Issue no. 21
From Our Principal
During this final week of Term 4, I have been reflecting on what an incredible first year it has been in my role as the Principal of this esteemed School. I am filled with a deep sense of gratitude, pride, and excitement when I think about what has been achieved in 2023, and I am already looking forward to what 2024 will bring.
I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you, as from day one I have been warmly welcomed into our School community, and I have been truly humbled by the warmth and support extended by our students, parents, and staff. 2023 has been a journey of learning and growth not just for me, but for the entire School.
It was lovely to be able to celebrate the festive season Tuesday night at our fantastic Carols in the Cathedral event. The music and vocals from the girls were mesmerising and I was transported into the magic that is this time of year. I am really looking forward to seeing parents of our Year 7 to 12 students this evening at Presentation Night. Both the Carols in the Cathedral and Presentation Night are such special traditions for our School, but just two of the many special traditions that I have come to know and enjoy over the year.
Next year promises to be as busy as ever. We are particularly looking forward to celebrating a major milestone, our School’s 130th birthday. We will be launching new initiatives and refining existing programs, some of which are listed below:
- Continuing reciprocal learning opportunities for our students and their Indigenous peers with our student trip to the APY Lands
- The introduction of new leadership roles, Heads of Year for Years 7 to 12, to further support the growth and wellbeing of our middle and senior girls
- A review of our EMPOWHER Program across the school to incorporate the latest research and best practice
- Extending the Pathways Program for our four year olds in the ELC, from six months to 12 months
- Progressing the North West Build which enhances our educational facilities while enabling us to remain on one campus with all the advantages that this brings
- Improving student certification via developing micro-credentials in partnership with industry and tertiary institutions
- Prioritising a streamlined process for communication with our families
The end of every school year is marked with a tinge of sadness for a multitude of reasons, particularly as we farewell valued colleagues at Saints Girls. No school is immune to this yearly cycle. As we will soon say goodbye to well regarded staff members, we will also be warmly welcoming new staff into our Saints community. Thank you to all the staff that are leaving for their contributions to the life of our School. I wish them all the very best in their future endeavours.
I would like to wish everyone in our community a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope your holidays are filled with warmth, laughter, and the company of loved ones. I am proud to be a part of this amazing community and I look forward to the continued growth and success of our School in 2024.
Cherylyn Skewes
Principal
Carols in the Cathedral Joyful and Triumphant
Heavenly harmonies rang out on Tuesday evening as our School community united in song and prayer at our annual Carols in the Cathedral.
It was a wonderful evening in the glorious St Peter’s Cathedral for this treasured tradition.
Well done to our Music students and staff for producing such sublime performances yet again.
ELC Hat Ceremony Warms Hearts
There were heart-warming scenes at our ELC Hat Ceremony on Monday as our 2024 Receptions received their School hat and bag during this treasured tradition.
The girls were guided by our Year 9 Leaders and presented to the audience by Head of Junior School Suzanne Haddy to celebrate their pathway to school.
We wish them all the best as they begin their Saints Girls’ School journey next year!
Year 6 Graduates Beam with Pride
The Year 6 Graduation and Exhibition last Friday celebrated the conclusion of the students’ Junior School education and their work as Year 6 Leaders.
During the ceremony, the Junior School Choir sang ‘Corner of the Sky’ from the Broadway musical Pippin. In the weeks leading up to the event, the students reflected on their time in Junior School, and a video was created recognising moments from Reception to Year 6.
It was lovely to see the breadth of activities they had recalled.
The finale was an uplifting song composed by the entire Year 6 group, together with our talented music teacher Robyn Habel, titled ‘Take Me Higher’, which was performed beautifully. The Exhibition followed the Graduation, showcasing the students’ final inquiry projects.
Student Reflection on their Graduation Exhibition
For the final unit of inquiry in the PYP Programme we undertook a unit known as ‘The Exhibition’. We used the transdisciplinary theme of How We Express Ourselves.
We based our thinking around the central idea that ‘courage, creativity and compassion can inspire innovative thinking’.
From the first time that the word exhibition was mentioned, to the final stage where we presented weeks of carefully curated research and intricate symbolic pieces, we have all grown a huge amount both as learners and as people. A goal throughout the exhibition process that we focussed on was developing our Approaches to Learning Skills. We focused on researching effectively, managing our time and communicating in a variety of verbal and non-verbal ways.
At the start of this unit, we explored amazing innovations and innovators and looked at the habits of innovative people. Once we decided on our area of passion for personal research, we wrote our lines of inquiry that helped us frame our inquiry.
