Issue 16 2018 Autumn Winter Flyer

flyer

Issue 16 Autumn/Winter 2018

St Margaret’s

Flyer Issue 16 Autumn/Winter 2018 Principal: Ros Curtis Editor: Wendy Johnston Journalists: Pru Reed; Victoria Nikolova;

Wendy Johnston Graphic Designer: Pam Smiles Photography: Victoria Nikolova; Michael Marston;

Stephen Jigalin, Marc Pricop Printing: Print Media Group

Contents From the Principal

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STAFF

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New Staff Staff Awards

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Borobi Boogie A visit to Pre-Prep Sister schools for 10 years The introduction of academic advising Academic Assembly A global outlook from ‘The Loft’ From OP to ATAR

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LEARNING 07

BOARDING

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An interview with our 2018 Boarding Captains 15 Inside the boarding house 16 A NEW HUB

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Toorak Gardens and M’s Cafe

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MAYO 19 Join us at the MAYO Arts Festival 25 & 26 May 19 A guide to the MAYO Arts Festival 20 Friends of MAYO 22

FAITH 23 The history of the Chapel’s organ MY ST MARGARET’S

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ADMISSIONS 26 Experience St Margaret’s New Head of Admissions and Community Relations

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Schoolgirls premier sporting competition Andrews Cup Lara Crouch: Queen’s Baton Relay Sports Snippets

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Durack name embodies the spirit of residential college for women

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Learning through life experiences

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Father Daughter Breakfast Mothers’ Luncheon

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Designer creates hand-crafted wearable art St Margaret’s scholars global bound A local school instilling a global outlook Past Student Awards Destined to draw

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SPORT 28

DURACK COLLEGE

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FOUNDATION 32 COMMUNITY 34

OLD GIRLS

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MAYO ARTS FESTIVAL

A two-day community event with something for everyone to enjoy.

Friday 25 May 2018 MAYO ARTS FESTIVAL GALLERY COCKTAIL PARTY | 6:30PM

Wander the gallery space and savour the fine art on display whilst enjoying sumptuous gourmet canapes. Art will be available for purchase on the evening.

Purchase tickets online www.stmargarets.qld.edu.au

ARTS FESTIVAL

Saturday 26 May 2018 MAYO ARTS FESTIVAL | 10AM – 5:30PM

A great day out for the whole family, where you can enjoy gourmet food and refreshments, browse the artisan markets and art gallery, join in art workshops or bring a picnic blanket and sit back on the lawn and soak up the atmosphere with live music and entertainment. Children can take part in a range of free and ticketed activities, workshops and carnival rides.

FREE ENTRY This event is held at St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School. Entry via Petrie Street.

Visit www.stmargarets.qld.edu.au for more information.

Proudly sponsored by

From the Principal

Over the past 10 -15 years, there has been a call for schools to change their teaching and learning programs as our students will be in jobs not yet invented and these jobs require different skills; this view is based on the belief that there is a disconnect between what students are learning at school and what they will need to know and should have to thrive in the future global workforce.

The productivity agenda is driving this call. There are no doubts schools have adjusted significantly, but it is worth acknowledging that schools are more than institutions from which graduates receive some qualification and the results necessary for tertiary study, which in turn is necessary for future jobs.

Preparing our students for success post school is critical to our role and the success of a school. However, education at school is more than results. Effective school education is a ‘broadening of minds and an opening of hearts’ experience.

Both are vital to prepare the young person for the world in which they will live and to provide a solid foundation for the skills required for work in the future.

Technical skills are often learned on the job. The World Economic Forum produced a Future of Jobs Report which listed the top 10 skills required for future work by 2020. You will note no technical skill makes it to the top 10.

These skills are: Complex Problem Solving Critical Thinking Creativity People Management Coordinating with Others Emotional Intelligence

Schools should be in the business of helping students develop these skills. Interestingly, they do not always need to be taught in the classroom.

At a recent forum at the Australian embassy in Tokyo, I heard the guest speaker make the following observations about schools and the work they do to prepare their graduates.

He said: ‘The path to successful university entrance is well-mapped, scripted and supported by schools. The path to success at university is less so and the path to long term career success is more obscure.’

University study is a great building stone, but it is important that schools provide opportunities for students to develop a vision of a whole person living beyond school and university.

I like to think that St Margaret’s is preparing the future 28-year-old, carving her way through the world, not just the first-year university student embarking on her tertiary studies.

How do we do this? Looking at the pages of this edition of the Flyer provides a clue. Through attention to values and by offering a variety of opportunities in our extensive extra-curricular program, our students are building on the demands of the current curriculum to develop 21st century skills through collaboration, participation and involvement.

Ken Robinson in his work The Element summarises it well: ‘Our task is to educate their (our students) whole being so they can see the future. We may not see the future, but they will and our job is to help them make something of it.’

Ros Curtis Principal

MEd(Leadership&Mgt), MLitSt, BA(Hons), DipEd, ASDA, FACE, FACEL, FIML, GAICD

Judgement and Decision Making Service Orientation Negotiation Cognitive Flexibility

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STAFF

New Staff

Jo Butterworth Dean of Pedagogy

Before accepting the role of Dean of Pedagogy at St Margaret’s, Jo Butterworth had been managing the HPE and Technologies Learning Area at the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority, and was responsible for overseeing the writing of senior syllabuses and assessment requirements for the new QCE system in Queensland. Prior to that, Jo taught in a range of Catholic girls and co-educational schools across regional Queensland and Brisbane in her teaching areas of Secondary Health, Physical Education and Junior Science and Biology, during which she had held several Head of Department positions.

Reflecting on taking up her position at St Margaret’s, Jo says she continues to be passionate about girls’ education and inspiring young women to excel in their learning and reach their goals.

“I also value the diverse and rich community created through the integration of a day and boarding community.

“The introduction of a new QCE system in Queensland will be quite significant for Queensland, so the opportunity to work with the girls to assist them through their senior schooling will be exciting.

“Strengthening the learning capacity of each individual is at the heart of the St Margaret’s curriculum focus and I look forward to continuing this proud

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tradition of education. I have been impressed by the care and compassion shown by teachers and their constant professionalism as they strive to provide dynamic and engaging learning experiences,” said Jo. Jo said there was much conversation and research around the skills and attributes required for life and work in the 21st century, including skills in communicating, creating, using technologies, working in teams and problem solving.

“The challenges for teachers today is to develop students’ deep-thinking strategies and their ability to transfer their knowledge and understanding to complex, engaging real-world problems.

“St Margaret’s will continue to build their capacity to provide flexible ways of differentiating teaching and learning; for example, by using the learning management capacity of The POD to better target individuals’ current levels of achievement and learning needs, and by setting realistic goals and working with academic advisors to monitor learning progress and growth. In this way, excellent progress becomes an expectation of every student.”

Jo said her leadership role at St Margaret’s provided her with an opportunity to help girls see their potential and guide them through their academic journey.

“At St Margaret’s, the way we seek to treat people throughout our community is important so I value the role I have in nurturing, inspiring and encouraging the girls to realise their dreams,” Jo said.

Cathy Cox

Assistant Head of Primary St Margaret’s welcomed Cathy Cox as the new Assistant Head of Primary this year. With over 20 years of experience in education, Cathy’s teaching experience spans both co-educational and single sex schools and her teaching disciplines include Japanese and Generalist Classroom.

Cathy said she was thrilled to be a part of the St Margaret’s community where there is a strong sense of faith and connectedness, and a commitment to quality teaching and learning, and the empowerment of young women.

“My first term has been filled with meeting wonderful families and making positive connections with so many of our girls. I have enjoyed being immersed in the myriad of St Margaret’s activities, functions and events,” she said.

As an educator, Cathy said she believed it was crucial to unearth the potential of our girls and to build their confidence and resilience.

STAFF “Recognising potential and the many ways it can present is unique for every student. So, it is essential to deliver differentiated learning practices and encourage students to play an active role in negotiating and developing their learning experiences within a provocative and stimulating environment. St Margaret’s offers a learning environment for girls that has a strong relational aspect which is adaptive and flexible.”

Cathy believes that current and future trends in girls’ education must inform how we equip our girls with the capacity for leadership and influence in both local and global communities.

“It is paramount, therefore,” said Cathy, “that our girls see strong female role models so they too can achieve successful outcomes from their own efforts.”

“I look forward to continuing the welcoming and inclusive ethos of St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School and furthering my relationships with our girls and their families.”

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

Steve Jobs

Chris Dunn

Head of Faculty – Science and Technology After graduating from Biomedical Science from The University of Queensland in 2011, St Margaret’s new Head of Faculty – Science and Technology, Chris Dunn, moved to Victoria where he undertook a Masters of Teaching at the University of Melbourne. In 2013, he was thrilled to begin his career as a Science and Biology teacher at St Kevin’s College, a Catholic boys school in Melbourne.

During his time at St Kevin’s, Chris was

appointed Assistant Head of Science and Assistant Head of House, both of which afforded him many opportunities to make a positive difference to the learning experience of students. Most memorable was the chance to lead a science study tour of 24 students to the United States in 2016. Chris said he “jumped at the opportunity to be considered for a position at St Margaret’s”.

“I was particularly excited after hearing of the many positive pedagogical trends that were happening at St Margaret’s; most notably, the focus continued over

Staff Awards

St Margaret’s aims to employ and develop staff members of the highest character and dedication to their profession – whether they be teachers, or members of our professional and support teams. Each year, the school acknowledges two members of staff for their contribution to the school.

Primary Health and Physical Education teacher Lauren Richards has been with St Margaret’s since January 2011.

Lauren was awarded for her energy and commitment to ensuring challenging, yet supportive physical education experiences that enrich learning for all students. Lauren was recognised for her exceptional working relationships with staff and her contribution to the broader community.

In response to receiving her award, Lauren said: “St Margaret’s is an awesome community to be a part of. Our school is full of motivated staff and caring students and I feel very fortunate that I get to contribute every day. I admire so many of the teachers, I learn different things from each of them that I then try to put into my own practice. Our students make each day exciting, challenging and rewarding.

To win this award is an absolute honour and I am extremely grateful for everything St Margaret’s has given me. It is a unique and special place and I strive every day to bring energy, positivity and enjoyment of teaching and learning to the school.”

Catering Operations Manager Scott Johnson has been a part of the St Margaret’s community since November 2013.

Scott’s leadership has led to the outstanding reputation the school has for the quality of cuisine offered to our boarders and always superb meals served to guests attending special functions at the school. Scott said that working at St Margaret’s had been a very rewarding experience.

“The school has such a strong community spirit which I feel connected to within my role and I always look forward to the variety of events on our calendar. We have great kids at St Margaret’s, they are full of fun and ideas and the girls in the boarding house keep me on my toes with various requests and their delightfully different personalities. I particularly enjoy the chats I have with them at the kitchen door during mealtimes.

To be recognised by my peers for all of my efforts was very kind, especially when we have such a dedicated team with everyone working so hard to make the school such a beautiful place to be.”

Staff are nominated by their peers each year and reviewed through an award process conducted by our Principal, Ros Curtis. Awards are announced to the community in a special presentation on Speech Night.

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STAFF

on meaningful analysis of student data to make considered interventions in student learning. I believe this is an exceptionally progressive approach to education,” said Chris.

When asked to reflect on his first term, Chris said the girls were great – studious and good-humoured, while the staff were friendly and highly professional.

“In addition, the leadership are progressive and consultative,” added Chris, saying all these things stood out as positive influences in his first term at St Margaret’s.

Chris said he was looking forward to 2019, when the faculty would be implementing a new Academic and Assessment Plan for Years 7 to 10, which would help prepare the students for the rigours of the new Senior Syllabus.

