VOLUME
Our focus at St Aidan’s is to develop and promote
AUTHENTIC,
and CREATIVE women who value reason, imagination, truth, compassion and responsibility.
Schools are organic; they are living places of people and plans, projects and programs.
St Aidan’s continues to evolve as we deliver world-class education, which grows our students’ understanding that, in order to create a caring, creative, and connected community, we must be involved. Since 1929, St Aidan’s has unashamedly held to our Christian values and heritage as the source of purpose in educating the whole girl, for the whole of life. We expect everyone to reach their potential and we provide the opportunity to pursue personal aspirations so that they may truly flourish.
St Aidan’s has been doing this for nearly 95 years and we intend to continue to do so well into the future.
Just like an architect’s plans, or a designer’s drawings, this edition of the Blueprint contains the record of knowledge that is needed to continue to build or make something. When we build a strong foundation, we are positioned to face the future with confidence.
The Blueprint provides the platform for our school leaders to share our programs of action, the building of our school, mapped against our school’s vision, values and strategic pillars. At St Aidan’s, we build excellence in education, ensuring that each individual student is nurtured within a vibrant learning environment, and that she has the opportunity to realise her aspirations.
St Aidan’s focus is to develop and promote authentic, caring, confident, creative and connected women who value reason, imagination, truth, compassion and responsibility. The values of the Society of the Sacred Advent; humility, courage, compassion, resilience, faithfulness and whole-heartedness inform our daily school life. It is my hope that you will discover these learner attributes, values, and beliefs, woven into the stories of achievement and progress highlighted within the Blueprint.
As we do each year, we acknowledge our hard-working and resilient senior cohort of students. Our young women have steadfastly met the demands of the QCE system, completed external examinations in all their General Subjects, while demonstrating inspiring leadership in uncertain times. St Aidan’s is a non-selective school yet our senior students’ academic outcomes continue to place us among the top schools in Queensland.
I thank our community of student leaders, peak bodies, and staff for their commitment. I commend our teachers and support staff, who are dedicated professionals and ensure the relationships for learning they build each year encompass our global view and outlook to the future, so that every St Aidan’s girl has the opportunity to fly.
Ms Toni Riordan Principal BEd, MEd (Leadership), FACEL, MACE, GAICD, FIML
The ethos of a school is an idea that is often spoken of in formal publications like this, but not readily encountered in the push and pull of daily life. Ethos is something that sounds good but is expected to give way to expediency, or cost.
I am always encouraged by the way ethos is lived out at St Aidan’s and not just paid lip-service. We know our story, and even better, we believe it. We expect that the values of the Sisters will be experienced in both the joys and challenges of our shared life. And we happily share with others that story, because we want them to know it too.
This year brought many opportunities for the St Aidan’s ethos to shape our life together. From the delayed start and all the challenges of a pandemic that emerged throughout the year, through the visceral effects of flooding on our doorstep, and over the doorsteps of members of our community, to some staff changes; we have all been asked to be humble, compassionate, courageous, faithful, resilient and wholehearted.
This is not to say that any of it is easy, or that we always get it right. However, we do know what the St Aidan’s ethos looks and feels like because we get it right often enough. Whether it is a flash mob of senior students dancing with the Year 7s at the Athletics Carnival or the Junior School students writing good luck messages to the Year 12s for their exams, or even families helping families during natural disaster or illness, our values are on display.
Ethos is most often experienced in the small moments that make a difference to one person’s life. Anyone who has been given a second chance, or a helping hand, knows this well. We retell the stories of the Sisters because we know that stories are important in making meaning of this crazy life. I like to talk about the courage of the Sisters in venturing into Northern Queensland in full English-style religious habits, complete with veil and wimple, and encountering the heat, humidity and wildlife of our tropics. I know that many of our staff and students show similar courage in turning up to school each day, ready to learn something new, try a different way of doing things, or face an anxiety or fear.
In the end, the ethos of St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School – the way we do things here – is how we make sense of our common life. Whether we are in the classroom or staffroom, sporting field or playground, library or music rehearsal, or chapel, we try to relate to each other in ways that embody the vision of the Society of the Sacred Advent, which is to prepare a place for God in our own hearts and in the world in which we live. We make room for God, who can be found in every person, to do God’s thing with us, and through us. And we give thanks for being part of this good work.
It is with great pride that we celebrate the wonderful achievements of our school and share that success with our St Aidan’s community.
Fostering a sense of community at St Aidan’s is, of course, one of the Council’s fundamental goals. When you share your victories and your achievements with your community, the value of that achievement suddenly multiplies. Take the recent ATAR results for the cohort of 2022. These stellar results will open doors for the seniors of 2022, but they also serve as exemplars for the seniors of 2023 and beyond. These senior students are showing their younger peers what’s possible, showing their parents, their siblings, their grandparents, their friends and their teachers that all of the support they’ve received has paid off. Because that’s the purpose of community –to support each other through times of need and congratulate each other during times of success.