As well as creating the symbolic pieces, we also kept track of our process, by using ‘Exhibition Journals’. These were scrapbooks that we had full control over and showcased all of our learning.
To connect our Exhibition to our specialist lessons, we designed frames for our ‘Letter to Ourselves’ in Art. We created things with clay, painted, glued, coloured and played with different materials to create a piece that will be displayed at the Exhibition. The frames represented who we are, what we like, and how we express ourselves using patterns, objects and symbols. They are our visual language.
We can proudly say that the Exhibition was a wonderful experience for everyone included. We believe that every single student has put in an amazing effort in every task and developed many skills during this journey. Each student should be very proud of what they accomplished.
Ishana Chettimada, Mathilda Begg, Amelia T, Clare Xiao, Charlotte Di Blasio and Chloe Li
Year 6 students
Presentation Night 2023 Tonight!
Thursday 9 December
Adelaide Convention Centre, Halls CD on the right as you enter the main entrance from North Terrace
Students to arrive at 6.30pm (Music Students to arrive at 6.15pm).
Doors open at 6.45pm, event commences at 7pm
Parking is available in the Adelaide Convention Centre carpark on North Terrace
Presentation Night is an event that allows us to reflect on some of the highlights of the year, celebrate the achievements of our students and provide a final opportunity to bid farewell to our Year 12 graduates.
All Middle and Senior School students are required to attend. Students are to be in full summer uniform (blazer not required) and must arrive at the Adelaide Convention Centre by 6:30pm. The event will conclude at approximately 9:15pm.
Year 6s Solar Buddy lights
On Wednesday the Year 6’s proudly participated in the SolarBuddy educational program that saw them construct over 60 solar lights for countries where energy poverty is prevalent. With the girls’ help, SolarBuddy have been able to donate more than 125,000 lights which have impacted over 625,500 lives.
The session began with the girls learning that energy poverty devastates lives in four ways; causing health, education, environment and economic disadvantages as a result. Approximately 2 million children die every year from kerosene fumes, kerosene is used in many disadvantaged countries as a main energy source. It is costly and above all, non-renewable which has many negative offsets for the future.
SolarBuddy have two goals they are working to achieve by 2030 – to gift 6 million solar lights to children living in extreme energy poverty, and to educate 6 million people globally about ways to help and provide aid. It was a wonderful opportunity for the girls to learn about the privileges they are lucky to have, ways their aid, and awareness can help impact the lives of others beyond their classroom.
The girls worked collaboratively to follow a set of instructions that involved screwing and constructing bases for the solar lights. Then they were tasked to carefully wire the lights to the solar panel. To show their gratitude, they wrote letters – in the hope that children who receive the lights can learn how thankful our girls were to be able to help them in their lives.
It was a wonderful opportunity for our girls, with many saying it quickly became one of the many highlights during their time in Year 6.
Rebecca Riley
Year 6 Teacher
Cultural Experiences at Travel Expo
Thank you to everyone who came and participated in the Year 7 Future of Travel Expo. The night was wonderful, and the travel packages were amazing. The Expo excited many for the upcoming holidays.
Parents were encouraged to buy two travel experiences after talking to all the travel companies. The most bought travel experience was Stick to Suzhou from Serena Li, Vivian Lu, and Grace Cao. With Stick to Suzhou, customers start a fascinating 3-day, 2-night journey to Zhouzhuang, immersing themselves in the art of Suzhou embroidery and exploring traditional tea culture, an unforgettable travel experience. The second most bought experience was 饮溪 (Enjoy) from Aurora Chen, Ivy Zhang, and Christina Zhu. Enjoy aims to enlighten people about the cultural significance of smaller cities in China. Hangzhou is an example of such a city, as it has a rich history to do with tea, and Enjoy’s service allows people to learn about such cultures.
All the students put significant effort into their travel companies and the experiences they offered. We applaud them all for outstanding work, commitment, planning and pitching their travel packages.
Thank you everyone, and happy travels!
Kyle Martelle
Economics, Business & Humanities Teacher
Take the Library home for the Holidays
Over the holidays students will continue to have access to a wide range of comics, graphic novels, eBooks, audiobooks, films and tv shows through the Library Canvas page. Wheelers offers a great range of eBooks and audiobooks perfect for long car rides. Decodable Readers and levelled readers are available on Wheelers for younger students to enjoy practicing reading skills over the holidays. Comics Plus has an extensive collection of comics, graphic novels and manga select Junior school, Middle School, or Senior school for curated content. ClickView has age restricted films and tv shows including family favourites from Disney and Pixar. Libby is available from the South Australian Public Library service and has a collection for the whole family including eBooks, audiobooks, magazines and non-fiction.