“Knowing how things work is important, but I think that’s an incomplete view of what science literacy is or, at least, should be. Science literacy is an outlook. It’s more of a lens through which you observe what goes on around you.”

Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson

One of the key challenges Chris sees ahead is leading into the new Senior Syllabus, complete with its external examinations, where the focus on building academic resilience and working through adversity should be a key consideration for all students.

“As teachers, we can work hard with the juniors to help them effectively prepare for the different types of assessment they will experience in senior, and provide them with strategies to deal with the inevitable challenges they will experience along their learning journey.”

One of the things Chris says he loves about St Margaret’s is that is it a thoroughly supportive environment, both academically and pastorally.

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Annette Box

Head of Faculty – The Arts and Design Annette Box, the new Head of Faculty – The Arts and Design, pursued a double degree in Arts (Drama) and Education, following in the footsteps of her mother, who was a teacher. The first five years of Annette’s career was spent teaching drama and dance at Sheldon College, before spending a few years working and travelling abroad. Prior to St Margaret’s, Annette was the Head of Drama at Somerville House for 8 ½ years.

When asked why she was interested in taking up this leadership role at St Margaret’s, Annette said: “In my 14-year teaching career I have worked in the public sector, independent co-educational and independent all girls’ schools. I also went to a QGSSSA School (MBC) and I have always seen my career unfolding in a school which encouraged the potential of and possibilities for young women, as I had experienced in my schooling. The opportunity at St Margaret’s presented a career challenge I was seeking through overseeing a broader suite of subjects, but I had also heard excellent things about the school from current and past staff, students and parents, so the school’s culture and leadership team were also significant factors which influenced my decision.”

Annette said that having now completed her first term at St Margaret’s, it has been a delight to discover that “the hype is real”.

“The genuine care that all members of the community demonstrate for one another is evident and authentic, which made the inevitable and alien feeling of being in a new school setting far easier.

The shared conversations, respect and good humour among staff and students alike as you walk through the school grounds cultivates a healthy, energised sense of calm, suitably aided by the lack of the incessant ringing of bells. The absence of bells has been a total delight!” she laughed.

Annette said that one of the challenges for teachers today was the shift in how we educate girls.

“Parents and teachers are no longer the key transmitters or communicators of knowledge as we now compete with Reality TV, the internet and an ever-expanding bevvy of social media platforms. Trump may have coined the term ‘fake news’, but there really is a blurring of what is now accepted as ‘truth’, but young consumers seem to more openly accept this lack of clarity; what they see in an image is now the truth that prevails. These shifts compel educators to find new and challenging ways to stimulate and engage our students who are digital natives, while balancing the more traditional aspects of our subject areas which serve to connect with the students in unexpected, almost ‘retro’ ways.”

Annette said that St Margaret’s was responding to these challenges by not being afraid to take risks and trial pedagogical, organisational and disciplinary approaches, such as the Academic Advising program for Years 9 to 12, in which responsibility for the management of students’ time is being left in their hands for manageable durations, balanced with the new mobile phone policy, which acknowledges that the compulsion to be ‘plugged in’ needs to be managed, as structure usually promotes and maximises beneficial attitudes and approaches to learning.

For Annette, being a leader at St Margaret’s means paving the way and modelling the standards we expect of those around us, be they fellow staff or students.

“Integrity, respect and empathy rank highly in my list of desirable personal and professional values. Demonstrating our own human fallibility by being a risk taker, who is willing to innovate as well as potentially make mistakes, fall or fail, but learning from these and demonstrating resilience to grow through the experience is important.

“We must also always place the education of young women at the centre of what we do,” emphasised Annette.

LEARNING

e i g o o B i b o r Bo

Our primary teachers had a special surprise in store for students on the final assembly of the 2017 academic year.

Initially the proceedings appeared to students and attending families to be a formal end-of-year ceremony. However, during the retirement announcement of long serving teacher Mrs Susan Forbes, the song ‘Days of Gold’ by Busby Marou kicked in and suddenly the stage was occupied by dancing teachers; accompanied by delighted cheering and laughter from the girls.

The flashmob style performance of the “Borobi Boogie”, created and named after the 2018 Commonwealth Games mascot, Borobi, was filmed and posted to the school’s Facebook account and quickly gathered momentum, reaching over 1.74million viewers, 4,523 shares, 7,339 comments and 30,103 total reactions. The post was shared widely by the Australian media and garnered attention from the mascot Borobi who later gifted the school with a special Borobi Boogie Award for “boogie excellence and outstanding participation”.

Sharing the video on the social media site was intended as a joyous end of term wrap-up for our community; however, the post quickly gained an international audience and triggered a cascade of genuine celebration for teachers everywhere and the wonderful work they do in connecting to and nurturing their students.

“Not sure where you are but Alberta thinks you rock!” said Heather Dowhaluk from Two Hills, Alberta.

The comments continued: “That is so good. What a wonderful thing for those children to experience. They will now see their teachers in a different light.

Congrats, teachers!”

“What a fabulous way to end the year.

Obviously a very fun school where there is a unique rapport between the teachers and the children. What lucky girls to learn in such a loving, nurturing environment where girls are encouraged to be the best they can be. A very, very special group of educators.”

“Love it...music and dance makes you feel good. You could hear the excitement building as each teacher joined in. It was such a surprise to the children and they wanted to join in the fun. Beautiful...”

Parents and friends have expressed their joy at seeing the teachers and students share this special conclusion to the academic year with many comments of thanks to the teachers for the enthusiasm and energy they bring to the school atmosphere.

Head of St Margaret’s Primary School Angela Drysdale said the teachers had been very enthusiastic about surprising the students.

“We all rehearsed for weeks leading up to the flash mob. Our teaching staff were very committed to the performance, determined to finish the school year on a high with the students, creating a fun and special memory,” said Angela.

Primary Health and Physical Education teacher Suzy Edwards, who coordinated the event, was excited to see the initiative was so well received.

“Our students and staff work so tirelessly throughout the year. The flash mob presented an opportunity for the staff to share the passion and spirit that makes our community so special, and have a mountain of fun with the students, before embarking on holidays!

It was an incredible experience; one that will stay etched in the memories of the students and staff for a long time to come!” she said.

Commenters replied from as far afield as Canada.

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LEARNING

A visit to Pre-Prep There is a sense of tranquillity upon entering the grounds of the Advent Centre, which houses St Margaret’s Pre-Prep. Set slightly apart from the main school, it is adjacent to the Sisters’ Chapel and its extensive grassed surrounds and tall ancient trees, which provide a canopy over much of the centre’s exterior

Hinting at earlier outdoor activities, there are pots and pans of wet sand sitting on a play stove in the sandpit; there are rocks to climb over; a small grass hill to roll down; and little pockets of nature where adventure beckons, and which must take on gigantic proportions when seen through the eyes of three and four-year-olds. Only yesterday they had set up deck chairs at the top of the hill and thrown a fishing line over imagined water cascading down rock terraces in this play-based learning setting.

Around the corner, neat beds of herbs and vegetables are growing; inside they have just had a visit from one of the student’s parents – a nutritionist – who spoke to them about everyday, sometimes and occasional foods, and are now being dismissed one by one for lunch, as Pre-Prep teacher Deanna Lawliss sings them a song that teaches them counting.

Some gather their lunch boxes, others are having tuckshop that has been delivered for them; together they sit as a group on a large outdoor rug in the shade, eating and chatting in happy accord with one another.

“One of the most important things we can teach them,” says Deanna, “is learning to get along in a community together; learning to be a kind friend,

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to share, to take turns – essentially, getting them ready for the more structured environment of Prep, while also reinforcing these important life skills.”

Deanna says she loves St Margaret’s PrePrep environment.

“Our parents and even first-time visitors to our Open Days always comment on how homely it feels, and we really like to use this beautiful outdoor area, with all its birds and lizards and insects, for nature play,” said Deanna.

The Pre-Preps would seem to have the best of both worlds.

They spend much of their days in this magical enclave, yet being beside the ‘big school’ have access to specialist St Margaret’s teachers and can also venture out to use some of the school’s facilities: they have HPE lessons in the indoor sports centre and on the tennis courts; music lessons in the primary music classrooms; get to experience the primary library; and enjoy playtime clambering around the primary adventure playground.

The Pre-Preps also come up to the primary school for special occasions such as the Under 8s day, and join in the primary sports carnivals, all valuable orientation for their first year in the primary school in Prep.

They also enjoy language lessons from a primary language specialist; at the moment it’s German, later in the year they will try their hand at Italian.

LEARNING

Deanna stressed that one of the most important aspects of what they do at St Margaret’s Pre-Prep in to connect with the families.

“A good relationship and great communication with the parents is key to their child getting the most out of their time with us and setting up them up for a happy schooling experience.

Quick Facts St Margaret’s Pre-Prep is a co-educational one-unit program for girls and boys turning 4 by June 30th of the year of enrolment. We operate a five-day Pre-Prep program, from 8.20am to 2.30pm, during school term. Before and after school care and vacation care are also available.

The Pre-Prep curriculum is based on the national document Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and the Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guideline (QKLG), which was developed to support this national document.

“It can be just as hard for the parent as it is for the child when starting out, so we help to make this transition as smooth as possible for the entire family,” said Deanna.

To enquire about places remaining for our 2019 Pre-Prep Program, please call Elizabeth Hook, Primary Admissions, on (07) 3862 0838 or email ehook@stmargarets.qld.edu.au

Sister school for 10 years In 2008, St Margaret’s and Konan Elementary School first signed an agreement to establish a sister school relationship promoting friendship and cultural understanding.

Ten years later, St Margaret’s Head of Primary Mrs Angela Drysdale and Konan Elementary School Principal Mr Yoshinobu Netsu have signed the third sister school agreement. The official signing took place during Konan Elementary School’s annual visit to St Margaret’s in March.

During their visit, our Konan friends, along with Deputy Principal Mr Fujita, participated in Australian cultural activities including bush dancing, boomerang making and an ‘About Australia’ information session.

Konan Elementary School is located in Kobe, Japan, and students of the school have visited St Margaret’s for many years. These visits provide students from both schools the opportunity to appreciate another culture and expand their global outlook.

The sister school relationship extends beyond the Primary School with Konan Girls High School one of our Global Exchange Program schools open to students in Year 10.

In 2012, upon signing its second sister school agreement with Konan, St Margaret’s introduced a primary school tour to Japan incorporating a day spent at Konan Elementary.

The biennial trip for students in Years 5 and 6 includes visits to Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima, Miyajima Island and Osaka, as well as a visit to Konan where students have the opportunity to reconnect with Konan friends who may have visited St Margaret’s and experience a day in the life of a Japanese student. Konan shares a number of cultural activities with our students, including a tea ceremony, Kendo and traditional drumming.

Mrs Drysdale said: “The world is a very small place. Japan is a wonderful country with which to have a sister school because culturally it’s very different to Australia and so really provides our students with an opportunity to experience a culture that is quite removed from their own”.

The next primary school tour to Japan will be held in the 2019 September school holidays.

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LEARNING

The introduction of academic advising

Feedback is an essential tool for learning, but its power is in how effectively it is given and used, in order for it to be meaningful and impact learning outcomes.

Not only must students be given sufficient time to monitor and reflect on feedback, they must be given assistance to effectively implement the feedback so it can lead to enhanced learning and better results.

This year Continuous Reporting has been fully implemented across Years 5 to 12.

Dean of Studies Ms Nicole Devlin said the Continuous Reporting process provides students with a hybrid of performance and mastery oriented feedback.

“Through the Student Mentoring Portal in Learning Analytics, students can view and reflect on their results and feedback, including where they sit compared to others in the cohort, their GPA, as well as comments from their teachers. They can then utilise this data to identify steps to take to improve, set goals and evaluate their progress.