Our St Aidan’s community is not just the students and staff. It also includes the Council, the Foundation, the P&F, the Old Girls Association and of course our closest neighbours (geographically speaking), our corporate partners, and our friends.
Each of these stakeholders contribute in various ways to help St Aidan’s grow.
Each student at St Aidan’s is seen.
Each individual is counted.
Each girl is encouraged to strive to meet their personal goals.
One example of our commitment to connecting community is the integration of the Japanese school into the St Aidan’s campus. In the most literal, physical sense, we’ve introduced an entire group of people to our space, welcomed people from another part of the world into our own, and vice versa. Inviting these students into our school has given them a new vantage point from which to view Australia, and Australian education. And by the same token, sharing our space with them means our access to Japan, its people and its culture, is more accessible.
Likewise, the recent approval for the construction of our sporting facilities at Ambiwerra presents a new world of possibilities for the St Aidan’s community. By welcoming the wider Ambiwerra community to use those facilities, we will effectively expand the St Aidan’s community in a mutual exchange. We aim to signal that
St Aidan’s is not just a physical place, a collection of buildings, or a place purely for academia. We want to make it clear that we are members of the wider community, and that said, the wider community also belongs to the St Aidan’s family.
Our accomplishments aren’t possible without the support of the whole community. Without your interest in and passion for sports, there’d be no use for such facilities, for a space that allows us to connect with the wider community in a real and holistic way. And the development of the space, and many others like it, wouldn’t be possible without the generous donations made by families and friends of the school.
The great blessing of a strong community is that it builds itself; when the school receives donations, it results in the kinds of facilities and programs that make up the educational excellence and nurturing environment that St Aidan’s is renowned for. As that reputation grows, more young students and their families wish to join this amazing community, and more resources become available, to further build the St Aidan’s community, and the cycle continues.
Our Principal, Ms Toni Riordan, gave a speech earlier this year in which she reflected on what a community truly is, and she had this to say:
“I believe a strong and vibrant community is made of people with a shared set of values and experiences defined by its purpose for being –and ours at St Aidan’s is to be a world-leader in girls’ education.”
St Aidan’s is many things: a pillar of living faith, a benchmark of educational excellence, a hub of inspiring professionals and the epitome of a nurturing environment. But most of all, it’s exactly what Ms. Riordan said - a strong and vibrant community. The vibrance and focus on connecting community is what allows us to fly together.
Mr Stephen Green Chair of Council BE Civil (Uni NSW)
In the Junior School we encourage our students to step out of their comfort zones and work towards a zone of growth. With this in mind, our curriculum, and every experience that we tailor for our girls in the Junior School, is designed to challenge at each age and stage.
Our staff think beyond traditional classroom experiences and expose the girls to holistic educational experiences and challenges.
This year, all our students, from Prep to Year 6, took part in Self Defence classes where they learnt about everyday personal safety, resilience strategies, verbal tools for the school yard, personal safety and situational awareness as well as identification and development of positive support networks.
We encouraged the girls on a daily basis to ‘have a go’, to step out of their comfort zone and to persist.
To this end, our Year 5 and Year 6 students competed in a number of competitions such as the interschool debating and public speaking competitions. For some girls this was daunting, but they bravely took on this challenge and were prepared to be comfortable with being a bit uncomfortable.
We provided opportunities for our girls to step out of their comfort zone regardless of age.
This year, a number of our Prep to Year 3 students presented and performed at our whole school assemblies in front of 950 students, demonstrating to our oldest students that it doesn’t matter how old you are, you can still try anything that you put your mind to, even if it may be a little intimidating. Research tells us that leaving our comfort zone ultimately helps us all to deal with change and uncertainty. We know that every time we consciously choose to step outside our comfort zone, the next uncomfortable thing becomes a little bit easier. And, we all know how important this skill has been over the past two years and will continue to be into the future.
Mrs Jenny Crome Head of Junior School BA, MEd (Leadership & Mgt), Grad DipEd (Primary),Grad DipEd (Early Childhood), Cert IV (Business)The Junior School has been filled with excitement throughout the year with the Penguin Pals program. Penguin Pals is our buddy system that matches every student from Kindy to Year 3 with a student from Year 4, 5 or 6. At scheduled times throughout each term, Penguin Pals spend time together, participating in a range of activities around the school.
Students worked cooperatively to learn from each other, completed art and craft activities and read stories together, generating lots of positive feedback and enthusiasm for the next Penguin Pals session. Our program also ensured that our younger students not only have a pal during the regular school day but also at special events including interhouse cross country, athletics and swimming carnivals. Students were partnered according to their S Aidan’s House, which enhanced House spirit within the Junior School.
The Penguin Pals program has been implemented to nurture authentic, caring, confident, creative and connected students in line with our school’s values. Research has shown that buddy programs such as Penguin Pals contribute to the creation of safe, friendly and caring school communities and assist students to develop skills associated with empathy and compassion.
