Mary Ward Connect

Words by Emma Kilpatrick

Established in 2009, the Mary Ward Connect Program is intended to develop further connectedness between the Loreto schools in Australia. The annual three-day program sees each school welcome visitors from two Loreto schools. This year Loreto College Ballarat was paired with Loreto Coorparoo and Loreto Normanhurst. 16 students from Loreto Ballarat were selected to visit Coorparoo and Normanhurst, and another 16 students assisted in our buddy program held here in Ballarat for the respective Colleges.

The overarching intention of the program is to provide visiting staff and students the chance to gain a firsthand insight into life at the College, and the opportunity to experience some of what Ballarat has to offer. The program offers students the chance to share in the kindred spirit of Mary Ward and the legacy she has left for us all. After several years of the program being unable to run to its full capacity due to COVID, it was wonderful to see our students wholly engage in the activities offered through the week.

This year the program centred around the planning for the 150-year celebrations of Loreto in Australia, which will coincide with our Year 10 cohort’s graduating Year 12 in 2025. In preparation for this, students participated in a range of year-level challenges, the creation of a 150-year visual timeline of Loreto schools, and creating design ideas for the mannequins that will be created to commemorate each school and their unique history. Furthermore, our Year 10s engaged in tours of the College, an online session with the other Loreto schools, an excursion to Sovereign Hill and a Moonlight Cinema held in our beautiful Antoinette Hayden Library. Each of these activities were ably supported by our Ballarat buddies.

One of the most encouraging outcomes of the week was the connections developed between our students and the friendships we hope will continue over the years. An email from staff member Ms Tammy Vandenberg enroute to Coorpooroo summed up how strong the Loreto connection can be:

‘The girls are so sweet, it’s like a family reunion! We even bumped into Loreto Mandeville at the airport on their way to Adelaide for MWC. The Mandeville girls literally ran to our girls with excitement… they don’t even know each other but are united by Mary Ward. It made my heart melt.’

Words by Bethany Ryan – Year 10

I was very fortunate and privileged to be selected as one of only eight students from Loreto College Ballarat who got the opportunity to travel to Loreto Normanhurst Sydney during March, 2023.

Once we arrived in Sydney, we met our host buddy students and had dinner as a group. We were also given a tour of the Loreto Normanhurst Campus. Over the next few days we participated in regular classes with our buddies and learned about Loreto Normanhurst school life. We broke into Year 10 House groups to listen to a live Zoom presentation, which included all National Loreto Year 10 students including Ballarat, Coorparoo, Kirribilli, Marryatville, Normanhurst and Toorak – and heard some inspiring words from Sr Sandra Perrett ibvm. We then began planning for the 150-year celebrations of Loreto in 2025, when all the current Year 10s will be in Year

12 and graduating. We also had the opportunity to show a video that we created for the Coorparoo and Normanhurst girls, which included a tour, interviews and a glimpse of life at Loreto College Ballarat.

We enjoyed a bush walk, visited the Loreto Normanhurst Cemetery and met the Year 10 boarders for a pizza dinner night. It became a wonderful opportunity to meet new people and make friendships. We also played a game of Benchball together which was a very engaging, inclusive and fun game for everyone.

On Thursday we were lucky to visit the Primary School within Loreto Normanhurst and assisted the Year 5 and 6 students with their schoolwork. This was a unique experience, as we do not have primary students at Loreto College Ballarat.

We were then were able to explore the city, catching a ferry. We saw the amazing Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, ventured to The Rocks, took some time to shop and then had dinner together. We managed to get a group photo of all the Loreto students that were in Sydney.

Friday quickly came around and it was time to travel back to Ballarat. We attended Chapel in the morning, which is where we were presented with candles, and spent the last hours with our Normanhurst buddies. We then traveled to the airport and said goodbye to our Coorperoo friends we had met on our journey.

I gained a great deal from this experience, including the gathering of many ideas that can be incorporated into Loreto life in Ballarat. I built and made many new connections with the girls from both Coorperoo and the Sydney buddies, as well as the Year 10 day students and boarders. This was an experience I will never forget and I’m very grateful to have been given the opportunity to attend this program and build my understanding of Mary Ward and Loreto Schools.