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“It enables students to focus on individual improvement, and the personal evaluation of results, and provides students with responsibility for and ownership of their learning,” said Ms Devlin.

When the girls are not with their advisor, they have a block of time to use appropriately. It provides them with the responsibility and freedom to practise skills of self-monitoring and self-regulation.

This portal is now supported by the newly introduced Academic Advising model between student and form teacher for Years 7 and 8 or student and Academic Advisor for Years 9 to 12.

Feedback and the application of feedback are at the crux of the implementation of the Academic Advising model, but students are also honing critical life-long learning skills, like self-awareness and self-regulation.

“The outcome of this initiative is to greatly improve student educational experiences. Through the student ownership of school data, the mentoring from a staff member and the increasing conversation between teachers/students and student/parent, we aim to increase the girls’ learning capacities and enable them to gauge their own learning,” Ms Devlin said.

The timetabled Academic Advising periods are available for students to interact with their advisors, either individually or within a group setting, to define goals relating to their data and to monitor their progress. One of the many benefits of these one on one or small group sessions is that feedback is individualised and relevant to that student.

Effective time-management, selfmonitoring, motivation and the ability to transfer their knowledge are examples of skills students are developing and refining throughout the Academic Advising process, setting them up to become effective and independent learners.

Ms Devlin says that parents can support the Academic Advising process through engaging with their daughters on goal setting.

“Checking in on how they are going, what they are working on and what their goals are will help support the girls and continue to motivate them,” said Ms Devlin.

LEARNING

Academic Assembly St Margaret’s has a strong culture of academic excellence, encouraging students and equipping them to challenge themselves to pursue academic goals.

The annual speech night is a very traditional ceremonial affair where the year’s successes are brought to bear; however, it’s important that students can strive for incremental success throughout the year, and not just for top performers, but for those who have worked hard to improve their results, no matter where they may sit in the class gradings.

The year’s first Academic Assembly was held in January, and recognised the achievements of Years 7 to 12 students in Semester 2 of 2017. Progress certificates were also awarded recognising those who had made considerable improvements in their academic studies in first semester.

Academic awards pockets were presented to those girls now in Years 8 to 12 who had achieved Grade Point Averages (GPA) of 13 or above in the 2017 academic year, while progress certificates were awarded to students who had achieved an improvement of one whole GPA point from Semester 1 to Semester 2 in 2017.

St Margaret’s Dean of Studies Nicole Devlin said it was the first academic assembly under the revised criteria for the academic awards.

“The revised academic awards policy has resulted in a change from awarding of full pockets and half pockets to students who had achieved a GPA of 13.5 or above to an academic award pocket to students who had achieved a GPA of 13 or above. We also wanted to recognise those students whose persistence and rigour had resulted in a significant improvement in their results,” said Ms Devlin.

Both the academic awards and progress certificates provide encouragement to students to continue to strive for improvement and excel in their academic studies.

Congratulations to all who received these awards.

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LEARNING

A global outlook from ‘The Loft’ Reconsidering physical spaces, in tandem with appropriate technology, is all part of staying at the forefront of teaching and learning practices. St Margaret’s teachers and students are now starting to explore the teaching experiences accessible to them in ‘The Loft’, a tiered interactive lecture theatre with spatial and technological capabilities, which opened in Term 1.

Replacing the business classrooms on the third floor of the Jackson building, Principal Ms Ros Curtis said the high-tech facility would foster a true 21st century learning environment.

“The space integrates state of the art facilities, catering to innovative teaching practices that are not easily implemented in more traditional classrooms. Teachers will have the ability to introduce students to a global learning experience with technology that is in keeping with world class institutions.

Students will be able to move fluidly and spontaneously from a traditional classroom style setup listening to the teacher to collaborative discussion with peers and group work. It will

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allow lecture style teaching sessions to be enhanced through opportunities for student collaboration and will keep the learning environment lively with student discussion and interaction,” said Ms Curtis.

Socratic seminars and ‘active-learning’ opportunities ‘The Loft’ seats up to 120, serving as an arena for new learning and teaching practices that rely on the seamless transition between teacher-transferred ‘information giving’ to student-centered ‘active learning’ experiences.

Features that give presenters control of light and sound have been incorporated into the construction with tiered seating offering clear sightlines to three projector screens, democratising every seat. There are folding work surfaces on each armrest, while the front and middle rows of seats can swivel up to 180 degrees, allowing students to collaborate with those behind them. In this way, students can facilitate their group discussion and help one another understand the ideas, issues and values reflected in the teaching content.

LEARNING

Prioritising audience participation This emphasis on student-led discussions has not only taken priority in the design of the space, the value of student contribution has influenced the installation of audio-visual technology that can not only capture and record presenters, but also integrate audience participation into the lecture capture for later viewing and revision. Screens on any device can be paired wirelessly with the projectors, allowing teachers to share individual student findings with the audience and with users who may be accessing the content remotely.

Videoconferencing brings the world to us Videoconferencing features installed in the front and back of the space provide immersive technology, which draws virtual guests into the lecture experience.

In addition to cameras that pan with a presenter as they move back and forth across the stage and auto-tuning microphones, crowd facing cameras synch with feedback from audio sensors to automatically detect a speaking audience member, and integrate that footage into viewers’ screens to provide virtual guests with the ability to hear and respond to audience participation.

“From the teaching perspective, the space allowed us to make effective use of individual teacher’s skills in the use of technology such as EXCEL and a graphing tool called GeoGebra. The teacher with the greatest expertise led the session, with the students supporting one another and the other teachers responding to student feedback. This ‘team teaching’ opportunity has enabled a sense of community, benefitting the students as everyone began on the same page.”

Chief Information Officer Greg Anderson believes the technology will broaden the learning outlook for students.

“There are many more applications for this space on the horizon and the possibilities are inspiring. With three screens at their disposal, teachers could effectively use video conferencing technology to connect with guests from anywhere in the world, displaying content the virtual guest may have on one screen, while the guest-audience interaction can be visible on another; finally, one screen can be paired wirelessly to any screen in the room,” he said.

“All together, the technology allows for a reflexive learning experience that can be captured and recorded as a learning resource for the future.”

Although the space is still very new to the school, the Head of Faculty – Mathematics, Ms Vicki Strid, has begun to make the most of the opportunities the space provides.

“At the beginning of the year we had the opportunity to bring the entire Year 10 mathematics cohort into the space and introduce the learning outcomes for their assignment in one session,” Ms Strid said.

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LEARNING

From OP to ATAR The new Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE) system will begin for Year 11 girls in 2019. Dean of Pedagogy Jo Butterworth provides a snapshot of the new system and how St Margaret’s is preparing for it.

The new QCE system features new senior assessment and tertiary entrance processes. From 2020, the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) will replace the Overall Position (OP) as the standard pathway to tertiary study for Queensland Year 12s. The ATAR is the primary mechanism used nationally for tertiary admissions and indicates a student’s position relative to other students.

Senior subjects will be referred to as general subjects and students’ learning will be assessed using three internal assessment instruments developed by schools and one subject-specific statewide external assessment instrument.

In most general subjects, the internal assessment results will count for 75 per cent of the overall subject result and the external assessment for 25 per cent. In maths and science subjects, the internal assessment results will count for 50 per cent of the overall result and the external assessment for 50 per cent. External assessment for each subject will be held on the same day in all schools across the state.

A student’s final subject result will be made up of the external assessment result, plus the three internal assessment results.

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How are we preparing students?

To assist Year 10 students with the knowledge and understanding required to make subject selections for 2019, a Transition Day will help prepare them for Senior Education and Training Plan (SET Plan) interviews.

As part of this day, the students will be taking part in an excursion to the National Careers and Employment Expo at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. This is a showcase of employment, careers, interactive features, and seminar opportunities.

The purpose of this visit is to provide students with an opportunity to investigate real career pathways and opportunities that exist within a wide range of industries. The students will also be involved in activities that focus on the subject selection process, new senior assessment requirements, the process of ATAR calculation and an introduction to My Path. My Path is a new innovative tool created by QTAC that will provide students direct access to the most up-to-date tertiary prerequisite information available.

Education about the new QCE system will extend to Year 9 to familiarise students with the new curriculum and assessment approaches. We will be providing opportunities for students in lower year levels to engage with the cognitive verbs in general syllabuses and assist students to interpret questions that will be similar to those in the external assessment.

How can you find out more information?

The two organisations responsible for administrating the new system changes are the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) and Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre (QTAC). QCAA have developed a video for school communities to provide an overview of the processes that will underpin Queensland’s new senior assessment and tertiary entrance system. The link to this video is: www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/senior/new-snrassessment-te/information-schoolcommunities/syllabus-subject-result QTAC will calculate ATARs for Queensland school leavers from 2020. The ATAR will replace the OP as the standard pathway to tertiary study for Queensland Year 12s. The ATAR will be introduced for students commencing Year 11 in 2019, who will graduate from the end of 2020 and seek entry to tertiary courses from 2021.

QTAC has also developed a video to provide school communities with more information about the calculation of an ATAR. The link to this video is: www.qtac.edu.au/atar-my-path/atar

BOARDING

Boarding Captains – Prudence Brosnan and Christine Dawanincura

An interview with our 2018 Boarding Captains They are the Boarding House captains who lead the St Margaret’s sisterhood living on campus. Together they hope to inspire, motivate and encourage their fellow ‘sisters’ to take full advantage of their St Margaret’s journey and all of the opportunities available and to make the most of every single minute of the 2018 school year.

Prudence Brosnan from Thallon in South West Queensland had to adjust to a completely different lifestyle when she arrived at St Margaret’s five years ago. Living 80km outside of town, it was an hour car trip to and from her previous school each day, a stark contrast to what she was about to experience living on campus as a boarder. Pru had only two brothers and no sisters, but very quickly embraced the fact she had 170 new sisters in her boarding house family.

Christine Dawanincura lives in Springfield Lakes in Ipswich.

Prior to attending St Margaret’s, she attended co-ed schools both here in Australia and back home in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. With three older brothers, Christine found it strange and challenging to adjust to living with 170 girls in the St Margaret’s Boarding House. It wasn’t long however, before Christine soon realised she wasn’t just living alongside friends, she was living with life-long sisters and just like true family members, these are people she can rely on and people she has come to know inside out.

We chatted to Prudence and Christine about their individual boarding experiences.

Q. What opportunities have you had as a boarder that you cherish or value the most?

Prudence: Living with 170 other girls is truly an experience that I will cherish forever. The sisterhood we have shared in the St Margaret’s boarding house is something I will never forget. Plus, I have been fortunate enough to live with people from right around the globe which is truly remarkable.

Christine: One of my most cherished memories is the annual Wet ‘n’ Wild visit at the beginning of every year because who doesn’t love waterslides! Truly though, the best thing is the close friendships I have made.

Q. Reflecting on your time as a boarder, how do you feel now you are coming to the end of that journey?

Prudence: Reflecting on my time here at St Margaret’s makes me happy as I think about everything I have achieved and conquered. St Margaret’s has offered me so

many opportunities which I have embraced with open arms and now looking back I’m extremely glad I did.

I was lucky enough to be part of an Antipodeans trip to Peru in South America in Year 10. The three-week experience changed my entire perspective on life. I realised how lucky we are to have such a great education and facilities at St Margaret’s.

During Year 11, I was given the fortunate opportunity to attend Sony Camp for a weekend helping children with disabilities. The experience taught me many life lessons that I will take with me long after my St Margaret’s journey ends.

Christine: My time as a boarder has been a once in a life time experience. It was a struggle at first, but now that it is my last year I have no regrets. I am thankful to have had this experience with my fellow boarders.

Q. The global diversity of the St Margaret’s boarding house is one of the things that makes it so unique.

What have you learnt living within such a diverse global community?