It is exciting to observe the strong, trusting and supportive bonds being established across the year levels and we look forward to seeing these continue as our students move into the Senior School.
Globally, there is a significant corpus of research that promotes the benefits of intergenerational connections. The many advantages of these interactions include enhanced conversational skills, increased physical activity, and a sense of connection.
St Aidan’s has enjoyed a long history of engaging with grandparents. In 2022, we arranged to have more regular connections through our Emperor Penguin program. This initiative invites grandparents and senior friends to the Junior School to enjoy coding and robotics, reading, playing games like Chess and Connect 4, skipping and knitting. The program allowed different generations to find common interests, and connect and learn from one another. Sometimes young students created the activities, and other times our Emperor Penguins shared their knowledge and taught our students new skills. We look forward to our Emperor Penguin population growing in numbers as we seek to share the myriad of benefits the program offers our younger and older community members.
Prep – Late Night saw the girls experience a camp-like night of fun. They collected badges by completing tasks such as: making lanterns, hunting by torchlight, cooking, playing team parachute games, putting on pyjamas and cleaning teeth, sharing stories by the ‘campfire’ and then resting in their tents.
Year 1 – Late Night enabled the students to experience the excitement of Wonderland. They raced to fill up teapots and found secret keys before following a white rabbit down a dark tunnel. The girls created hats and decorated teacups in preparation for the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.
Year 2 – Late Night surrounded the theme ‘All things fluoro’. The girls enjoyed outdoor play, indoor physical activities and fluoro art. They worked in teams to solve unusual ‘Minute to Win it’ challenges and created a firework art piece to take home.
Year 3 – Our Year 3 girls travelled to Camp Kindilan where they were encouraged to try new tasks and make new friends. Team initiatives, the possum glider and canoeing enabled the girls to spend time in the great outdoors and participate in traditional camp activities.
Year 4 – Year 4 embraced the outdoors at Maroochy Waterfront and learned how to work in a team by navigating their way around the grounds, completing a series of complex tasks involving obstacles, physical, cryptic, and academic challenges. Students also participated in beach safety lessons and swam at Maroochydore Beach.
Year 5 – Year 5 students visited Camp Laurence at Lake Moogerah at the base of the Great Dividing Range. In this picturesque setting, students participated in a range of nature inspired activities including archery, team building, mountain biking, canoeing and the high ropes crate challenge. Developing teamwork and leadership skills were the focus as students looked toward Year 6.
Year 6 – Our Year 6 Leaders faced new challenges while attending camp at Moreton Island. They were encouraged to step out of their comfort zone and participate in a number of physical activities ranging from night kayaking and sand tobogganing to team building skills.
Steve Baker Assistant Head of Junior School BEd (Primary)
Professional Baseballer Babe Ruth once said, “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” Such a quotation epitomizes the tremendous spirit, dedication, and resilience of our St Aidan’s Junior School sportswomen as they take to the sports fields, courts, and gymnasiums.
Faced initially with adversity due to the February floods, our girls looked to the 2022 sporting season with defiance… no obstacle was too big; and optimism… success as an individual, as a school and as a community would be achieved.
Sport, whilst sometimes viewed as a simple game, is much more than that. It can teach you about winning, losing, disappointment, failure, excitement, improvement, teamwork, humility, and selflessness. These life lessons are regularly practiced in the diverse range of sports offered in the various competitions that the Junior School competes in – Andrews Cup, Eastern Taipans District, Walter Taylor Bridge and Interhouse.
There have been some outstanding successes throughout the 2022 year. Although success is often linked to winning, our Junior School successes have included more than that, with strong participation, increased involvement, and exceptional results.
In our pinnacle sporting competition, Andrews Cup, our teams left no stone unturned, with each of our girls playing with passion and a never give up attitude. It was this tenacity and willingness by all, that not only inspired our teams, but catapulted them to success across a number of disciplines. Our team and core sports secured numerous premierships and top three placings, whilst our individual sports saw three of our girls: Zoe A. (Tennis), Natalie C. (Swimming) and Anna S. (Swimming) named as members of their respective Metropolitan West Teams, and Gracie B. (Equestrian) named as a member of the Queensland Interschool Equestrian Team which competed at the Australian National Championships.
In reflection, what will be remembered is not all the challenges that the girls faced during the ‘cloudy’ start to the year, but instead how these Junior School Sportswomen ‘weathered the storm’, stood tall together, collectively embraced the conditions and decided to thrive in the face of adversity. They achieved results of which everyone should be extremely proud. Congratulations!
