From the Middle School

From the Middle School

Our newly appointed Year 7 Leaders stepped up to their various responsibilities this week, accepting their badges at the Year 7 end of term assembly. I would like to thank all the girls who put themselves forward for leadership. Your interest and shared initiatives were most impressive. There will be further opportunities for other responsibilities across the year and I encourage everyone to continue to step up and embrace their potential. Congratulations to:

Middle School Leaders

  • Emma Yates
  • Leahara Wijesuriya
  • Abigail Martin
  • Jasmine Jung

Portfolio Leaders

  • Intercultural Leader – Martina Dall’Asta Comin
  • Wellbeing Leader – Rosanna Rew
  • Environment Leader – Hargun Dhaliwal
  • Communications Leader – Isabelle Martin
  • Chapel Leaders – Heidi Ferreira and Francesca Chan
  • Community Service Leader -Eloise Jenkins

House Liaison Leaders

  • Bennett – Sarah Quan
  • Goodlet – Madeleine Gaden
  • Hammond – Gemma Dixon
  • Ingleholme – Sanduli Bandara
  • Lang – Savannah Lorimer
  • Marden – Willa Pearson
  • Thomas – Miesha Gal
  • Wiley – Aarushi Singh    

ySafe presented to Year 7 and Year 8 last week, covering topics such as: Cyber Bullying and online Content, Online Wellbeing and Sexting and the Law. Students reflected on what they learnt:

On Friday Week 9, the middle school participated in a program and presentation run by an Australian cyber safe company known as Y-Safe. Georgia, from Y-Safe, presented a short cyber safety slideshow about social media apps such as TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and Be Real. She informed us about what we should do if we observe cyberbullying, who to report it to, and the importance of understanding what we should and shouldn’t be sharing with others online. Georgia reinforced the importance of reflecting before posting something online. This was an important message for the middle school to hear given how prevalent social media use is among our age group.  We must always reflect before using social media to communicate with others and consider whether what we are posting is appropriate and whether it will negatively affect someone else. I believe this presentation was timely considering we are at the perfect stages in our lives to learn how to make positive and healthy choices and learn how to effectively deal with cyberbullying.

  • Stacy Sharp, Year 7

On Monday of this week we took Year 8 to Long Reef for their Mind/Body/Spirit Day. We were certainly blessed with beautiful weather that allowed the girls to really enjoy their experience in the surf. The day provided the girls with new skills and plenty of opportunities to connect to nature and build community. Thank you to Mrs Budd, our Deputy Head of MS for her commitment to making this a great day.

I would like to commend Bella Yang one of our passionate and talented Year 7 debaters. She went above and beyond at ISDA last Friday evening, offering to chair not one but three debates! She offered to stay back late as Yr 12 were short a team member and Bella did a brilliant job! She is an impressive, caring and giving member of the Middle School and an excellent role model for the other girls.

Thank you to everyone who attended the Learning Discussions on Tuesday evening and Wednesday. It is always good to be able to share insights into your daughter’s learning and celebrate her achievements across the term. I would like to wish all of our Middle School families a wonderful break over Easter and I look forward to welcoming the girls back in their winter uniforms at the start of Term 2.

Jenny O’Donnell

Head of Middle School