Prudence: Living in such a culturally diverse environment truly has enriched my global thinking and outlook.

Christine: It has made me accept those around me even more, as everyone enjoys expressing their different cultures.

Q. Do you have any advice to younger boarders?

Prudence: My advice is to stay busy whist in boarding and to take every opportunity that boarding has to offer.

Christine: My advice to the younger boarders is to cherish every moment spent with your friends and house mothers as they are the ones who will help you along the way. Be who you are and don’t let anyone dull your light. Lastly, be yourself as there is no one who does you like you.

Q. What do you hope to achieve as a boarding captain this year? What do you hope will be your legacy?

Prudence: As Boarding Captain, I hope to encourage students to harness the many and varied global experiences and learnings that St Margaret’s can offer.

Christine: To make an impact on not only the boarding house but every girl. Seeing them smile and passing a simple hello to them is a mini milestone.

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BOARDING

The Garden Room acts as the main reception for boarding students, and is open from Monday to Friday from 7:30am to 6:45pm and 1pm-8pm on Sundays. Students use the service to sign on for activities, coordinate leave, arrange taxis, collect parcels and also make appointments to see the boarding leadership staff.

The junior boarding house (for Years 5 - 7) is situated adjacent to the Dining Hall. Officially opened in 2105, the Longman wing offers junior boarding students their own common area, kitchenette, bathroom and sleeps up to 24 in a series of two bed ‘cabins’, separated from the main hallway by sliding privacy doors.

Mealtimes at the boarding house are a special time for boarders. The kitchen provides a delicious smorgasbord over the weekend and formal sittings during the week are arranged so boarders can share a meal with students from other year levels.

In addition to the kitchenettes available in each year level common room, Eton Kitchen provides students with facilities to bake cakes and host dinners for their friends. The space is administered by the Year 11 boarding students and each boarder is given an induction into kitchen hygiene and etiquette. The program develops leadership, accountability and offers students the opportunity to expand their social groups.

INSIDE THE BOA Boarding Visits

St Margaret’s senior educational and/or senior boarding staff will be at the following locations throughout this year. Please come and visit us to learn more about a St Margaret’s boarding education for your daughter.

Wednesday 13 and Thursday 14 June ICPA Conference, Winton Friday 20 and Saturday 21 July

Katherine Show

Friday 27 and Saturday 28 July

Boarding Schools Expo, Crossing Theatre, Narrabri

Dates tbc

Roma, Mitchell, Charleville

If you plan to visit any of these locations and would like further information or wish to arrange a formal enrolment interview (to secure entry into St Margaret’s within the next three years), please contact Judy Robinson, admissions@stmargarets.qld.edu.au or call (07) 3862 0762.

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BOARDING

Each year level within the boarding house enjoys a shared living room with access to a wireless printer and television. Students often use the space on weekends for movie nights or games.

Girls in Year 7 enjoy their own precinct, Years 8 to 10 are The boarder gym, situated at the back of Eton accommodated in rooms of four; Year 11 boarders share a room Hall is open for boarders to use at their leisure. with one other girl; and seniors have their own room.

Boarders can also take advantage of guided yoga sessions once a week.

The lobby is a quiet space off the main reception where students can meet for academic mentoring or schedule a range of meetings with the boarding staff. The space also has tea and coffee facilities and serves as a parent lounge.

ARDING HOUSE

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A NEW HUB

Looking east towards the Boarders Gate. Pedestrians entering St Margaret’s from Towers Street arrive within the shaded retreat now known as Toorak Gardens. This popular lunchtime destination has transformed the once barren bitumen thoroughfare between the boarding house and Toorak into a structured retreat with terraced lawns and seating in shaded alcoves.

Toorak Gardens and M’s Cafe

M’s Café offers a flexible space for students and staff looking for a central location to host collaborative meetings, mentor sessions or simply enjoy break times. It is adjacent to the hospitality kitchens, and coffee servery (open in the mornings for hot drinks and milkshakes).

The view of the arbour which connects Toorak Gardens to the ‘Pixie Hut’ (Health Centre) and beyond to the Barley Sugar Garden.

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The decor of M’s Cafe honours the school’s history with a timeline feature along the southern wall, lampshades with archive images of the eight houses, and also includes cleverly displayed furniture pieces repurposed from Community House.

ARTS FESTIVAL

Join us at the MAYO Arts Festival 25 & 26 May Pod or Island Dance lessons, these hands on creative experiences are always a popular feature of the festival.

Some workshops are ticketed and have limited participant numbers. Bookings can be made via Flexischools.

The school’s vibrant MAYO Arts Festival will be held on Friday 25 May and Saturday 26 May. The festival is a much-anticipated community event that embraces and celebrates the creative arts through an art exhibition, dance and music performances, visual art displays, artisan markets, creative workshops, gourmet food, wine and craft beer and family-friendly attractions including rides and activities. This year’s event theme is “kaleidoscope”.

Established in 2008 and held biennially since the first festival in 2008, the event was borne out of St Margaret’s commitment to the significance of arts in education and named in honour of renowned Australian sculptor, art educator and St Margaret’s Old Girl Daphne Mayo MBE. Daphne made a significant contribution to the arts in Queensland and her work features on prominent Brisbane landmarks including Brisbane City Hall (the tympanum) and the Women’s War Memorial in ANZAC Square.

The festival launches on Friday 25 May with an art gallery exhibition and evening cocktail party. Set within the stunning St Margaret’s Arts Centre Foyer and adjacent open-air terrace with the twinkling lights of the cityscape as a backdrop, this ticketed event is an opportunity to wander the gallery space, meet the exhibiting artists and purchase a piece from the magnificent collection on display.

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Wandering the festival, you can also browse the artisan market stalls offering a range of wares, including handcrafted gifts, artworks and unique homewares.

As a nod to the discipline favoured by the festival’s namesake, the art exhibition focuses on three-dimensional art across a variety of disciplines, including jewellery, glass art, ceramic art and sculpture. The exhibition, which showcases more than 40 artists, designers and sculptors, will feature everything from large marble and bronze sculptures to ceramics and contemporary jewellery pieces.

A mix of Brisbane-based, interstate and international artists will exhibit at this year’s event, including: sculptor Carly Scoufos; jewellers, including sustainable jeweller and creator of wearable art Clare Poppi; jeweller to the lost, Barbara Heath, and emerging designer Bianca Mavrick; as well as ceramicists, including St Margaret’s artist-inresidence Larissa Warren and awardwinning ceramicist Peter Biddulph.

On Saturday 26 May, the grounds of St Margaret’s will come alive with a free, family-friendly public festival, offering something for all ages to experience and enjoy.

A range of free and ticketed creative art workshops will be held throughout the day for festivalgoers to unleash their inner artist and learn new skills and techniques. From creating a dreamcatcher or a terrarium log to cupcake decorating courtesy of Vanilla

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Many of Brisbane’s most popular food trucks and stalls will offer a range of delicious fare from pizza to hungarian langos, donuts and cronuts to ice cream and coffee as well as wine and a pop-up craft beer bar.

Petrie Street will become ‘ride central’ as children enjoy the ride zone, including a jumping castle and rock climbing wall. Ride passes can be prepurchased via Flexischools and are $30 for earlybirds or $35 if purchased on the day of the event.

Children can also participate in activities including sideshow alley, face painting and Golf Central putt putt.

Of course, we greatly appreciate the support of our sponsors to make the MAYO Arts Festival a success. Thank you to Platinum Sponsor; Ocean Dynamics, Gold Sponsor; Cult Design, Silver Sponsors; Barambah Organics, Print Media Group and Brisbane City Council, Bronze Sponsors; Racecourse Road Dental, Vanilla Pod and The Van That Can and our Stall Sponsors; Golf Central, Strathmores and Clear Insurance.

We look forward to seeing many of you at this year’s MAYO Arts Festival.

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ARTS FESTIVAL

25-26 MAY 2018

A guide to the MAYO Arts Festival What’s On?

Tickets Entry to the MAYO Arts Festival is FREE. Some events, activities and workshops are ticketed Tickets to the MAYO Arts Festival Gallery Cocktail Party supported

by Cult Design are $60 and can be purchased through Flexischools Unlimited ride passes are $30 if purchased before the day or $35 on the day. Individual ride tickets are $6. Purchase ride passes through Flexischools

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From 10:00am • Festival opens • Artisan Market Stalls open • Gallery opens • Coffee available From 12:00pm – 5:30pm • Food trucks • Live music and performing arts displays on the main stage on Circular Drive • Carnival Rides on Petrie Street including giant chairs, giant slide, cup and saucer ride, Bow Wow jumping castle and rockwall • Activities and other stalls commence including Sideshow Alley, Lob a Choc, Face Painting, Lucky Dip and Golf Central Putt Putt Workshops will be scheduled throughout the day with timing and booking details available online.

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t-shir ls Souvenir lexischoo ase via F h d rc te u c p e r ll fo e co nd can b . for $25 a pply shop su l o o h c s e th er from the winn lations to sign tu ra g n o C t de ar’s t-shir of this ye , Year 11 student on competiti den, whose Bow s a n a ly il L n feature ope desig kaleidosc ’s t-shirt. ear on this y

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MAYO

Friends of MAYO Some years ago, St Margaret’s gratefully received the donation of a painting entitled ‘Conversation’ by artist Joy Roggenkamp into the school’s art collection. The piece depicts three St Margaret’s girls “in conversation”.

Joy’s daughter, Pat McCowan, was a St Margaret’s Old Girl and recently shared that her time at St Margaret’s inspired her mother to produce the work and also led to its donation to the school. With the generous assistance of Kate Wilson, who is a Year 7 parent and a conservator at QAGOMA, the painting has been cleaned, with the mould marks and decades of dust removed to reveal a much brighter image. The work has been reframed and hung in Mooloomburram.

Queensland sculptor and the founder of Phoenix Sculpture Garden at Mt Glorious, Graham Radcliffe, has generously donated an exquisite marble work titled ‘Lute’ to the St Margaret’s art collection. Graham holds an unwavering belief in the value of girls’ education and the donation is a vote of confidence in what we do here at St Margaret’s. He explains that to ‘nurture strong women with the highest morals will raise the level of community enlightenment’. St Margaret’s is fortunate to have another of Graham’s works, ‘Heritage’, which was commissioned in 2017 and is now installed in the fountain in the Barley Sugar Garden. Graham Radcliffe is also one of the exhibiting artists involved in this year’s MAYO Arts Festival.

Award-winning Australian visual artist Carly Scoufos has designed an installation which has been suspended above the Arts Centre Foyer stairwell.

Entitled ‘Ascent’, it features organic shapes made from woven, enamelled copper wire nestled into each other and appears as if it’s floating above the stairs. Carly has been commissioned to produce sculptures for public installation including the foyer of 1 William Street, Brisbane – the new home of the Queensland Government, the Domestic Terminal of Perth Airport and a new residential and commercial development in Shengzen, China. Carly’s work will be exhibited at the upcoming MAYO Arts Festival. ‘Ascent’ was commissioned by a St Margaret’s parent and generously donated to the school.

Susan Wilson has generously loaned a Karla Marchesi painting titled ‘Care for me, as I care for you’ (2007) to the school’s art collection. This Brisbane born artist explores relationships forged with domestic objects and spaces, and how the aesthetic depiction of these establishes subliminal connections to past places, rituals and memories. Through her visual arts practice, Karla is an award-winning artist now living in Berlin, Germany. Her work features in a number of public collections such as The University of Queensland, Southern Downs Regional Art Collection, Stanthorpe, Redcliffe City Gallery and Pine Rivers Shire Gallery.

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FAITH

The history of the Chapel’s organ Since 1958, past and present St Margaret’s students have heard the melodic organ sounds of the school hymn echoing through the school chapel.

