From the Middle School

From the Head of Middle School Jenny O’Donnell

Welcome to Week 4 in Middle School. This week Year 8 attended a presentation by Somerset detailing their up and coming Outdoor Education experience which is scheduled for week 9. The girls had lots of questions to ask and are looking forward to the adventure. Can we please ask that parents complete the forms available on the Parent Portal as soon as possible so that we can lock in arrangements.  

Congratulations to all the girls who received recognition at the Year 7 assembly on Tuesday: our Jacaranda Award recipients, our new Term 3 Compass Captains, Sports Colour Award recipients and Aretha Award recipients. It is always inspirational to hear how the girls are stepping up to live our College values and achieve across a number of co-curricular areas. 

Year 7 students have been invited to apply for the position of responsibility as Transition Leaders in support of incoming Year 7, 2026 students. An expression of interest statement of 200 words has been requested before Friday 15 August. The girls have been sent an email detailing the position. Please encourage your daughters to get involved as this role is integral to building our community. 

In week 6 we will be hosting 10 students from Millingimbi School in the Northern Territory. Thank you to the five Middle School families who have generously welcomed the girls into their homes during this time. As you can imagine, our southern winter weather will be quite a shock for the girls and as a result we would welcome donations of second hand warm clothes: hoodies, trackpants, puffer jackets, beanies, gloves etc. Please send any donations to the Middle School Office over the next week, your support is most appreciated. 

It was wonderful to hear stories of the success of the Goodooga Indigenous Games and how our Year 8 girls stepped up to help run events across the day. Below you can read some student reflections that capture their excitement and investment. 

• The Goodooga Indigenous Games Cultural Immersion Trip was an amazing experience that went beyond just visiting regional towns. Being part of the Goodooga Indigenous Games Day in Goodooga, a small rural community in northwestern NSW, showed me how culture can connect people across different places and generations. It was inspiring to see how the event celebrated Aboriginal traditions and brought together students from all over NSW to participate in traditional Indigenous games. 
  
  I really appreciated the cultural immersion part of the trip. Visiting nearby towns like Dubbo, Walgett, and Brewarrina, especially seeing the ancient fish traps, helped me understand more about regional Australia’s history and stories. 
  
  One of my favourite parts was the travel itself, watching the landscapes change, especially during golden hour, was beautiful. It was an experience full of memories and moments that changed how I think about culture. Aliya Singh (Year 8). 

• Goodooga was a fun experience. The first day was a travel day on the train to Dubbo and then a drive from there to Walgett to Milly’s house where we had spaghetti bol and sat by the fire and told stories. That night we set up our sleeping bags in the living room and non stop talked all night. 
  
  The next day, we visited St Joseph’s primary school and played Bullrush with the kids there. Once school started, we had a lesson with JB to learn about Indigenous culture and their language. Then we went to the ag plot and held baby bunnies, baby emus and saw other animals, like peacocks, turkeys, emus, sheep and turkeys. 
  
  After that, we went to the fish traps and learnt about how they used to catch fish back in the day, and we saw the fish traps in real life. After a lot of asking we had some fun at PCYC where we played touch at the gymnasium, played basketball and got rid of some energy. As it was Milly’s dad’s birthday, we went out to dinner and whilst we were waiting, we went outside and played red rover with Milly’s cousins and family friends. 
  
  On Thursday we headed over to Goodooga and had our game day where we played games like AFL, volleyball, hockey, and some other Indigenous games. After the games were finished, we had a buffet BBQ lunch with the other schools. Once all the awards were given out, we drove over to the hot springs and went for a swim for a bit. We then went back to Milly’s place and ordered pizza, whilst the pizza was on its way, we went yabbying in her pond but sadly caught nothing, while we were waiting for the line to catch a yabby, we went to look at the pigs, piglets, lama’s and geese. We went inside and ate pizza and had the best brownies ever for dessert. 
  
  Friday was our travel day, so we stopped at a café and got some hot chocolates for the drive and visited the information centre then the IGA to get some snacks for the train. 
  
  By the end of it, we were all so tired and had the best sleep ever back in our beds. We had an amazing time meeting new people, catching yabbies, hanging out, playing games, non-stop talking and being out in Goodooga. Lillie Oldfield (Year 8) 
  
• Last week from Tuesday-Friday I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Cultural Immersion Tour. On Tuesday at 7:20 am we all caught the train from Central Station to Dubbo. Although this took around 6 hours, I loved having the time to chat and laugh with my friends. When we had arrived at Dubbo we got a car and off we were to Walgett! The next day we went to St Joseph’s school and played with the children there until class started. We then got the opportunity to have a languages lesson with one of the teachers called JB. After visiting the school, we then drove to Brewarrina to explore the fish traps. They were very interesting! On Thursday it was the day of the games! We got up very early and drove to Goodooga a small country town on the Queensland Boarder. We got split up into groups and played games that were like the sports we do but changed into the Indigenous way. After the games we all had a big feast, and I even had 3 sausages! After a long day we went into the hot springs to relax and drove all the way back to Dubbo. On Friday we had a long way back home to sleep and relax. I had the best time ever and I wanted to say thank you to Milly’s mum and dad for being amazing hosts for us!  Chloë Lenane (Year 8) 
  