Mrs Tracey Jeanes-Fraser Head of Junior Sport and Physical Education BEd (Secondary), High Performance Coaching Accreditation - Netball Australia
Athletics
Aggregate Cup – 3rd Place
11 Years – 3rd Place
9 Years – 2nd Place
Basketball
A Division – 4th Place
C Division – 3rd Place
Cricket
A Division – 1st Place
Cross Country
Aggregate Cup – 4th Place
10 Years – 2nd Place
9 Years – 3rd Place
8 Years – 3rd Place
Netball
A Division – 3rd Place
B Division – 4th Place
C Division – 4th Place
Junior A – 1st Place
Junior B – 3rd Place
Touch Football
A Division – 4th Place
B Division – 4th Place
C Division – 3rd Place
Swimming
11 Years – 4th Place
Tennis (Invitational)
A Division – 4th Place
Junior B Division – 3rd Place
At the start of 2022, the Year 12 cohort chose the phrase, ‘You Got This’, as their inspiration for the year ahead. As a cohort they certainly embraced this approach to their academic studies as they coped with the challenges of a delayed start to the school year, and the impact of the flood to our local community. Despite this initial unexpected turn of events, our 2022 Year 12 graduands showed themselves to be caring, confident, creative and connected young women as they worked together to achieve their full potential.
Our teachers walk alongside the Year 12s to expertly prepare the students for the internal, mock and external assessments. The St Aidan’s teachers continue to be involved in the QCAA quality assurance processes with 6 teachers appointed as Confirmers and 2 Lead Confirmers, 6 teachers as Endorsers, 13 teachers as External assessment markers, and 3 teachers involved in writing and scrutiny panels for the external assessments. This involvement with QCAA ensures that we are constantly building expertise to provide a quality academic program for the students.
Academic achievement for the graduands of St Aidan’s was celebrated through their completion of QCAA General and Applied subjects, as well as vocational qualifications including the Diploma of Business and Certificate II or III courses. Each of these achievements contribute towards the students QCE and build their portfolio of knowledge and skills for future endeavours. The ATAR provides one mechanism for students to enter tertiary courses and is provided as a notional percentile rank, with a high of 99.95 representing performance in the top .05% of students in the state. Increments of .05 separating ATARs, result in a finer grained measure of student achievement.
For the graduating class of 2022, a key focus was remaining focused on the three internal assessments so that they were able achieve as many subject marks as possible prior to the external assessment. For Maths and Science subjects, internal assessment marks were worth 50% of the overall subject result. For all other subjects, the internal assessments contributed 75% to the subject result. Three internal assessments combined with one external assessment to calculate their Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR).
Our 2022 Year 12 students are to be congratulated on their remarkable achievement. Their results reflect the hard work and dedication of the 2022 cohort and the quality and professionalism of the teaching staff and educational experience offered at St Aidan’s.
Mrs Jo Butterworth Dean of Studies BSc (App-HMSEd), MACEL97% of St Aidan’s senior cohort was ATAR eligible.Actual performance may be higher, as the small number of students who did not release data to the school have been included as having achieved below 80.
St Aidan’s continues to be one of the top performing independent schools in Queensland.
MEDIAN ATAR HIGHEST ATAR 99.90
94.15
achieved by 2 students
ATAR OF
12% OF STUDENTS
ATAR OF + 95
44% OF STUDENTS
7 students achieved Perfect Scores 100/100
+ 99 + 98
22% OF STUDENTS
A’s
ATAR OF + 90
ATAR OF 53 students achieved straight A’s in all 5 subjects
77% OF STUDENTS
100% of all students achieved a QCE (Queensland Certificate of Education)
Data Consent - Australian Tertiary Admission Ranks (ATAR) are calculated and released by the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre (QTAC). The decision for students to share their ATAR result with their schools is optional and St Aidan’s only has access to the individual ATARs of our Year 12 students where consent has been granted by those students when registering in the ATAR Portal. The St Aidan’s class of 2022 was a cohort of 108 students, 103 were ATAR eligible.
2022 started out with a bang as we invited Nick Earls to be our inaugural Writer in Residence. Nick joined us for a full week at the start of Term 1, helping to mentor both staff and students in the craft of writing. The Year 9 students welcomed Nick into their classrooms as they completed workshop activities to help improve their narrative writing. We held an Open Door at lunch where students from Years 7-12 could hear Nick speak on his writing process; teachers from both the Junior and Senior School completed a professional development workshop with him, and we ran a Flash Fiction competition for students who wrote short stories of 50 words or less. We are very grateful for the work that Nick put in to help us improve our capacity to deliver meaningful instruction to ultimately see growth in our students’ confidence to write creatively.
We have continued to build on our foundations of delivering engaging and thought-provoking curriculum and pedagogy to strengthen student independence and confidence in all literary avenues. A significant part of our pedagogical reflection has included the continuation of our research project with The University of Queensland which began last year and focuses on developing agentic learners through feedback processes. This included trialling new approaches to delivering feedback to students, such as staggered drafting, ‘next step’ directives to improve student agency and delivering feedback using different technological tools.
Finally, we continued to refresh the texts studied in order to meet students’ needs and provide them with opportunities to connect with representations of people, times and places that resonate with them in some way. This year saw the introduction of Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey in Year 10 English, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak in Year 11 English and the film Lion in Essential English. We are looking forward to introducing more new texts in 2023.