The school’s first organ was purchased with a bequest from Sir Edwin Tooth when the school chapel was built in 1958.

In the December 1958 Link, Lyn Francis (pictured left) VIA* wrote: “How excited we were when we read in the paper that Sir Edwin Tooth had bequeathed one thousand pounds to the school. One thousand pounds!

Of course we had many willing suggestions when Sister asked the boarders to guess in what way she was going to invest this wonderful gift, but when she told us that a beautiful pipe organ was to be bought with it, we realised that this meant we should have a new school chapel – something we had always wanted.

“The glorious notes of the organ and our rejoicing song accompanying it replaced the bare, cold silence which we had found here in our recent visits. The chapel now seemed warm and vibrating with our love and devotion which will set it aside as a holy, consecrated place where we can privately talk with God.”

According to the Organ Historical Trust of Australia, St Margaret’s first organ had been built in 1918 by B.B. Whitehouse & Co. for St Augustine’s Church in Hamilton.

The tubular-pneumatic organ was distinctive in having only one-manual, no pedals, pipework that was not enclosed and employing a melodic bass stop at 16ft pitch. The organ was removed from St Augustine’s and installed in the new school chapel at St Margaret’s in June 1958 by the Whitehouse Bros.

It was placed in storage in the West Wing around 1993 and broken down not long after.

The school’s present organ was also built by B.B. Whitehouse & Co. Constructed in 1905, it was first installed in the Presbyterian Church on Enoggera Terrace in Ithaca. It was later moved to the Greenslopes Baptist Church in 1934.

After some modifications and additions at its Greenslopes location, it was purchased by St Margaret’s and installed in the school chapel in 1994. Also a one-manual, it features four speaking stops, mechanical action and no pedals. In 2013, the Old Girls’ Association generously donated funds to assist with repairs to the organ.

This is the organ that many would be familiar with today. It is still played at chapel services by Head of Performance Brad King or private music teacher Charles Clark. Past student Louise Baldwin (’80) has played it for a number of years for the Old Girls’ services. *Form 6A, the equivalent of Senior / Year 12

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MY ST MARGARET’S

ol Captain 2018 Scho

Annabel Garland

Annabel Garland is a girl who loves adventure and wants to pursue a career flying planes when she graduates.

“Academically, St Margaret’s challenges you in the best possible way, and the teachers are very supportive, caring and approachable.

“You know that feeling when your stomach drops? Well, I love that!” she says enthusiastically.

It’s no surprise, then, that Annabel is up for a challenge, and had no hesitation in embarking on her Year 10 global exchange sojourn to South Africa, where she threw herself into activities like hot air ballooning, shark cage diving and bungee jumping in Soweto off two converted cooling towers.

Annabel says the immersive experience at St Anne’s in South Africa was the perfect way to get to know the country and its people. She had never seen poverty at the level she saw when she was out and about in South Africa, and says the entire exchange experience has given her a bigger world perspective.

“I don’t sweat the small stuff as much anymore,” she said.

Back at St Margaret’s, her home away from home since she commenced boarding in Year 8 in 2014, Annabel is grateful for the extracurricular opportunities she would not get access to where she lives, near North Star, in New South Wales. She has rowed since Year 8, played saxophone in multiple ensembles, and played water polo, badminton and touch football.

“St Margaret’s enables girls to prosper, flourish and grow.

“The leadership team and teachers create an environment where you can really explore what you are good at,” she said.

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“They’re always up for a chat,” she laughed.

The boarding house, says Annabel, is “so much fun”.

“There is always something going on and there is always someone you can turn to if you need help with anything, whether it’s one of your peers or your housemother.

“I love just sitting in the common room and laughing with the other girls from all the different year groups.”

Annabel said it was also interesting chatting with the housemothers who have had a wide range of life experiences that they can share with the girls.

One thing that has really struck Annabel about the St Margaret’s boarding experience is the connection that is formed with other boarders across the generations, no matter when they graduated.

“If you ever run into a St Margaret’s boarder, there is this common bond we all share. Even though physically the boarding house may have changed, and some rules and routines are different, we still have so much in common and it’s great fun comparing notes.

“It’s this instant and amazing connection we will share all our lives,” said Annabel.

Perhaps one day there will be a St Margaret’s boarder sitting in a plane on her way back to school from her country property who will hear this announcement: “This is your captain, Annabel Garland, speaking.”

MY ST MARGARET’S

2018 Scho ol Captain

Xanthe Lowe-Brown St Margaret’s to me is not just a school, it is a community: a community of people connected, supported, blessed, inspired and united through quality education; a community that learns from each other and leans on each other when times are tough; they are our sisters, our friends, our family, our teachers and our neighbours. The St Margaret’s community provides opportunities, love and encouragement, both within the confines of the school, as well as myriad experiences in the wider community, and even across the world.

My community extended in Term 4 of Year 10, when I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Germany on exchange; this was one of the highlights of my education. I believe the most valuable aspect of exchange was developing friendships with girls from across the globe, not only with German girls from Ursulinenschule, but also with two lovely South African girls with whom we remain in contact.

Likewise, in Term 4 of Year 11, I was fortunate to participate in The University of Queensland Young Scholars Program as well as attend the Student Leadership Conference at Bond University. Both of these programs were very beneficial, as I had the chance to network and foster relationships with likeminded girls from interstate and overseas, sharing our ideas and creating lasting bonds. I am truly grateful for these experiences, as I have formed so many powerful relationships and alliances, acquiring contacts for the future.

friendships with Maggies girls. I remember fondly, when I joined the high school Rock Band as a little Year 7 student, the older girls took me under their wing and the bond we shared was simply unbreakable. These true Maggies girls had a profound effect on me and I was so grateful to have my big sisters there to support me through my high school journey.

Such inspirational individuals have inspired me to leave a legacy in 2018 by connecting, communicating and linking more with my fellow peers to activate vision and inspiration.

This year, the Year 12 cohort is proudly promoting the theme ‘St Margaret’s Sisterhood’. This theme ignites our vision to provide further opportunity to interact and create lifelong friendships with girls from different year levels, differing cultures and connecting our girls who gather from all parts of the world – celebrating all the sisters in our St Margaret’s community.

Throughout my schooling years, I have felt so fortunate to be part of the St Margaret’s community and I find comfort in knowing that I will always be part of the community. Once I remove my collar and untie my brown shoe lace for the last time as a student at the end of the year, I look forward to cherishing my new title as an Old Girl of St Margaret’s.

Not only has the St Margaret’s community allowed me to form strong connections with girls from schools afar, but through my direct participation in an extensive array of extra-curricular activities, I have formed many wonderful

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ADMISSIONS

Experience St Margaret’s St Margaret’s Open Days offers prospective families a chance to get a great overview of all that is on offer at the school.

As you can see from these images from our 2018 Open Day, nearly every aspect of a St Margaret’s education is showcased and visitors can experience learning in action across all of the different spheres, whether academic, extracurricular – across the visual and performing arts and the 18 sports on offer – or other dimensions such as our religious and values education, and activities such as philanthropy, the House system, boarding facilities and more.

Even if families have visited before or are confirmed to start at the school, Open Day offers another chance to orientate your child with the school, allowing her (or him for Pre-Prep and Prep) to become more comfortable with its surrounds and even excited about commencing at the school in the future. Our current families also love to visit and see their child perform in the orchestra, sing in the musical rehearsal showcase or explore for themselves future offerings their child can take advantage of.

The school’s Open Morning event in August (Thursday 16 August) is a more intimate experience of the school in action on a normal day. Tours are again offered with the students as guides (hearing from the girls first hand is always a highlight) and there is the unique opportunity to share morning tea with members of the educational leadership team who make themselves available for the morning.

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Registrations for our August Open Morning will open in June this year and will be available under the Admissions menu on our website.

Guests often provide unsolicited feedback after their Open Day experience; here are just two such emails (names removed for privacy) from two different prospective families Open Day Feedback Our visit to Open Day absolutely reinforced our desire for our daughter and our family to become a part of the St Margaret’s community. Our daughter walked around and experienced each area that we visited as if she were already a St Margaret’s girl, and indeed, already considers herself one.

ADMISSIONS

We were so happy to experience St Margaret’s Open Day on Saturday, and be guided by your one of your students, Sarah. Our three-year-old daughter, held her hand the whole way, and spoke, later that night, about her new friend from ‘the big girls school’, and all of the things she learnt, and the lovely things they did together.

Sarah was beautifully spoken and presented. She talked about her future ambitions to be a child psychologist, and was able to inform us of St Margaret’s culture, and the options for us to consider, as parents, to prepare us for our daughter’s future at the school.

It is clear that the school sets a strong foundation, for good old-fashioned values, and developing long term future goals, in their girls.

Thank you so much for giving us your time, and introducing us to your beautiful school.

For all admissions enquiries, email admissions@stmargarets.qld.edu.au or call (07) 3862 0777.

New Head of Admissions and Community Relations

This year St Margaret’s appointed a new Head of Admissions and Community Relations following Ms Helen Lobegeiger’s re-appointment to role of Head of Sport. We were again fortunate to appoint a St Margaret’s teacher in Mrs Trish Kirkpatrick who last year had a sea change from her teaching position to take up an administrative role within the school.

Trish now works with the Admissions team, as well as taking carriage of St Margaret’s Study Tour Program for international school visits. We would like to take this opportunity to allow Trish to introduce herself.

“I have been working at St Margaret’s since 2002. I started here as a part-time teacher when my children were quite young and progressed to full-time teaching in the Science Faculty in 2004.

It’s hard to believe I have been part of the school for over 16 years, but during that time I have seen many wonderful changes occurring and I have made many new friends. The staff at St Margaret’s, whether teaching or support staff, are the most dedicated and welcoming staff I have ever worked with and all staff members are truly made to feel like part of the family.

When I first started at St Margaret’s, the Arts Centre was still to be finished, but what a fabulous venue it has turned out to be. At that time, my usual classroom was in one of the old Avoca Science Laboratories, now the beautiful kitchen and M’s Café! The Eunice Science and Resource Centre was officially opened in 2012 and, as a Science teacher, I couldn’t believe my luck to be moving into such a beautiful and well-resourced new facility. In 2016, I acted in the role as Head of Faculty – Science, and

continued in this role in 2017. I taught Chemistry, Biology and Junior Science, and I still love to learn and read about exciting new advances in these fields.

Teaching at St Margaret’s has always been an absolute pleasure. I have always been passionate about educating girls, but about a year ago, I made the huge decision to venture away from the classroom. I could see that there are so many important roles in the school which contribute to helping our girls to become confident and capable young women and I knew that my experience could be valuable in other areas.

My years working directly with our students in the classroom, developing teaching and learning programs, and working closely with both teaching and support staff has given me an insight into the school which I can now share with prospective families and the St Margaret’s community.

It is such a pleasure to now be a part of the Admissions team, and to be able to show the community how wonderful our school is.”

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SPORT

Schoolgirls premier sporting competition 2018 marks the 110th year of the Queensland Girls Secondary Schools Sports Association (QGSSSA). The QGSSSA was founded in 1908 with member schools Brisbane Girls Grammar School, Somerville House and St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School, whose principals were looking to formalise interschool sporting competitions.

With a mission to provide member schools with opportunities to equip young women to meet and enjoy life’s challenges by seeking to provide quality sporting opportunities and social interaction within a school environment, the association has developed into a strong, professional sporting body.

The spirit of QGSSSA, which encompasses and balances performance, participation, tradition and innovation, has been passed down through the years and is as strong today as it was in its foundation year.

The association’s objectives still centre on achieving a balance between these elements in what is arguably the longest, sustained competition in girls’ secondary school sport.

