School Community about our activities so we hope that you will contribute.
Business Directory now online
The new St Peter’s Girls’ Online Business Directory has arrived!
We encourage our community to get on board and check it out.
- Book your very own personalised advertisement today
- Three options available $500, $250 OR FREE
- Promote your special business offer – and change your offer and advertisement as often as you like for no extra cost
- Simply support businesses connected to our School
- Refer a business
- All proceeds go towards our Parents’ and Friends’ Fundraising efforts for 2017
For more information on how to get involved contact Melissa Westgate on 8334 2244
or mwestgate@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au
Sports News
The official start of the Winter Season gets underway this week. All students are once again reminded to check notice boards for team selections and other relevant information pertaining to their sport.
If you have any further news items or sporting success stories, please email them through to me at nfuller@stpetersgirls.sa.edu.au.
Cross Country Fun Run
A reminder that the house cross country fun-run will be held on Friday 12 May. You should have received a separate letter indicating the times for each year level.
A friendly reminder that fundraising is encouraged with some wonderful prizes on offer. All money raised will be used by the Saints Sport Support Group to assist with the development sporting programs and facilities.
Students can create a profile and all fundraising can be done online www.schoolfunrun.com.au.
If you have created an online account all prizes must be ordered by 19 May.
Summer Interhouse
Friday 24 April
The annual Summer Interhouse was held in near perfect conditions for students in Reception through to Year 12. Participation was very high, as was the spirit within each House.
Results
Junior Teeball – 1st Selwyn, 2nd Kilburn, 3rd Patteson, 4th Kennion
Basketball – 1st Patteson, 2nd Kilburn, 3rd Selwyn, 4th Kennion
Softball – 1st Kilburn, 2nd Patteson, 3rd Kennion, 4th Selwyn
Tennis – 1st Selwyn, 2nd Kennion, 3rd Patteson, 4th Kilburn
Volleyball – 1st Kilburn, 2nd Kennion, 3rd Patteson, 4th Selwyn
Athletics
Congratulations to Portia Maerschel (Year 7) who in the holidays competed at the National Little Athletics Championships. Portia was named as one of the team captains and competed in the 100m, 200m and Long Jump before helping the SA relay team to break the state record and claim the bronze medal.
In the last week of term, the Years 8 – 12 Athletics team had an outstanding performance in their first year in the state’s highest grade – A1, finishing third overall behind Trinity College and Brighton High. Students who placed in the top three in their events were:
Rachael Disney – Open 200m 1st, 400m 2nd, 100m 3rd, 4 x 100m Relay 3rd
Jasmine Ledgard – Open Shot 1st, Javelin 2nd, Discus 3rd
Thandi Murada – Open 3000m 2nd, 1500m 3rd, 4x100m 3rd
Katherine Woolley – Open High Jump 2nd,
Holly Cunningham – Open 1000m Steeplechase 3rd, 4x100m 3rd
Charlotte Kelly – Open 100m Hurdles 3rd, 4x100m 3rd
Millisent Wilkin – Under 15 400m 3rd
Olufunto Komolafe – Under 16 Long Jump 2nd
Charlotte White – Under 16 Discus 1st
Amelia Wood – Under 15 90m Hurdles 1st, Open Pole Vault 2nd, U15 Triple Jump 3rd
Charlotte Sellars – Under 15 Discus 3rd
Nicolette Miller – Under 16 Javelin 2nd
Sophie Barr – Under 14 Shot 1st, Discus 2nd, 4 x 100m Relay 2nd, 80m Hurdles 3rd
Portia Maerschel – Under 14 100m 1st, 200m, Long Jump 1st, 4x100m Relay 2nd
Keeley Fahey – Under 14 High Jump 2nd, Javelin 2nd
Matilda Braithwaite – Under 14 1500m 3rd
Rose Young – Under 14 800m 3rd
Olivia Kelly – Under 14 4 x 100m 2nd
Stephanie Smalls – Under 14 4 x 100m 2nd
Rowing
Congratulations to Carys Jones (Year 12), Rachel Kameniar (Year 11), Emily Webb (Year 11) and Amy Carrodus (Year 10) who were all members in the South Australian Pathway VIII that competed in the national selection trials over the holidays. SA finished third behind Victoria and Queensland. The pathway is made up of school rowers from across South Australia. This VIII competes against all the other states at the Australian underage selection trials for rowing. The rowers also competed in a coxless fours and placed second, which is outstanding. It was an incredible trip experiencing the processes that professional athletes go through to make Australian teams and rowing alongside them. The girls did an amazing job and enjoyed their time in Penrith.
Triathlon
Well done to Matilda Braithwaite (Year 9) who competed in the individual Triathlon championships at Penrith NSW. Swim 400m : Ride 12km : Run 3km. Matilda came 15th overall and 1st for SA.
Water Polo
Well done to Lara Wakeham and Saskia Jonats (both Year 8) who had incredible success in their division at the National Water Polo Championships. After the initial four games all teams were re-seeded and the SA girls ended up making the final in their division finishing second in a tightly contested division final 2-4 to the Queensland Mermaids. Saskia excelled as the only goal keeper for the team, working tirelessly and playing the full game for each game of the competition and Lara also played exceptionally well to finish up as the second highest goal scorer for the SA team. Both Saskia and Lara have been invited to form part of the U14 girls State Squad to train over winter.