• This four-day trip was one of the most amazing experiences I will never forget. The first day, when we all arrived bright and early at Central Station, our group jumped on a big train which we stayed on for seven hours. Although it was long, I enjoyed hanging with my friends, eating lollies and watching the scenery pass by out the window. When we arrived in Dubbo, we jumped in a minivan (which we all loved dearly and named Bob) and drove for another three hours until we got to our destination in Walgett where we made base at Millie’s house. During the drive, we experienced the first sunset on the trip. Colours of a mocktail spilled sky melted and danced together, as the sun dipped below the yellow fielded horizon of canola flowers. The photo storage on my phone now consists mostly of this sunset. 
  
  That night we had a delicious meal which Millie’s family cooked for us, we all devoured in seconds before going up for seconds. Even though we went to bed at around 9:15, we all stayed up chatting and laughing until around 10.00pm, but we all had lollies to boost our energy in the morning. 
  
  The next morning, we drove to St Joseph’s Primary School, which was Millie’s old primary school. We played tip and red rover cross over with the kids of the school before listening and learning about First Nations culture and language with a teacher named JB. 
  
  After we left the school, we drove about an hour to Brewarrina where we explored the fish traps which were over 40,000 years old and super interesting. That afternoon we drove back to Walgett, where we went to PCYC which was a fun active centre before we all had a mouth-watering dinner at the local RSL. We met more of Millie’s friends and family whom we played more red rover cross over and piggyback races with outside. There was even this kid who could backflip. 
  
  The next day, we woke up extra early to jump in our minivan to drive to Goodooga Central school where the Goodooga games would take place. After about two hours driving, we finally reached the school which was all decorated for their annual games. When we got sorted into our allocated groups, where I quickly became friends with four other girls who were from different parts of regional NSW. My favourite game of the day was similar to hockey and netball mixed together, you could hit the ball with a stick, but you couldn’t run with it. After a long morning of many fun games, we lined up to get lunch which was really good. Some of us even went up for seconds… 
  
  To relax our muscles and our bodies we then travelled to the Artesian Springs which we only spent a few seconds in for a picture before hopping out because it was absolutely boiling hot. At least we got a photo!
  
  That night back at Walgett, Millie’s mum ordered us pizza which we sat and ate in our pjs, which was wonderful after a big day of running around. 
  
  That night we packed up and got ready to leave in the morning, anticipation to get back home and sadness about leaving so soon hung in the air. Our bodies were exhausted as we all flopped into our sleeping bags. 
  
  Nice and early we had brekkie and said our goodbyes to Millie’s home and family. After driving into town and exploring Walgett’s Freedom Ride, the information centre and the IGA, (I still owed the teachers a coffee after an unfortunate bet…) we finally hoped into our beloved minivan and drove back to Dubbo. The rain finally caught up to us as we neared Dubbo station. Before jumping on the train back home we bought some lunch and dinner at the Bake House, then power walked to the station. 
  
  For the rest of the seven hours of the trip, Lillie and I watched ‘How to lose a guy in 10 days’ before eating more lollies and falling asleep. 
  
  As the trip came to an end, we were all tired and longed for our own bed. But we all felt a bit sad as our journey had now ended. Yet the many memories we made and the experiences we felt and did, would last us the rest of our lives. Many things would happen in our lives, but we would always remember this trip. The friends we made, the connections we built and the memories which were born. Knowing that whenever we saw a sunset, we would see the one above the yellow flowers. Ellie Lau (Year 8) 

Futsal
Congratulations to Anna Smart (Y7), Sophie Chiang (Y7), Havana Gray (Y7), Catherine Yu (Y7),  Sophia Xiong (Y7), Marlia Uhl (Y7) and Georgia Blue (Y8), who are now the regional champions after winning the grand final at Under 14 Regional Futsal Competition in Windsor. The girls had everyone on the edge of their seats, only winning in the final minutes. Well done to our champions. Anna has shared her experience with us:

Last week on Wednesday in Year 7 Sophie Chiang, Havana Gray, Catherine Yu, Sophia Xiong, Marlia Uhl and Georgia Blue in year 8, competed in the u14 Regional Futsal competition in Windsor.

At this amazing event we versed different schools, we met different people and we played as a team. In the competition we had to play 7 games overall, we were doing great in the first 5 being undefeated and we made our way to the quarterfinals, then to the semifinals then to the grand final which we won 5-4.

In the grand final we were down 3-1 at one stage, but we didn’t drop our heads and we were eager to win. We gave it everything we had and climbed out way back to the winning lead when Marlia scored the winning goal!

This event was so fun!!! And I think all the girls think the same.

It was a great week for Futsal with our 3 senior teams winning their region and our junior school girls making their debut. All teams qualified for NSW State and will be competing again at the end of the month.

Anna Smart

Term 3 Gloucester Gatherings  

Jenny O’Donnell

Head of Middle School