The ten member schools of the QGSSSA are (in order of their establishment in Queensland): Brisbane Girls Grammar School (1875); Ipswich Girls’ Grammar School (1892); St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School (1895); Somerville House (1899); Moreton Bay College (1901); St Hilda’s School (1912); Brisbane State High School (1920); St Aidan’s Anglican Girls School (1929); Clayfield College (1931); and St Peter’s Lutheran College (1945).

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All ten schools have strongly supported the association and girls’ sport in Queensland, with amendments to the sporting program as new sports developed and others became less popular. Today, the ten-member schools continue to compete in 15 different sports, involving thousands of young women, with a representative pathway now established for interstate competition. Students can participate in an extremely high level of competition, enhance their physical skills, and meet with girls from all over South East Queensland while developing a healthy love of sport.

Many generations of young women have commenced their sporting journey within this important sporting organisation, which has provided significant opportunities for girls at school and set a firm foundation for their continued involvement in physical activity and future sporting success.

At St Margaret’s this has led to national representation of the highest level including Olympic and Commonwealth Games selection in the QGSSSA sports, most notably swimming and athletics, and a host of state and national representative honours across many other sports.

St Margaret’s offers an additional three sports outside of the QGSSSA competition including rowing, lifesaving and waterpolo, with a long and well-known representative pedigree in rowing and lifesaving, in particular.

QGSSSA Artistic Gymnastics There were several podium finishes at the QGSSSA Artistic Gymnastics competition held in March. The day showcased the power, strength and elegance of our gymnasts on four apparatus – vault, uneven bars, beam and floor. Congratulations to the teams for their commitment to this highly disciplined sport, led by Ms Georgia Osborne (coach) and coordinator Mrs Shirley Patton.

Results: First - Year 7(i), D Grade (ii); Second - Year 7 (ii); Third: D Grade (i), D Grade (iii), A Grade; Fifth: B Grade; Sixth: C Grade.

QGSSSA Swimming

The secondary school swimming team placed fourth overall and second in the Percentage Cup at the championships in March.

Event highlights included: • Tiffany Mackay – 1st in the 15 years 50m breaststroke • Evangeline Phillips – 1st in the 12 years and under 50m butterfly • Charlize Fahrensohn – 1st in the 12 Years and under 100m Freestyle.

Congratulations to the entire team for their commitment, participation and performance throughout the season and at the championships.

SPORT

Andrews Cup Andrews Cup is celebrating 80 years in 2018. Formally known as the Queensland Girls Primary Independent Schools’ Andrews Cup Association, it was established by former Somerville House teachers Ms Jessie and Ms Isabel Andrews in 1938 and brings together ten member schools (listed alphabetically): Clayfield College, Fairholme College, Ipswich Junior Grammar School, Moreton Bay College, St Aidan’s Anglican Girls School, St Hilda’s School, St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School, Somerville House, The Glennie School and Toowoomba Anglican College and Preparatory School.

St Margaret’s Andrews Cup Year 4 tennis team placed first

The association encourages and facilitates healthy competition in carnival style competitions (member schools only) and Metro Meets program (member and non-member schools). The competitive sporting opportunities are offered to girls ranging from Years 2 to 6.

Andrews Cup Swimming The St Margaret’s Andrews Cup swimming team placed third in the Percentage Cup and fourth overall, with the added bonus of winning their first Springfield Cup title in 15 years.

Our 11 years team placed second, with Anna Lincoln breaking the 11 years butterfly record.

On the last day of April Achiev , the A in ndrews St Mar g the best res Cup Cr ults for garet’s oss Co came fi the sch untry t groups rst ove ool in t eam ha , as well r h a d many ll e as first Brogan , and p h is t o ry of th firsts! laced fi in the N Tomich is r s e o t a v e nd Rub ent, l McBr in the 1 Brogan id y 0 E , e 1 a R 1 st. Indiv Tomich e idual e lay with runn and 12 years – 1st p Milla R fforts in ag e lace in oberts cluded rs Milla Rob e 1 2 years - 1st pla e : r ts, Kate G ce in 11 reenwo years od - 2n d place in 10 y ears.

Lara shared her experience with the Flyer:

Lara Crouch: Queen’s Baton Relay St Margaret’s Sports and Cross Country Captain and Prefect Lara Crouch has just had a once in a lifetime experience as a Queen’s Baton Relay Runner in the lead up to the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Lara was nominated by former St Margaret’s Head of Sport Mrs Nicky Barrie for her contribution to athletics.

“The Queen’s Baton Relay was an experience that I will never forget.

My segment to run was along the riverfront walk at New Farm Park. There was a large number of families and spectators who gave me great support and made it a really fun event. There were many police and bodyguards looking after me, which was certainly a new experience. I had a camera crew running beside me; it felt like they were the paparazzi. They also had a big van blasting music following me along, and the whole atmosphere was amazing. It was a wonderful coincidence that the baton bearer before me was St Margaret’s Old Girl Cassie Smith, so it was great to share this experience with her. Grant Hackett was also in my group, which was exciting. I feel so proud to have carried the Queen’s baton and represented St Margaret’s.”

Lara’s representative career continues, having been selected in the Australian team for the IAAF U20 World Athletics Championships, which will be held in Tampere, Finland in July. Lara will still be only 16 years of age when she competes in the 3000m event. The team leaves in June for a pre-departure training camp and competition.

We wish Lara well.

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SPORT

Rhiannon Revell-Blair – Australian representative

Sports Snippets

In April, Year 12 student and touch football captain Rhiannon Revell-Blair donned the green and gold to represent Australia in the Oceania Rugby U18’s Girls Sevens Championship, competing against several other oceanic teams with the ultimate prize of a qualification spot for the 2018 Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games in October. The competition was held in Sydney and leading into the finals both Australia and New Zealand had three wins a piece, but New Zealand claimed the victory 21 - 7. We congratulate Rhiannon on her representative honours.

Victoria Franklin

Summer Short Lifesaving captain Summer Short (Year 12) is continuing her very successful sporting career in surf lifesaving and recently raced at the 2018 Australian Surf Life Saving Championships in Perth in April, winning gold in the U17 Surf Teams race for her Maroochydore club, as well as a bronze in the Open Women’s Rescue Tube.

Congratulations, Summer.

In the 2017 Spring/Summer issue of the Flyer, we reported that talented athlete Victoria Franklin (now in Year 12) was hoping for a college career in her two favoured sports of football or rowing. We can happily advise that Victoria has been offered a full athletic scholarship to the Southern Methodist University in Dallas for both soccer and rowing, to commence in January 2019.

Victoria is not exactly sure of what she wants to study (although likely to be sports associated), but students can initially choose from broad liberal subjects to help them identify their more specific areas of interest.

Victoria has been at St Margaret’s since Year 4 and has been boarding since the end of Year 11. Boarding has helped her balance her academic and very busy sporting commitments, as her family home is almost 40km from the school, and she can now exchange commuting time for study time (leading to more sleep time!).

When asked about her favourite sport, Victoria says they both complement one another well as far as fitness and strength go, but her ambitions lean towards soccer, and she hopes to eventually play for women’s league soccer (in either Australia or the United States) and perhaps one day, the Matildas.

Chelsea Johnson At the end of last term and over the first week of the school holidays, Chelsea Johnson (Year 8) competed at the Australian 14 & Under Water Polo Championships in Albury, Wodonga. Chelsea’s team went through the championships undefeated, winning the grand final 9-1 against Sydney Uni (also previously undefeated). Chelsea’s team had earlier in the year also won the Brisbane Water Polo Competition and Queensland State Championships, both also undefeated. Following on from these great performances, Chelsea has been named in the Queensland 14 & Under squad; she commenced training in Term 2 with her eye on selection to represent Queensland at the Pan Pacs in New Zealand in July.

Chelsea has been playing water polo for 4 ½ years, commencing as an eight-yearold in the U13 competition. Chelsea plays netball for St Margaret’s (water polo is, after all, a little bit like netball in water – you need a strong arm, a good aim, be ready to defend your goal and understand positioning and strategy) and is also part of the athletics and lifesaving teams. We wish Chelsea well for her selection.

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DURACK COLLEGE

Durack name embodies the spirit of residential college for women Appropriately on International Women’s Day this year, the tertiary residential college adjacent to the school, known as St Margaret’s College, was renamed Durack College.

The college is into its fourth year of operation and from a small start of just four students has blossomed into a busy, vibrant residential college which this year welcomed 19 young women from across Queensland.

Some its first residents are set to graduate from their courses this year, having spent the duration of their time at university living at the college.

Day, chosen as a most appropriate day to officially rename the college, which was an idea conceived by women, for women, and embodies the spirit of the vision of our own pioneering women – the Sisters of the Society of the Sacred Advent – to educate women.

The colours of the new crest are crimson red and white.

These are also the colours of the coat of arms on the Durack family crest. The white chevron signifies builders or others who have accomplished some work of faithful service.

The College has truly come of age and has established a unique identity with distinctive signature strengths, so the decision was made this year to rebrand it with a change of name to Durack College. This name change reflects the growth and independence of the college and is one which honours historical links to place, and the college’s connection to the Sisters of the Society of the Sacred Advent and St Margaret’s and their long-standing service to educating rural women.

The Durack name is affiliated with the College’s locality within the precinct of Community House – the white stone building beside (and linked to) the college. This building was purchased by the Sisters in 1910 and was St Margaret’s first school building in its current locality and, until recently, home to the Sisters for many years.

This building was built in the early 1860s by Patrick Durack – a name synonymous with Australian pastoral history.

Given many of the college’s residents are from rural and regional Australia was further justification for the choice of the Durack name. What’s more, the Durack women were pioneers, well-educated and strong role models. Patrick’s granddaughters were Dame Mary Durack, a literary award winner, and Elizabeth Durack, an artist and illustrator.

Dame’s Mary’s 1959 book of history Kings in Grass Castles is considered a classic of Australian Literature and is the story of Durack’s pioneering family. Today, Lucy Durack (Mary’s great granddaughter) is having great success in both musical theatre and television.

These women embody the college’s vision to empower young women through education.

The name change was announced on International Women’s

The three symbols are: Wheat – signifying abundance and hope (and our rural ties) Open Book – representing knowledge and learning Lioness – symbolic of courage.

A number of previous boarders from St Margaret’s have been and still are residents at the college and it is certainly an option our current boarding families might like to explore and/ or recommend to their rural neighbours. Applications for Semester 2, 2018, and 2019 are now open.

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FOUNDATION

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Learning through life experiences

omen’s PROFESSIONAL

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Proudly sponsored by

MAJOR SPONSOR

share • support • inspire

The first Professional Women’s Network event for 2018 was held on Wednesday 14 March. A sold-out crowd of 160 women and men gathered to hear guest speaker, lawyer and Order of Australia recipient Roberta (Bobbie) Brazil.

Bobbie quickly captured the room’s attention saying she believed she’d had a fortunate life.

“I was born poor and plain but I’ve always known that if it was to be, it was up to me,” she laughed, setting the tone for her speech which, underpinned with humour, was filled with lessons learnt through her professional experiences.

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Born and bred in the Brigalow patch of Jambin near Biloela, Bobbie attributed her early rural upbringing to appreciating the value of being an involved and supportive community activist.

This seemed to become a common theme for her long and distinguished career as a solicitor, a community activist and at the helm of several local and national organisations.

Throughout her working life, Bobbie was chairman of Land and Water Australia (2001 – 2009), chairman of Australian Landcare Council (2005 – 2009), director of Heritage Building Society and director of Condamine Catchment Management Association, as well as a member of 12 various organisations. She also served as an adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister in her role on the Regional Women’s Advisory Council.