As we opened the year by welcoming Nick Earls into the St Aidan’s community, I would like to finish with a quote from him: “The writing can be its own reward, as you discover more things that you can do. It counts a lot, though, when a story connects with a reader and they take the time to tell me about it.” We hope that our English students, at some point in the year, have felt rewarded by the process of their own writing or have felt connected to the writing of an author in some way, expressing their thoughts with creativity and confidence.
Mrs Samantha Doig Head of Faculty BEd, BArts
Science engineering and the technologies influence every aspect of modern life. Knowledge of science and engineering is required to engage with major public policy issues as well as make informed decisions, such as selecting alternative medical treatments, or determining how to invest public funds for water supply and renewable energy sources.
Our experience with the pandemic has highlighted the importance of science as a human endeavour and brought to the forefront the power of collaboration and creative thinking skills in solving global problems. Our students have experienced first-hand the relevance of science through constant exposure to media claims and the bombardment of daily statistics. The questions below provide some insight into the ways in which these scenarios have sparked learning discussions within the classroom:
• “How is the growth of online learning affecting students? Is it benefiting some while hindering others? How can we take this and different learning styles into account to create a system that benefits those with a variety of learning styles?”
• “What are the effects on the environment? Executives had to do a lot of travel for work prior to COVID-19. Companies have been revaluating how essential all that travel was. Did they really need to travel halfway across the country to meet with a client or would skyping have worked just as well?”
• “How effective are measures like social distancing, wearing masks, wearing gloves to combating the spread of COVID-19?
• “What are the long-term effects going to be? How can we get the real information and cut the spread of fake news on this virus? How will the COVID-19 virus affect us 5 years from now?”
The celebration of Science Week highlighted the creativity of our science educators with a series of activities relating to the 2022 Science Week theme – ‘Glass - more than meets the eye’. Students from Years 7-12 made kaleidoscopes and used the energy of the sun to etch wood. We used lasers to investigate mirror mazes and explore optical fibres in jelly.
Our Marie Curie Science Club explored scientific ideas in a low-stress, non-competitive environment that further fostered curiosity, imagination and creativity. Marie Curie Club is a hybrid space that encourages a deep engagement in science. Requiring just a curious mind, students explored invisible ink, edible organs, projectile rockets, iPhone amplifiers, and the powers of centrifugation. A highlight of the semester was the presentation of an award to St Aidan’s for our ongoing commitment to the UQ Science Ambassador Program over the last 18 years.
The Science Elective program undertaken in Years 9 and 10, in conjunction with the Physical Education program, offers students a multidisciplinary approach to STEM and Human Movements. Learners worked collaboratively to design, create and evaluate from a ‘big picture’ perspective. This enabled them to cross boundaries between disciplines and gain unique insights into their subject as they spent time working on problems that intersected two fields. For example, combining anatomy in HPE with robotics in physical sciences, or nutritional biochemistry with forensics science. This somewhat unconventional approach to learning encourages learners to be adaptable and to move past traditional subject specific boundaries, skills that are required in an ever-changing workforce.
Dr Ela Martin Acting of Head of Faculty BMedMD Sci, PhD (Medicine), GradDipT (Secondary)
2022 was a busy year for both students and teachers in the Mathematics faculty. Increasing student understanding and interest in the subject were the stimulus for many changes and new activities. Teachers focused on differentiation – tailoring the learning to meet students wherever they were on their learning journey and adjusting activities to encourage growth. This, combined with thoughtprovoking changes to the junior assessment guidelines, resulted in a new direction and focus for the year.
Foundational skills have been at the forefront of the junior classrooms. Teachers of junior classes heeded the words of Albert Einstein, ‘Having fun while learning is the best way to learn’ when they planned their classroom activities. A visit from World of Maths provided a fun opportunity for the students to learn mathematics through real-life examples. Interactive displays rewarded students for their successes as they ‘had a go’ at each activity. Students were required to complete a rich task – one that encouraged learners to think creatively, work logically, communicate ideas, synthesise results, analyse viewpoints, look for commonalities and evaluate findings. They designed and costed a suit made from Australian notes for their ‘filthy rich cashinova’ mathematics teacher. Gucci and Armani would have been proud of the results which were presented to their peers at the culmination of this brief. This was a fun introduction into what a Problem Solving and Modelling Task (PSMT) would look like in coming years.
Year 8 students were explicitly exposed to the processes involved in a PSMT as they designed a kennel for a particular breed of dog. They researched dimensions for their allocated breed and combined this with their knowledge of surface area and scale to determine the amount of paint required to finish the kennel. Linear Relationships were used by Year 9 students to investigate the rental costs of hiring a scooter while Year 10 students used plasticine to design a geometric sculpture that showcased the beauty of mathematics. The volume of the sculpture was used to cost material required to construct a one metre scaled version of the original model. Whirlybirds were also dropped en masse by the Year 10 cohort to investigate how wing length affects flight time.
