P R I N C I PA L’ S R E P O R T Put Up Your Hand encompasses the can-do attitude we encourage in our girls. At assembly at the end of March, Senior School girls heard Gemma Sisia, an Australian who lives in Africa, speak of her dream to establish a school in Tanzania for bright, poor students with the aim of developing leaders and professionals to take Tanzania forward. Through hard work and sacrifice, Ms Sisia has brought that dream to reality. Increasing numbers of our Old Girls go overseas to do community service in a serious way and often they have been inspired by activities of the clubs and societies they have been involved in while at St Mary’s. It has been a starting point.
Amelia Reid, Lisa Nivbrant and Tessa Lim with Gemma Sisia.
The numerous opportunities in the extra-curricular life of the school are often what students remember most about their school experience. Being part of Vision Generation, HOPE, Debating, Mock Trials, Wearable Art, the Chess Club, Tournament of Minds, dance and drama groups, student exchange, fundraising groups, Respect, a community service tour to India, Cambodia, Laos, China or outback Australia, the travelling music or sports groups, or a dive and marine science tour to the USA are just some of the many activities that our girls put up their hands for. It is competitive to get a place in some of these groups. Attaining that place or missing out, in itself leads to personal learning. Many activities, however, require students to volunteer their time and efforts and bring passion and enthusiasm to the task or project. Involvement is a life-enriching experience and can test students with regard to commitment, determination and organisation. Just some of these activities are featured in this Fideliter. We had two long-serving staff members retire at the end of Term 1. Jan Nicholls, our Senior School Teacher Librarian, has been at St Mary’s since 1985. Mrs Nicholls has seen St Mary’s change
Jan Nicholls
and grow, and has made a significant contribution to its history. As well as her substantive role, along the way, Mrs Nicholls has been Head of Craig House, Head of Year 11, staff support for interstate and overseas tours and co-editor of Almerta. Her crowning achievement was the development of the new Elizabeth Myles Library. There is no doubt that books, in their paper or e-form, will continue to be an integral part of Mrs Nicholls’ life. Mara Hope, our Senior Laboratory Technician, commenced at St Mary’s in 1990. Large numbers of girls love Science and see it as a future career, so Mrs Hope too has seen significant change as the curriculum has evolved, more science laboratories have been built and more Mara Hope students have been exposed to laboratory work, most notably the Year 7s. I wish Mrs Hope well in her retirement as she has time to focus on her family and travel, and take up volunteering opportunities. If you were to come by St Mary’s this year, you would see some changes to the landscape. The extension of Dannatt Hall was opened at the end of Term 1, providing new change rooms, showers and toilets as well as a fitness room; the boarding house extension to accommodate an additional 20 girls is underway; the uniform shop and the archives (located in the house at the front of the school), are being rebuilt and will swap positions; and an additional Year 7 classroom and a smaller classroom are being built next to the Year 7 centre. As always, it is all go! May 2 was Lady Treatt’s 100th birthday and I was very pleased to see her on the day to congratulate her. Lady Treatt (Frankie Wilson ’32) is a most generous benefactor to St Mary’s, whose contributions have made a huge difference to the lives of our students. Who could imagine St Mary’s without the Music and Dance Centre? Who could imagine St Mary’s without Metricup? We are indeed fortunate to have an Old Girl so interested in and committed to what we are doing here in the 21st century. Lynne Thomson Principal
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P r i n c i pa l ' s R e p o r t