Year 11

Year 11 have been busy this week with final preparation for their assessment block in Week 8 (week commencing Monday 15 March 2021). On Monday we celebrated International Women’s Day (IWD) with the theme: Choose To Challenge. The Luminary representatives created some great discussion groups based on ideas from the IWD 2021 campaign website, featuring videos that celebrated the diversity of young women’s challenges and achievements over the past year. The girls worked hard to coordinate their ideas and express them in such an articulate way with their peers. I am always blown away by their thoughtful and perceptive views and how they want to continue the conversation about their role in society as positive and aware young women.

We took some much needed time out to attend our first service since lockdown in the newly renovated chapel with Rev Viniana Ravetali. The chapel looked fantastic and comfortably seated the whole year group plus staff. Under the newly relaxed Covid-19 rules, we got to actually sing together and also meet our new reverend, Rev Sally Yabsley-Bell. The theme of our service was, “Living Wisely” and Rev Vinnie spoke to the girls about the wisdom to choose good friendships and seek out people who are positive influences, who bring out the best in us and don’t bring us down. Natalie Toomey read the following prayer to sum up the theme:

“Give us wisdom to know good from evil. Give us wisdom to assess the clamoring voices and concerns with which we are daily bombarded. Give us wisdom so that we might learn to be accepting of all the diverse people you have created. Give us wisdom to be peacemakers and mediators of understanding where there is conflict. Give us wisdom when we are in conflict to make it possible both for us and for those with whom we differ to save face and win and move forward hand in hand. Give us wisdom not to violate any of your creatures by discriminating against them. Give us wisdom to discern what is of ultimate value for our souls and to make wise choices.”

Our image this week is of our chapel readers: Natalie Toomey, Sophie Walker, Ruby Scott-Wishart, Isabella Chapman, Sarah-Bronte Andrikis and Madison Clemens with Rev Vinnie and me.

Please take care as your daughter is preparing for assessments next week and encourage your daughter to eat well, get some exercise and get her sleep – key elements for surviving a busy and challenging week.

Next week will be the start of a uniform blitz, please ensure your daughter is in proper uniform and only approved jewellery.

Please let me know if you or your daughter need any assistance or support next week. I am available on 8741 9736 and on email sconnolly1@mlcsyd.nsw.edu.au

– Sharon Connolly
Head of Year 11