More recently (2006 – 2014), Bobbie served as Chancellor of the University of Southern Queensland and Deputy Chancellor prior to that appointment (1995 – 2001).

“Change is the only constant,” Bobbie told guests. “If we want things to stay the same, things will have to change.”

Quoting English naturalist, geologist and biologist Charles Darwin, Bobbie said: “It’s not the strongest of the species who survive nor the most intelligent, but those most adaptive to change.”

For the business professionals and educators in the room, the notion of adaptability no doubt reinforced a very important home truth. For the St Margaret’s students intently listening to Bobbie, she couldn’t have offered more poignant advice.

FOUNDATION

It is this notion of adaptability Bobbie highlighted that has become an essential trait in the workforce today and will become even more critical in the workforces of the future.

“Believe in yourself. It is so important to know who you are, then be the person you are or the best you can be.

“Have some ideas – preferably good ones – and hard work beats just about everything else. Our best chance of success in life is to work hard and work smart. Communication is key and nothing is more attractive than energy.”

On failures, Bobbie advocated using them as a learning opportunity.

“It is your failures that best assist you to forge a stronger, better, more selfaware, less egotistical self. We all fall on our face at some stage, but it’s best to allow ourselves some time to recover, to do a deep and honest analysis of why this should happen to me and then get up and have another go. Rise phoenix like from the ashes bearing in mind you’ve only got your pride, your selfrespect, your dignity and the honour of your family name to lose – and try not to take it too seriously,” she joked, with her characteristic humour.

Thanks to our sponsors who help to make all of this possible: Torrens University Australia/ Laureate Universities (Major); Pitcher Partners and McCullough Robertson (Associate), Programmed Property Services (Special Table Sponsor) and Gardior (Supporting Partner).

In particular we would like to thank Torrens University as a new major sponsor this year across all four of our networking events.

Torrens University has earned a reputation as an innovative and global further-education provider by growing its offerings to include some of the world’s most prestigious schools.

Torrens offers courses at vocational, undergraduate and postgraduate levels across business, design, health, hospitality, project management, education, sports management and higher degrees by research and English.

We would also like to thank our generous raffle prize donors: Pitcher Partners, McKinney’s, Real Skin Clinic, Keri Craig-Lee, View Hotels, Rodan + Fields and James Becker & Co. The event raised more than $16,000 to support St Margaret’s Endowment Fund, which assists with bursaries and the future development of facilities for future students.

DATE CLAIMERS

T U O D SOL

PWN #2: Thursday 17 May (Breakfast 7:00am – 8:45am) with guest speaker Wendy King, President, Australian East – Conoco Phillips.

PWN #3: Thursday 23 August (Breakfast 7:00am – 8:45am) with guest speaker Alison Quinn, Chief Executive Officer, RetireAustralia PWN #4: Thursday 18 October (Cocktail 5:30pm – 7:30pm) with guest speaker Professor Linda Richards, Deputy Director (Research), Queensland Brain Institute Visit www.stmargarets.qld.edu.au for further information and bookings (when open and if not sold out).

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COMMUNITY

Mothers’ Luncheon Friday 2 March 2018 The Parents and Friends Association’s annual Mothers Lunch had a change of venue this year to the Hotel Grand Chancellor, situated on the highest point of Brisbane’s CBD. Touchpoints for busy mothers can be fleeting, so this event offers the chance to reconnect with friends and forge new bonds. This year, the lunch drew a record crowd of 340 mothers, who came together to enjoy each other’s company, delicious food, a stylish fashion parade featuring the coastal cool ensembles of Blue Bungalow, and the bonus of possibly taking away one of the generously donated 26 raffle prizes.

Raising an impressive $13,000, the raffle draw was enthusiastically supported by donors and guests alike, with the top prize a stunning strand of Tahitian Pearls, kindly donated by McKinney’s Jewellers.

Father Daughter Breakfast Wednesday 28 March 2018 The annual Father Daughter Breakfast, hosted by the P&F Association, was again a sold-out event with more than 260 fathers and their daughters sitting down to enjoy some quality time over a sumptuous hot breakfast in Eton Hall.

Laughter and conversation filled the hall, with fathers relishing the opportunity to share in this dedicated father daughter time. Fathers travelled from New South Wales, Roma, Charleville, Emerald, Dalby and Toowoomba with 17 boarding families attending the event.

P&F President, David Lisle, said that the event was a huge success.

“Eton Hall looked fabulous due to the efforts of the catering and facilities staff.

The tables were decorated with wonderful wearable art works that showcased the talents of the primary school students.”

Thanks to the generosity of those in attendance, the raffle was also a sell-out.

“We had some wonderful donated raffle prizes this year. All funds raised from the breakfast support important school projects. The P&F would like to thank the dads and daughters for their attendance, and we look forward to the continued support of the school community at our future functions,” David said.

St Margaret’s warmly thanks the P&F Association for hosting this very special morning.

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The Mothers Lunch is one of the P&F Association’s flagship fundraising events; this year our community raised close to a total $20,000, which goes to support important projects contributing to the future development of facilities at St Margaret’s.

Thank you to the many helping hands of the P&F Committee and volunteers for once again hosting such a memorable event for St Margaret’s mothers, with a special thanks to coordinators Anthea Damman and Angela Pratt, who organised the stunning venue, raffle draw and entertainment on the day.

OLD GIRLS

Designer creates hand-crafted wearable art Since graduating from St Margaret’s in 1999, global wanderlust led Alice Yeung to reside in cities including Tokyo, Hong Kong, Melbourne and Sydney. It was in Melbourne she stumbled upon Gallery Funaki, where she was mesmerised by the intriguing contemporary jewellery that was showcased by metalsmiths from all over the world.

“It was there that I learnt jewellery making is not just about beading, but also beating, hammering metal (more effective than a stress ball!) and manipulating materials that I had not thought was possible. It is the industrial and scientific side, such as soldering, which I really enjoy,” said Alice.

Alice founded her label Rock & Gold in 2012. Prior to the launch she had been working as a furniture designer in Sydney. When the 2011 Queensland floods struck, she moved back to Brisbane to rebuild her home which had been completely inundated.

“I converted the garage into my current studio, once the mud was washed away. In the beginning, I was so eager to start creating, I ended up borrowing electricity from my neighbour,” Alice recalled.

Alice creates exquisitely unique hand-crafted contemporary jewellery pieces influenced by the architecture, cuisines or landscapes in the global cities she has travelled.

Offering a blend of East meets West, Rock & Gold pieces embrace the notion of the Japanese aesthetic Wabi-Sabi, a concept which appreciates perfection in imperfection.

Having studied Industrial Design at QUT, where mass production is at the fore, it is the ability to come up with an idea, draw it up, create a prototype and hand make it on the same day or week that Alice finds most satisfying about her jewellery making.

“After being exposed to mass production for so long, it is very refreshing to design and handcraft each piece with my utmost attention.

“I love the idea of fabricating essentially wearable sculptures that empower and potentially brighten someone’s day,” Alice said.

Rock & Gold pieces are simple, understated and elegant with a dose of quirkiness. Each piece is unique, with Alice hand picking distinctive rough gemstones and hand finishing the piece ensuring no two pieces are the same.

Utilising a mix of traditional silversmithing techniques and new technology, Alice’s preferred material to work with is metal.

“There is something intrinsically ancient about it and it is such a versatile and durable material. This is important to me as I would l like my jewellery to be treasured for a long time to come.

“I also love upcycling vintage artefacts; they are usually hard to come by in large quantities so this means the pieces automatically become limited editions,” Alice said.

Rock & Gold’s latest collection “Tortuga” will be launched at this year’s MAYO Arts Festival gallery exhibition on Friday 25 May and Saturday 26 May. The collection explores the combination of gold and faux tortoise shell. Alice will also showcase a bangle design which has finally come to fruition after being conceived back in 2014, as well as her “A Feast for the Body Collection” inspired by her passion for food.

“It is such an honour to be a part of this event amongst other wonderful creatives. It is all the more special to me, as St Margaret’s helped shape me into the person I am now.

“As an Old Girl I am proud to come back to the school and reconnect with staff and students and hopefully show them that you can always follow your dream and the journey is just as important as the destination,” said Alice.

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OLD GIRLS

St Margaret’s scholars global bound When our high achieving scholars (OP 1 – 5) returned for the traditional Scholars Assembly at the start of this year, it was clear they all truly felt that there were no limitations on what they could achieve and that they were ready to take their place in the global community.

From studying medicine in Adelaide and Melbourne, to aspirations of a future in commerce in Germany and business in Asia, our 2017 graduates were excited about their futures and felt equipped to ‘go confidently in the direction of their dreams’. What was also clear was that the school’s global outlook had certainly shaped their ambitions, which they shared with the audience when asked to reflect on their St Margaret’s journey, and share their future ambitions.

Isabella Burdon Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery - The University of Adelaide.

“I’m very excited, not so excited to be leaving home as I’ll miss Mum and Dad and my family but it’s a big step that will be challenging and worthwhile.”

Charlotte Cosgrove Bachelor of Advanced Business (Finance, International Business and Entrepreneurship) – The University of Queensland.

“I’m planning to continue my Mandarin study from second semester and participate in an exchange to Shanghai. I hope to one day work for a global company in Asia.”

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Lucinda Crouch Bachelor of Business/ Bachelor of Laws (Honours) – Queensland University of Technology.

“After first semester I hope to be accepted into an American College and complete my Business degree whilst also continuing my running.

I’m hoping it will be somewhere nice and cold. I will then complete my Law degree when I return. My ultimate goal is to become a Barrister – I just want to be in the Courts.”

Lucy Herring Bachelor of Science (Animal and Veterinary Bioscience) – The University of Queensland, Gatton campus.

Allison King “This year I am taking a Gap year.

I’m planning to go to the States or England in September to possibly study Chemical Engineering although it’s still up in the air.

Maybe I’ll be an astronaut.

Hannah Lane Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics (Honours) - The University of Queensland.

“I had always had a plan I wanted to do allied health but my strengths at school were English and Humanities subjects so I selected this course. I might go into policy or economics – I will just see where it takes me.”

“In Year 12 I learnt to keep an open mind and not restrict yourself on where you want to go after you finish school. I’ve always wanted to be a vet, it’s a competitive course and most people have to do another year first.

My advice is if it’s something you really want just stick with it. There’s always multiple ways to do it. I’m hoping to transfer next year into a Bachelor of Veterinary Science.”

Annabel Kennedy Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting)/ Bachelor of Arts (German and Spanish) – The University of Queensland.

“I’m hoping to one day work in Germany in the accounting and commerce fields. I started learning German in Year 3 and it was when I went on exchange to Germany in Year 10 that fell I in love with the country. I’d really love to work there.”

Isabella Montagu Bachelor of Midwifery - The University of Queensland.

“I’m hoping to study Medicine afterwards.”

OLD GIRLS

Charlotte Traves Bachelor of Arts (Politics and International Relations) – The University of Sydney.

Edwina Whyte Bachelor of Arts (French and Economics) – The University of Queensland.

“I am currently setting my sights on working in Foreign Affairs or for the United Nations. Studying in Sydney and living at Women’s College has opened doors filled with opportunity and I can’t wait to see what the next few years have in store.”

“At St Margaret’s I developed a strong passion for the arts and humanities, which I was able to pursue with my subject selections in Years 11 and 12.

Some of my key areas of interest were English, French and Legal Studies, and in the future I hope to find myself in an industry where I am able to incorporate these three faculties into my daily life at work. For a while now, my biggest aspiration has been to pursue a career in the legal profession. Through my experiences with mooting, debating and public speaking, I’ve found that I enjoy work that requires a more hands-on approach such as speaking and presenting. As a result, I have discovered an interest in becoming a barrister or judge one day. I would love a career that enables me to travel internationally, ideally to Europe, so that I can utilise the skills I have developed within my studies of the French language.”

