Head of the River

On Saturday 20 March 2021, the 99th Schools Head of the River was held at West Lakes on the Alex Ramsey Rowing Course. With COVID precautions in place, the event was vastly smaller than the previous 10,000 plus crowds with tickets strictly allocated to each family. The 4,000 person event was a fantastic outcome for the sport compared with the 2020 Head of the River which was reduced to Seniors only. The Year 8 Learn-to-Rows (LTR) were the first age group to compete for the prestigious Head of the River title. Wilderness had 30 girls competing, making them the equal biggest outfit in the competition with six crews. After a very successful regular racing season, the crews did not disappoint. The A, B, C and F crews all managed to record wins, with the D and E crews performing admirably despite some mishaps during the race. Thomas Sambal, Lead LTR Coach, was incredibly proud of the girls, especially the A crew who have recorded the first A division win for Wilderness rowing in many years. The Year 9 Junior crews battled through various disruptions in the weeks leading up to the event with incomplete crews, illness, and injury setbacks. Despite these challenges, our girls turned up ready to race and determined to finish their season on a high. The C crew rowed well to secure 3rd in a very competitive race. The B crew finished their season 4th, an outstanding achievement given one of their crew members had to remove a moon boot to race. Our A crew perhaps had the most difficult lead-up to the event with a rower away at REALISE and one spending the past month in a moon boot due to a club sport injury. These girls only had one row together before taking to the water to race in Head of the River and put their best race of the season down, finishing a very close second to Loreto College who were unchallenged all season. Our Year 10 Intermediate crews deserve recognition for their perseverance and sportsmanship this season. With several Year 10s rowing in the First VIII, these girls have essentially raced up a division all season. Unlike many school sports, you cannot select the division you would like to compete in and must enter your crews from the highest divisions down. These girls are commended for their excellent results, finishing with a 4th and two 5ths. Tensions were high as we approached the final events of the day, with the Seniors taking to the water. The Second VIII crew have come through a challenging season but showed some exciting potential leading into the final row. Seymour College and Walford Anglican School for Girls had been dominant all season, winning events by 40-50 seconds over the remaining crews. Our girls left nothing unanswered and gave it their all to finish in a very tight race for the line in 5th place, just 20 seconds from the winning crew. This was an excellent row and the most closely contended race of the year for the Second VIII. The First VIII race was tipped to be the closest race in over 50 years, with Wilderness, Walford and Seymour having all recorded wins during the regular season and Scotch College having beaten all crews at least once during the regattas. Our Wilderness girls suffered a significant setback just a few weeks earlier as illness affected a week of training. Scotch took an early lead in the race and sat half a length clear for the first 1000m with Seymour in 2nd and Walford and Wilderness battling out for 3rd. Having not had the start they had hoped for, the girls found themselves sitting in 4th place with the final 500m to race. Normally, the girls would plan to sprint to the line at 300m out, but the girls, inspired by the Wilderness crowd’s cheers, decided to go early. With 250m to race, the girls were still in 4th with only a few metres separating 2nd to 4th. In the closing stages of the race, the girls held their nerve and pushed their bow in front for a nail-biting finish to record 2nd place - an outstanding result for the crew who recorded the best result in over 10 years. Congratulations to all girls, coaches and parents on a successful end to their season. Mrs Eleanor Trovas, Director of Rowing, and Mrs Aimee Maling, Head Coach, are to be commended on their incredible results. Males mostly occupy head roles in rowing, so we are very fortunate at Wilderness to be the only Adelaide school with both positions occupied by internationally experienced women. Our Wilderness rowers are very lucky to be under the guidance and leadership of two incredible women, who are a shining example of women’s opportunity in sport. The event results were a fitting farewell to our much-loved boatman and Logistics Coordinator, Mr Ron Mobbs, who retired this year after 10 dedicated years of supporting rowing at Wilderness. There are many Wilderness girls, both past and present, who have shared memorable experiences with Ron. On behalf of the Wilderness community, we wish him all the best during his next stage of life and thank him for his years of service to Wilderness School.

Congratulations to all girls, coaches and parents on a successful end to their season.

Help us raise funds for the Wilderness Bhadure Boarding House in Nepal. BOARDERS’ FASHION PARADE

Friday 30 July, 2021 7.00pm Wilderness School

A V E T H E DA T S TICKETS E ON SALE S AV SOON! E T H E DAT E

DRAMA –MAKING INDUSTRY LINKS

I recently had the opportunity to hear Professor Martin Westwell, CEO of the SACE Board, talk about the SACE Board’s promise to provide every student with the opportunity to thrive. He explained the six elements which contribute to thriving: • The ability to transfer learning • Belonging • Agency • Human connectednes, • Lifelong learning and zest for life • Deep understanding and skilful action. He acknowledged that these six elements are natural to Drama. It’s what we have always done. We connect with others in the creation and presentation of dramatic ideas and critically appraise and find creative solutions to problems in authentic and engaging ways. We draw on skills and processes formed in every other discipline and build agency and self-belief by encouraging young people to be brave and vulnerable and overcome challenges. In all this, we create a safe space for students to explore ideas and experiment with creativity, while fostering a unique sense of belonging. So, when he said to a room full of Drama teachers, ‘If you’re going to develop in Drama, you’re going to develop as a human being,’ I felt the weight of those words. He understands what we do and why we do it, and so does the SACE. With 2018 PISA figures revealing that one third of Australian 15-year-olds feel they didn’t belong at school, it is glaring that belonging underpins student achievement and their ability to thrive. Over the last two years, the Wilderness Drama Department has reshaped how we deliver our Middle and Senior years’ programs, focusing on a Company and Production model. This model aims to develop students as authentic artists implementing dramatic and design thinking processes to realise their creative intentions and evolve their identity as artists. Classes operate as small companies and develop a mission and vision for their company that incorporates the values of the group, determining ways of working, identifying their audience and establishing a brand for the nature of work they will produce. In Stage 1, students formed a new company which they launched at their maiden production in Term 1 and will build over the next two years. Our first SACE Drama company, StandUp Theatre Company, formed in 2020, will present their major production, ‘Girls Like That’ in Term 2. They had the good fortune to work with Ellen Steele (State Theatre Company, isthisyours?) and Matt Crook (State Theatre Company) in a developing a character workshop to inform their practice. Meanwhile, Aspect Theatre Company, formed in Stage 1 this year, launched their company at the end of Term 1 with their group-devised production, ‘The Games of Life’, which was informed by a devising workshop with State Theatre Company actor and theatremaker, Nathan O’Keefe. We have a commitment to forming professional partnerships with local artists and industry professionals who are keen to support our girls in developing their skills as entrepreneurial artists, emerging companies and technicians. We are also encouraging students to think about the transferability of skills and technologies such as coding, robotics and engineering to Drama: where is their place in the making and presenting of dramatic art? How could Wilderness girls revolutionise the theatrical experience using innovative technologies? How can drama and technology help create the future? Student engagement in class companies from Year 9 – 12 is palpable, and it is, without doubt, the sense of belonging fostered through this model which allows them to achieve and thrive. We are looking at ways to nurture this beyond the classroom with a planned project in Drama and co-curricular Drama program. The program will allow students to deepen their experience of devising and presenting theatre working across the Middle and Senior years as a larger company and will extend the entrepreneurial and industry-aligned practice developed through the Drama curriculum.

I look forward to sharing more with you about our thriving artists and companies and hope you will take the opportunity to support our artists in their future productions.