Mr Joel Speranza Head of Faculty BEd (Business and Mathematics)
Creative Arts and Design Studies provide a portal to the school community. Through displays and performances both on campus and in the broader community, we continue to value and promote effort, risk-taking, authenticity and talent through our reflective pedagogy and best teaching practices.
The value of the Arts lies in resourcefulness, initiative, and metacognition as we challenge students to step outside their comfort zones.
Our innovative pedagogy in Visual Art is provided through purposeful, ambitious paths of inquiry through a confluence of experiential research-based practice supported by enhanced opportunities through co-curricular and extracurricular activities.
Practising artists, Dr Anna Carey and Leith Maguire, who exhibit both nationally and internationally, led inspirational workshops with students across all year levels. They complimented the work of Year 12 IA3 and Year 9 who considered the notions of home, loss, nostalgia and the domestic in their works. Anna and Leith also shared their insights about sustaining art practice.
There were many exceptional student outcomes acknowledged this year through highly prestigious competitions, including a Year 12 Excellence Award in the Creative Generation Visual Art, a GoMA Residency for a Year 10 student, and a Sotheby’s three-month Gap Internship for a Year 12 student to be undertaken in London.
Year 9 Technologies students were involved in a designing and 3D printing assistive devices for people in our school community who have been affected by injury or a physical disability. Our Year 10 Technologies students participated in the Gen[in] innovation challenge run by UQ Ventures. Two of our students were selected to pitch their designs at the finals event, held at The University of Queensland with one of these being selected as runner-up.
Our Australian Space Design Team were once again crowned Australian winners. This allowed them the opportunity to participate in the International Space Settlement Design Competition.
We had six teams of students between Years 5 and 10 enter the 2022 Techgirls Competition. This Australia-wide tech entrepreneurship competition has teams work with mentors to develop apps that address real-world problems aligned with UN sustainable development goals. Our Year 8 team were announced as Queensland Finalists, the Year 7 team gained a Highly Commended Award, and our Year 10 team won the GameChanger Award.
In Drama students were challenged to make, perform and respond to drama in diverse contexts. Year 8 Drama delved into a dystopian world and brought characters to life in a performance of scenes from the Magical Realism play ‘The Trolleys’. Year 9 Drama transformed both Ancient Greek Myths and First Nations literature into powerful contemporary performances. Year 9 also had the opportunity to share the skills they developed throughout the year with Year 4 and 5 students from the Junior School through a wholeclass production of ‘The Pied Piper’ and ‘The BFG’. Year 10 Drama students created and performed a piece that communicated important messages about cyber security and privacy. Year 11 Drama students explored ways that drama could be used to share the human experience. They analysed a verbatim theatre play that gave a platform to the voice of refugees and created their own drama that empowered the voice of a person or group of their choice. Additionally, Year 10 and 11 girls had the opportunity to work with an artist from Shake ‘n’ Stir Theatre Company, where they were guided through the process of creating drama in the Epic Theatre style. Finally, a major highlight of the year was a trip to Queensland Performance Arts Centre where students in Years 9-12 were given the opportunity to view a live production of ‘Holding Achilles’ by Dead Puppets Society.
Mrs Gaye Brown Head of Faculty DipArtT, BArtEd
The St Aidan’s Music Department strives to engender a love of music of all kinds, while engaging students in musical pursuits that serve their varying needs and passions.
Throughout 2022, students from Kindy to Year 12 have been actively involved in singing, playing, reading, writing, improvising, composing, analysing and reflecting about music. At the core of musical development is the advancement of each child’s personal musicianship and creativity. Musicianship refers to knowledge, skill, and artistic sensitivity in performing music and can be educated in every child. Creative thinking is a skill critical to success in our everchanging modern world and music provides a vehicle through which this skill can be explored and developed.
Unique musical experiences for St Aidan’s girls have been offered through curriculum music lessons, co-curricular programs such as Beginner Band and Junior Singers Choir, the Private Tuition Program and Extracurricular Ensembles such as Choir, Strings and Band. In addition to daily or weekly interactions during these activities, special events throughout the year have punctuated the St Aidan’s musical tapestry to further enrich the musical lives of our girls and provide opportunities for public performance. These events included recitals, concerts, assemblies, The Anglican Schools Music Festival, State Honours Ensemble Program, Ambrose Treacy College Combined Workshop and Concert, individual examinations, as well as services, open mornings and award ceremonies.
Our youngest musicians can now confidently sing in tune and demonstrate the fundamentals of beat and rhythm preparing them for the world of extra-curricular and a lifelong engagement with music. Our middle school students have honed their skills and are starting to establish their unique musical interests and talents. The senior students have become accomplished performers and composers and through their continued involvement in the classroom and extracurricular programs, have developed high level performance skills and knowledge.
Mrs Sue Figliano Head of Music Ms Shannon Tobin Head of Performance BMus, MMus (Res), MMus(Perf), Grad Dip Teaching
Learning humanities equips students to better understand the complexities of what it means to be human and how we can achieve our goals taking into account our history and environment.
