Honorary prefects

The 2020 honorary prefects

from left to right: Kim van den Hurk, Olivia Clark, Sacha Acland, Arabella Loveridge, Deborah Huang, Kristen Hansen and Jemima Forsythe.

It has become a tradition to appoint honorary prefects in the middle of each year, to honour the girls who, without a badge, have continued to contribute, often in an understated and quiet way, to the activities of the School and the Year 13 cohort.

This year the awards were made first to the girls at a special morning tea, with a video of the presentations to their parents, and finally to a full school assembly when we came out of Level 2 for the second time. This year we awarded seven, which is more than most years, but given the year we have had, sharing a bit more love seemed appropriate.

The honorary prefects for 2020 are:

Kim van den Hurk

Kim generously gives her time for others and is just such a really nice person. If someone is having a bad day, Kim is always there as a sounding board to help and support them, always making a positive difference to their lives. Her ability to form effective relationships is outstanding and she demonstrates great leadership through her ability to make everyone feel valued and respected.

Olivia Clark

Olivia is a bubbly, energetic person with a real sense of purpose and fun. She always puts her hand up to help, does a lot of coaching and has strong connections across the School with other girls. A fierce competitor, Olivia is the code captain for water polo and through this she is known and respected by many younger girls at Dio. As a voluntary referee, she makes a huge contribution of her time to sport.

Sacha Acland

Sacha has been a role model and outstanding contributor to the Diversity Committee by demonstrating what it is to be your true self. She is warm, approachable and supportive, leaving those she interacts with feeling valued. Not afraid to challenge barriers and thinking, Sacha is creative and demonstrates how we can all be equitable and non-judgmental of others. Sacha leads the Queer Straight Alliance and her sense of personal justice is a founding value of Diocesan. We acknowledge Sacha for modelling what this means to us all. Thank you Sacha for your outstanding leadership at Diocesan.

Arabella Loveridge

Arabella is someone who always has a smile on her face. If you ask her to do a job, she puts 110% effort into it, never complains and is a super-organised person. Arabella has lots of energy and on the hockey pitch she shows great grit and determination. She is an outstanding role model, very self-aware and selfless by always being ready to help and support others.

Deborah Huang

Deborah is an all-around amazing person. She is Deputy Prefect of Mary Pulling house and participates in underwater hockey, debating and every music group imaginable! She does everything to the highest level and demonstrates commitment to volunteering by working in the after-school care programme. An amazing debater, and also head of the Ethics Council, don’t take her on in an argument! She stands up for what is right and demonstrates all the attributes of honesty, integrity and respect that are true to Diocesan values.

Kristen Hansen

Kristen came to Dio at the beginning of last year and has taken every opportunity to engage and form strong relationships. She is incredibly supportive of other students who have needed help and has been a great supporter of Mary Pulling house. She contributed to the huge amount of work required by the Ball Committee and her willingness to engage and commit her time and ideas is outstanding.

Jemima Forsythe

Jemima is always working to help and support people. With her delightfully positive attitude and willingness to pitch in, she doesn’t seem to be phased by challenges and her quietly ‘behind the scenes’ approach is awesome and very much appreciated by the girls at Dio. A true servant leader, her attitude to contributing to others is admirable.

Year 13 group photo After a year filled with a multitude of challenges and, for the Year 13 girls, many disappointments due to the cancellation of events that are usually highlights of their final school year, the Year 13s celebrated having made it through with a special lockdown-themed mufti day in October.