Enjoy a summer of reading.
Kate McBride
Library Technician
Vacation Care Bookings Available
With the School Holidays just around the corner why not take a look at our Vacation Care program and join in on one of the many exciting adventures planned to keep the children entertained.
Click here to book, places are limited so get in quick. Please note all booking made after 2pm Friday 1 December incur additional $5 late booking fee.
Keeping Safe Online
With the holidays fast approaching, mobile phone usage can increase for some young people while rules loosen slightly. We encourage all students and families to continue limiting phone usage over the holiday break and to be mindful of who they are engaging with online. Unfortunately, the holiday break can bring with it an increase in sinister online experiences, including sextortion. Sextortion is a form of online blackmail where someone is tricked or coerced into sending sexual images of themselves. They are threatened to comply with certain demands or the images may be shared. The Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation in partnership with the Australian Federal Police receives around 300 reports of financial sextortion per month, with the majority of reports involving 13-17-year-olds. Students are reminded to only talk to people online and via social media that they know in person, and to never share photos of themselves or others online. For more information and to access resources click on this link.
School Shop Notice
School Shop Holiday Hours
Friday 8 December – Monday 15 January: Closed
Tuesday 16 January: 9am – 3pm
Wednesday 17 January: 9am 3pm
Thursday 18 January: 12pm – 6pm
Monday 22 January: 9am – 3pm
Tuesday 23 January: 9am – 3pm
Wednesday 24 January: 9am – 3pm
Thursday 25 January: 9am – 3pm
Normal hours resume from Monday 29th January 2024
Monday to Friday: 8am – 4pm (closed for lunch 12 – 12.30pm)
To help reduce your waiting time, and if you require a full fitting, it is advisable to book in advance via our online booking calendar.
Parents can also order items via Flexischools
Uniform Requirements for 2024
Year 4 Students
If your daughter will be in Year 4 next year, there are a few different uniform requirements that you will need to purchase before Term 1, 2024.
The Junior Blazer (Cardigan) is no longer worn and is replaced by the navy blue jumper and blazer.
Year 10 Students
Year 10 students are to wear the light blue jumper and no longer able to wear the navy blue jumper.
Swimming Requirements for Years 4 to 10
We ask parents to check that their daughters have correctly sized bathers for swimming activities for all girls in Year 4 to 10.
New ELC Uniforms
From 2024, the new ELC uniform will be compulsory for all children to wear during their time at the ELC. Children will need to wear both the top and bottom pieces (t-shirt; shorts; long sleeve top; long pants). A plain navy-coloured long sleeve top will be permitted to be worn underneath the t-shirt. For summer and high UV periods, children will wear the new ELC bucket hat, and for cooler periods, there will be new ELC vest and jacket options to replace non-ELC jackets, jumpers and vests.
Sports News
While school competition has finished for the year, our Saints girls are still out there competing and accomplishing amazing things!
In August this year Annie Goldsmith placed second in the Prone 2 Women category at the 2023 Australian Para Surfing Titles. This result was an awesome accomplishment in itself, but from this result Annie received a wildcard invitation to represent Australia at the ISA World Para Surfing Championship, held in November in Huntington Beach, California USA. Annie was one of ten Australians who travelled as Team Irukandjis to compete in the World Championships. Competing in two rounds of heats, Annie improved her scores throughout the competition and placed 11th in the Prone 2 Women event. Annie said, ‘I had an amazing time and met so many great people!’ Well done Annie on your wonderful achievement. We are so proud of you!
Alice Braithwaite competed in the Swimming Open Water States over the weekend, held at West Lakes. Alice raced in the 17-18 year age group and came first! She also achieved a national time for her swim.
Collette Palmieri and her cheerleading team competed in the National Cheerleading Championships in Sydney over the weekend. Her team placed first and were crowed National Champions!
Four of our girls competed in the School Sport SA Triathlon event on Tuesday 5 December. Alice and Daisy Braithwaite competed in the Seniors Individual Competition and took our first and second, with Alice beating Daisy by 1.4 seconds! Audrey Fox competed in the Juniors Individual Competition and while she didn’t place, she had an outstanding race and should be proud of her efforts. Alice and Daisy were joined by Ava Field in the Open Teams Event and placed first. A great result for our girls. Well done!