In History, Year 7 and 8 students explored the Ancient and Medieval world. They experienced an archaeological dig, examined the mysteries of Ancient Egypt, the rise of the Chinese Empire and the triumphs of the Renaissance. In Year 9 and 10 we studied a survey course of early modern History which included the wonders of the Industrial Revolution, followed by emergence in the Chinese and Japanese empires. Students investigated the accomplishment of the Australian federation and uncovered the confronting tragedy of the Great War. Meanwhile, the Senior historians surveyed the great revolutions of the world: America, France, Russia, and China, followed the rise of the Nazi Party and investigated the battle against fascism in WWII. The Cold War was the focus of the last part of the year and the Year 12 students approached their final exam on the Vietnam War with justified confidence in the knowledge and skills they had acquired. In Geography, students learnt how our environment has shaped our society and future.
Year 7 Geography students participated in a class role play to suggest how the Murray Darling River could be managed for the future. By experimenting with spatial mapping and ArcGIS using ‘StoryMaps’, they discovered how the water cycle works in their everyday lives. As part of their studies of ‘Landforms and Landscapes’ and ‘Changing Nations’, the Year 8 Geography classes travelled to Mt Tamborine and completed a variety of field trip activities. Year 10 Geography girls explored natural geological, geomorphic, and atmospheric hazard zones and discussed their impact on the world.
In Year 9 and 10 Business, students developed their entrepreneurial and financial literacy skills by learning about budgeting, investing, and participating in the Share Market Game and the Buy Smart Competition. Accounting students learnt the fundamental roles of organisations in our economy and extended their skills by developing problem-solving and evaluating accounting practices. They also participated in the Accounting Forum presented by QUT and BEAQ. In Senior Economics, students interrogated a range of data and applied economic models and theory to evaluate current economic decision making in the economy.
Mrs Marcia Forness HeadAidan’s Anglican Girls’ School
Year 7 and 9 Chinese students enjoyed an excursion to the annual Buddha Birthday Celebration held in Chung Tian Temple. Students had the opportunity to learn about Chinese cultural activities such as martial arts, the lion dance, a tea ceremony and writing Chinese calligraphy. At the end of Term 3, Chinese cooking lessons were held for each class. Students sipped Chinese tea and tasted Chinese buns, dumplings, and spring rolls. Apart from learning Chinese dining etiquette, students also viewed the intricate design of Chinese tea pots. Students across all grades participated in the annual Education Perfect Global Language Championship which made learning fun.
Throughout the year, French students had the opportunity to experience French culture. Students in Years 10, 11 and 12 enjoyed a delightful meal at local French restaurant, Boucher, with a menu of French classics such as cheese soufflé, agneau and tarte tatin. Students in Years 7, 8 and 9 enjoyed warm French pastries to celebrate the end of their exams, while in the Junior School, students rehearsed and presented short French-language plays. Students from Years 7 to 12 were invited to a Cancan workshop to celebrate Bastille Day with a professional ex-Moulin Rouge dancer. Students (and staff) enjoyed learning the meaning and intricacy of the dance and how this high-energy and physically demanding dance was often punctuated by loud screams.
Each week, Junior and Senior students attended Wasabi Club and Sensei Says Clubs and continued to learn about different cultural aspects of Japan, including the wearing of the yukata/kimono, writing calligraphy, and playing traditional Japanese games. In Term 4, Year 8 and 9 students enjoyed restaurant visits to the Bishamon Japanese restaurant. Japanese language students continued to achieve high standards in the annual online Education Perfect Global Language Championships. A student was a recipient of the Iwasaki Sangyo Prize and will travel to Japan for 4 weeks in January to experience a cultural and linguistic immersion program.
St Aidan’s continues to offer an inclusive and vibrant sporting program with a proud tradition of participation and performance.
The weather event earlier in the year provided some significant challenges to our program. Flooding at Ambiwerra wiped out all of our sporting equipment and the playing fields were unavailable for several months. Despite this set back, the St Aidan’s community came together to ensure our girls didn’t miss any sporting opportunities. There were reschedules, reschedules of reschedules, but one thing COVID taught all of us was how to pivot! And so we did, and adapted with grace. I commend all students and staff for their patience, resilience and positive mindset during this period.
2022 saw the introduction of two new sports at St Aidan’s –Australian Football and Golf. AFL Queensland, in conjunction with QGSSSA, launched the inaugural Senior Australian Football competition in Term 1 with students in Year 10-12 playing over four Saturday mornings. In Term 4, girls in Year 7-9 had their opportunity. St Aidan’s was well represented and very competitive across all divisions and our Year 9 team finished the season undefeated.
In partnership with the Brisbane Golf Club, St Aidan’s introduced a Golf program for Senior School students. Focusing on the fundamentals, skill development, etiquette and course strategy; the program provides a clear pathway from the complete beginner through to competitive play.