Eloise Whittaker Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) – The University of Queensland.

“I plan to focus on Structural Engineering and study architecture later after engineering. I’ve always loved travelling, and aspire to work in industries all over the world. What’s more, my ultimate dream is to build skyscrapers and buildings famous for their beauty. By pursuing this future, I will combine my love for physics and art, leading a life of passion.”

A local school instilling a global outlook Capitol Hill – a residential neighbourhood in the US state of Washington DC – is home to some of the government’s most powerful edifices including the US Capitol, the famous domed building which has housed the meeting chambers of the House of Representatives and the Senate (which make up the US Congress) for two centuries.

This is where Old Girl Clare Green (‘15) spent the first two months of this year, having been selected as one of six political science students at the Australian National University to move to Washington DC to intern at the US Congress. Clare interned in the office of Senator Roy Blunt for two months and upon her return to Australia will write a research paper on an aspect of US policy that interests her.

In February, toward the end of her stay, Clare connected with the school, grateful for the outlook the school had instilled in her, to be open to and embrace such experiences.

Hannah Witenden Bachelor of Medicine – Monash University Melbourne.

“I’m part of the extended rural cohort at Monash so after two years in Melbourne all of my clinical placements will be in rural Victoria.

So my plan at the moment is to do rural medicine and perhaps one day become a rural GP. I’m really excited and a bit nervous. I started boarding at St Margaret’s in Grade 7 when I was 11 so being away from home is normal for me now though.”

She said that despite the long hours working on Capitol Hill, the experience had been amazing and that she had learnt so much about US government, and would be coming home with many memories of her time in Washington DC. Apart from the incredible work experience, Clare’s sightseeing checklist included: the White House; the US Capitol; the Senate Floor; the Holocaust Museum; Arlington National Cemetery; the Lincoln Memorial; Georgetown and the State Department.

“Being here during such a historic time has been a life changing experience, and while ANU has been instrumental for the fact that they run the program, I credit St Margaret’s for getting me here.

“This school opened a world of possibilities for me, by fostering in all of its students a belief that they can be more than just what is laid out in front of them, and for that I will be forever grateful,” Claire wrote in an email to the school.

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OLD GIRLS

Young Past Student of Distinction Distinguished Past Student – – Emma Sievwright (’11) Helen Meredith (Wrench, ’53) The fourth annual Past Student Awards once again served to shine a light on the remarkable achievements of our alumni.

Each year there are two categories of winners: the first for Old Girls in their 20th or under alumni reunion year; and the second for those past their 20th reunion.

The 2018 winners, announced at the annual Past Students Awards Dinner in April, are: Young Past Student of Distinction – Emma Sievwright (’11) and Distinguished Past Student – Helen Meredith (Wrench, ’53) In 2016, Emma Sievwright graduated from The University of Queensland (UQ) with First Class Honours in Biomedical Science. Her Honours project focused on craniofacial identification, contributing to research investigating whether the facial appearance of a dry skull (found in a crime scene, for example) could be predicted by using measured distances on the given skull. The project sought to assess whether the use of linear regression models could provide better facial estimates than current methods. During her Honours year, Emma presented preliminary findings at the Australasian Society of Human Biology Conference and also contributed as co-author to a chapter of Commemorations and Memorials: Exploring the Human Face of Anatomy. She has recently been advised that Forensic Science International, a peer-reviewed academic journal, has accepted the study she conducted with her supervisor for publication. At the end of her Honours year, Emma received the prize for the best overall final seminar, and was awarded a Dean’s Commendation and First Class Honours with the highest score in her graduating cohort.

Upon graduation, Emma committed herself to preparing for dentistry entry exams. Following a successful interview and GAMSAT score, she gained entry to the Doctor of Dental Medicine postgraduate program at the University of Sydney, but chose to return to UQ to complete the Bachelor of Dental Science (Honours) program after achieving the 97th percentile in her UMAT exam.

Throughout her studies Emma used her love of baking to destress, developing a strong legion of followers on Instagram.

In 2017, she successfully completed the auditions for Great Australian Bake-Off and was selected as one of 12 amateur bakers nationwide to appear on the show in 2018. Emma used the media attention she received to highlight careers in science and particularly the roles of women in STEM. She recently was invited to attend the Young Scientists of Australia Brisbane Chapter Open Day as a young STEM professional of note.

Past Student Awards 1953 graduate Helen Meredith has been a national figure as a commentator and reporter on The Australian, and the international ICT scene for over 40 years. The list of media organisations she has worked with includes Pacific Computer Weekly where she was News Editor from 1980 to 1982, The Australian as Computer and High Technology Editor from 1983 -1993, and the Australian Financial Review (1993 -2002). She has also been a contributing journalist to the ABC, the Financial Times, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Between 1996 and 2002, Helen was Editor-in-Chief of the Global Flow international web news service.

In her earlier career years, Helen worked as a science editor and copywriter. During the 1970s she was editor of publications for the National Capital Development Commission and a part-time lecturer in the School of Applied Sciences at the Canberra College of Advanced Education (now the University of Canberra).

During her long career Helen wrote thousands of articles, was a speaker at industry conferences, interviewed many of the pioneers of the digital age and contributed to a host of Australian and overseas publications. She was a pioneer of technology journalism and in 2002 was the recipient of the Kester Award for lifetime achievement in this field. In 1989, Helen was active in the establishment of FiTT (Females in IT & Telecommunications), with the purpose of inspiring women to achieve their career aspirations and potential at all levels and disciplines within ICT, by providing support and facilitating peer networking. She was the author of “Easy Riding on the Information Highway”, and was editor of “Women in Technology” (1993). She was vice-chairperson of AITEC (The Australian Advanced Engineering Centre), a joint venture of leading universities and TAFEs established in 1993 to develop postgraduate degrees in engineering (IT&T), mobile communications and systems management.

President of the Old Girls’ Association Nicole Devlin welcomed the dinner guests, saying that as an educator she loved the fact that schools are unique.

“They are one of the places where people from diverse and different backgrounds come together and grow as a community.

“From the moment a girl enrols at St Margaret’s she becomes part of the St Margaret’s community; not just for the time she is at school, but for her life she is a St Margaret’s girl.

“St Margaret’s has always been eager to see how the education and life experiences gained by our students assist them in their endeavours since they have graduated,” said Mrs Devlin.

Nominations for next year Past Student Awards are now available on the St Margaret’s website.

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OLD GIRLS

Destined to draw

Penelope Bell (‘02) has been drawing since she could hold a pencil. She has always loved to draw and even at just five years old would sketch pictures of fashionable women elaborately dressed in heels. It seems that from very early on, she was destined for a career as a fashion illustrator.

Growing up on a sheep and cattle station in Central Western Queensland seems a far cry from the glittering and glamourous world of fashion that would later lure Penelope. However, with grandparents who owned a fashion label, her paternal grandmother an expert knitter and her mother an art teacher, Penelope feels she has always had an appreciation for skilled craftmanship and design.

“I think my love of fashion was always just innate. I’ve always been drawn to textures, embellishments and prints and also to the self-expression of fashion. As a little girl, I loved dressing up and how clothes could make you feel a certain way,” said Penelope.

With formal qualifications in fashion design, textiles, clothing and footwear, Penelope started her career working in a number of different roles before landing a job with fashion designer Julie Tengdahl in her design room and then later managing her boutique at Indooroopilly.

When Penelope received the Lord Mayor’s Young and Emerging Artist’s Fellowship, she set her sights on New York where she worked in fashion PR and marketing for leading luxury branding agency Harrison and Shriftman.

Penelope has also designed and stocked her own fashion label, Penelope Bell, and recently created and launched a

12 month fashion project, Consciously Spending Less to Create More. The project’s purpose is to create more by spending and using less and focuses on quality over quantity, design over trend, style over well dressed as well as innovation and confidence.

After illustrating part time for a few years, Penelope eventually reached a crossroad, and after a pep talk from one of her good school friends, she decided to take a leap of faith and focus on her illustrating business full-time.

2017 was a hugely successful year for Penelope Bell Illustration. Her work was published in Education Queensland’s learning curriculum. She created the creative imagery for the Brisbane Racing Club’s Spring Racing Carnival advertising campaign and worked with leading brands including Max Mara, Michael Kors, QueensPlaza, Pacific Fair, Treasury Hotel, Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Museum of Brisbane, Gloss and Co, the National Retail Association and REST Superannuation. She also became the Creative Ambassador for Toowong Village.

When asked why she loves what she does, Penelope said: “I’ve always loved art and creativity. I feel like I am living the life I always aspired to live. That’s why I love it so much. I get to be creative, I get to illustrate, I get to collaborate with brands that I love and respect, I get to work in the fashion industry and at the end of the day I get to tell a story; I get to leave a legacy behind.”

Of her career highlights to date, Penelope says meeting couture shoe designer and fashion icon Jimmy Choo was high on the list.

“He is a really generous, kind person and given his status in the fashion industry he was very generous with his time, knowledge and business advice and that gave me a lot of confidence.

It gave me confirmation in what I was doing and that I was on the right path.

“Being a Brisbane News cover girl was also a highlight, as was renting an office space and working with a business coach. I’m proud of myself for those things,” said Penelope.

Reminiscing about her time at St Margaret’s, Penelope fondly recalls moving from her hometown where she had been schooled through distance education to the boarding house in Year 8 where she became appreciative of the opportunities.

“When I went to St Margaret’s my whole world exploded with opportunities.

I had all of these opportunities at my fingertips like sport, art and drama.

“I felt nothing was ever out of reach. I felt like I could do anything at school. I was encouraged to be the best version of myself. And I loved that I had people who believed in me and encouraged me.

“It was actually one of my good school friends who gave me the pep talk at the beginning of last year. I think having people who’ve come from the same background as you and the same education, they can talk to you in a way that you understand and don’t let you give up,” said Penelope.

Penelope’s advice to others is if it doesn’t work, try again, and again, and again, and again.

“Resilience is the only thing that’s kept me going.

“Understand yourself, surround yourself with people who support you, find a mentor, educate yourself continually – both yourself and your skills – and listen to your inner voice about what you want to do and don’t let anyone else get in the way,” she said.

What’s next for Penelope? She plans to scale her illustration business to offer more services and products and is also in the process of writing a children’s book based around fashion.

You can follow Penelope’s creative journey on Instagram @penelope_bell_ illustration and on her Facebook page, Penelope Bell Illustration.

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St Margaret's Open morning 8am - 11am THURSDAY 16 AUGUST 2018

For all enrolment enquiries call our Admissions team (07) 3862 0777 or email admissions@stmargarets.qld.edu.au Enrol online at www.stmargarets.qld.edu.au

OGA BRUNCH ACF Sunday 3 June 9:00am with Mel Buttle (1999) and Christine Murr (2017)

OLD GIRLS’ DAY

OGA Chapel Service Sunday 22 July Followed by Morning Tea

9:30am

10 Year Reunion

Friday 27 July

6:30pm

20 Year Reunion

Friday 27 July

6:30pm

30 Year Reunion

Friday 27 July

6:30pm

40 Year Reunion

Saturday 28 July 12noon

ALUMNI REUNIONS

St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School 11 Petrie Street Ascot QLD 4007 Australia Telephone: +61 7 3862 0777 Facsimile: +61 7 3862 0701 mail@stmargarets.qld.edu.au www.stmargarets.qld.edu.au St Margaret’s School Council Ltd ABN: 69069684019 CRICOS Code: 00511K A School of the Society of the Sacred Advent

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50 Year Reunion

Saturday 28 July 12noon

60 Year Reunion

Saturday 28 July 12noon

VIP 60+Luncheon

Monday 30 July 12noon

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