A refurbishment of the Athlete Performance Centre within the Christine Hartland Centre saw the addition of five lifting platforms and squat racks, new gym flooring and new strength equipment. The revised layout maximises the space and allows more girls to train together. We also added fresh decals to the walls with photos that signify perseverance, teamwork, and joy.
A new leader board created some healthy competition between the girls in a range of challenges and it’s been wonderful to hear the girl’s excitement over these new additions.
Over the last 12 months we have transitioned to a Summer Rowing Program, and are pleased to see a renewed interest in the sport.
We had over 40 students participate in the Learn to Row Program on Saturday mornings in Term 4 and a further 20 training in the Pathways Program which will compete at various regattas over the summer. We have also included Para-rowing and we thank Rowing QLD for their support in this space.
I would like to congratulate all students for embracing the opportunities available to them and representing St Aidan’s with spirit and humility.
2022 Sporting Highlights:
Representative Honours
• 48 Metropolitan West Representatives | 12 sports (13 students represented the region in 2 or more sports)
• 27 Queensland Representatives | 13 sports (5 students represented Queensland in 2 or more sports)
• 14 National Representatives | 9 sports (A student represented Australia in 2 sports – Touch Football and Rugby 7s)
QGSSSA Premierships
• Touch Football – Open, 10A, 8A, 8B and 7A
• Soccer – Junior
• Volleyball – 9A
• Athletics – 17 years Age Champions
QLD All Schools Touch Football
• Open Girls (Champions) | U13 (Semi-Finalists)
Mr Andy McGregor-Lowndes Head of Senior School Sport BEd(Secondary)
SCHOOL FOUNDERS
Sisters of the Society of the Sacred Advent
SCHOOL COUNCIL
Mr Stephen Green (Chair) BE Civil (Uni NSW)
Ms Rachael Cronin BCom, LLB, MBA
Mr Scott Douglas BUrbDev(ProEc), BEcon, GAICD
Dr Chelsea Ho MD, BMedSci
The Rev’d Michael Stalley DipAppliedSc – Pod, BTh, GradDipMin (Distinction)
Mr Reece Walker LLB, GradDipAppFin, FFin, GAICD
Mr Simon Petie BArts(Politics), Grad.Dip (Strat.Leadership), FAIM
The Rev’d Canon Dr Marian Free BA, Dip.Ed, PhD
Ms Toni Riordan BEd, MEd (Leadership), GAICD, FACEL Qld, MACE, FIML (Ex-officio)
Ms Holly O’Sullivan Williams BA (Drama), BEd (Secondary), MEd (Research), MEd (Leadership and Management), MACE, MACEL, ACEL Qld Fellow (Observer)
Mrs Toni Williams (Company Secretary) BBus (Accounting), BBus (Information Systems), GAICD, GIA Affiliated (Ex-officio)
Ms Toni Riordan BEd, MEd (Leadership), FACEL, MACE, GAICD, FIML
Reverend Gillian Moses BA, LLB (Hons), BTh (Hons)
Ms Holly O’Sullivan Williams BA (Drama), BEd (Secondary), MEd (Research), MEd (Leadership and Management), MACE, FACEL
Mrs Joanne Butterworth BSc (App-HMSEd)
Mrs Meg Bishop BEd (Science), MEnv (Hons)
Ms Karen Madden BTeach, GradDipEd (RE), MEd (Leadership)
Ms Jennie Robinson DipT, BEd, MEd (Guidance and Counselling)
Mrs Jenny Crome, BA, MEd (Leadership & Mgt), Grad DipEd (Primary), Grad DipEd (Early Childhood), Cert IV (Business)
Mrs Rachel Condos-Fields (Chair) GAICD, AdvDip (Japanese), AdvDip (International Bus), GradDip Finance
Mr Christopher Johnstone BA(Hons) LLB, LLM Degree in Military Law ANU
Dr Anne Kruger PhD (HKU), MA Research (QUT)
Mr Craig Lennon CAANZ, AICD, GradDipGovInst, FINISIA
Mrs Susan McDonald BA, DipEd
Mr Patrick O’Connor BA, LLB, Chartered Institute of Secretaries, JP
Mrs Kim Wiegand BBus
Ms Rachael Cronin BCom, LLB, MBA
Ms Toni Riordan BEd, MEd (Leadership), GAICD, FACEL Qld, MACE, FIML
Mrs Leah Saul (Company Secretary), BComm, CA, Dip Mgmt
Mr Reuben Saayman (President) B Com, B Com (Hons), CA
Ms Kate Thomas (Vice President) BEd (Secondary)
Ms Tara Fitzsimmons (Treasurer) B Health Sciences, Grad Dip of Midwifery, Cert IV Accounting
Ms Tanya Angus (Secretary) B Com, Grad Dip of Project Mgmt
Mr Simon Petie (Member) BArts(Politics), Grad.Dip (Strat.Leadership), FAIM
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