Year 7 and 10 Vaccination Clinic Dates and Online Consent

Year 7 and Year 10 students are able to receive free vaccinations through the NSW School Vaccination Program offered by NSW Health.

SCEGGS Vaccination Clinic dates for 2023 are as follows:

• Clinic 1: Year 7 – diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (dTpa) and human papillomavirus (HPV)vaccines – Thursday 2 March
• Clinic 2: Year 10 – meningococcal ACWY vaccine – Thursday 27 July
• Clinic 3 – Catch-up vaccinations – Wednesday 8 November

From 2023 parents can provide consent online for their child’s routine school vaccinations.

Vaccination will only be provided at school if consent has been received.

How to provide consent:

1. To complete online consent for your child’s school vaccinations visit the NSW Health School Vaccination Portal here.
2. Follow the steps to log in to your existing ServiceNSW account. This is the same account you may already use for your digital driver’s licence. If you don’t have a ServiceNSW account, refer to ServiceNSW to create one.
3. If the NSW School Vaccination Program Portal page doesn’t appear try clicking the link in Step 1 again after signing into your Service NSW account.
4. Complete or confirm your profile with your personal details.
5. Complete the School Vaccination Consent Form for your child/ren. You will need to:
   1. Enter your child’s personal details
   2. Provide the Medicare card details for you and your child
   3. Read the linked Parent Information Sheet and privacy statement
   4. Provide consent

Consent for Year 7 students’ vaccinations were due Wednesday 15 February.
If you would like your Year 7 student to be vaccinated through the school program please provide consent as soon as possible if you have not done so already.

If you or your child do not have a Medicare card, consent can still be provided by requesting a paper-based consent form directly from your child’s school.

For more information on routine school vaccinations, please visit here.

If you require information in your language, please visit here.

If your child misses a school vaccination clinic, the school immunisation nurses will try to catch them up at their next visit. Alternately, you can speak to a GP or pharmacist about catching up on vaccination.

For more information on school vaccination visit here or if you have any questions, please contact South Eastern Sydney Public Health Unit on 9382 8333 (Ext 2).

Update regarding Year 7 & Year 8 Catch-up HPV Vaccinations

From February 2023, only one dose of HPV vaccination is required to be fully vaccinated. Previously, Year 7 students were offered two doses of the HPV vaccine in the NSW School Vaccination Program. The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has reviewed recent international evidence and has advised that a single dose of the HPV vaccine gives the same protection as two dose course. 

If you have already consented to your child receiving two doses of HPV vaccine, they will only receive one dose.

If your child is in Year 8 or above and previously missed their second dose of HPV vaccine, they are now considered fully vaccinated and do not require a second dose.

A small number of students who are immunocompromised are still recommended to receive a three-dose course of HPV vaccine. If your child is immunocompromised, it is important to discuss their immunisation needs with their GP. 

Sarah Walters
Director of Administration

Drama News

This week’s banner is a picture of the cast from ‘The Female of the Species’ play-reading.

HSC Drama

Congratulations to the class of 2022 who were rewarded with stellar HSC Drama results. They employed terrific resilience and humour in navigating their finale year. We look forward to their dramatic pursuits and accomplishments in the years ahead.

On Stage

Students from Year 11 and 12 Academic Drama attended On Stage – the annual exhibition of practical work from HSC candidates, on Thursday February 9 at the Seymour Centre. Students embraced the opportunity to observe examples of high achieving works to propel them into their 2023 study.

House Drama

We are delighted to announce that Kate Fitzpatrick and Tom Campbell will join us to adjudicate the 2023 House Drama festival.

Kate is known to Australian audiences for a vast array of work on stage and screen, as well as being the first woman to commentate on cricket for Channel Nine. Tom can presently be seen on stage in the Hayes Theatre production of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and on screen in “Seriously Red”.

Rehearsals are proceeding with much enthusiasm and collegiality. Houses are pumped and (almost) ready to take to the stage.

This year’s challenge sees each House randomly allocated a fictional character. This character will form the focus of an original origin story.

The narrative is constructed in the most creative way possible. Musical elements may be added. You should consider “the world” which your character inhabits. We MUST still be able to recognise a journey for your character – what early events shaped who your character was to become?

1. Ursula became an evil villain deep below the ocean.
2. Trunchbull became a treacherous villain as Head of a school.
3. Scooby Doo became a key sleuth joining forces with a merry band of misfits.
4. Big Bird became an educator and representation of childhood wholesomeness.
5. E.T. is a victim of circumstance and subsequently saves a family.
6. Captain Jack Sparrow became a wayward, eccentric leader of piracy on the high seas.

In constructing the 10 -15 min (max.) performance you should consider the involvement of as many House members as possible. Consider the strengths you have in your house and capitalise on that. eg Do you have excellent creative writers/playwrights who might be assigned the job of script?

The influential narratives from Children’s Literature have been selected by the House Committees.

Co-Curricular Drama

St Peter’s classes have commenced for the year. Primary students starting in Week 2 with the Years 7-9 class starting this week. Tutors for classes are Poppy Lynch and Romy Bartz.

Monday: Years 5 & 6

Tuesday: Years 7 – 9

Thursday: Years 3 & 4

Productions of “The Appleton Ladies Potato Race” and “Ladies in Black” also went into rehearsal this week with production dates scheduled for Weeks 4 and 8 in Term 2.

The Female of the Species

SCEGGS Drama will present a play-reading of Joanna Murray-Smith’s “The Female of the Species” on Wednesday March 8 at 7.00pm in St Peter’s Playhouse.

This special event has been produced to support our HSC Drama students in their study of the play under the syllabus topic “The Voice of Women in Theatre”.

Murray-Smith states that she set out to see if she “could make feminism funny”. Her comic farce tackles a contrast of feminist theories as the disgruntled Molly arrives unannounced into the home of celebrated feminist icon Margot Mason, challenging her theories and writing.

SCEGGS is delighted to feature Poppy Lynch in the role of Molly. Stage and television veteran Belinda Giblin will play Margot Mason. The cast is completed with Romy Bartz, Mark Humphries, Elijah Williams, and Anthony Phelan. We are indeed fortunate to have engaged actors of such a high calibre.

The reading will be guided by celebrated Director, Gale Edwards. Gale has had an extensive career directing theatre around the world. She was the first woman to direct at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has had productions of musicals on Broadway and The West End.

The reading will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience.

The SCEGGS community is invited to attend to performance. Admission is free.

This promises to be a most engaging evening of theatre.

“Investing feminism with comedy is a mark of respect. Feminism is a big girl now – it’s strong enough to laugh at itself.” – Joanna Murray-Smith (Playwright: The Female of the Species)

Peter Eyers
Head of Drama

Visual Arts

From the Staff

Our Arts assistant Michaela Gleave is about to undertake a solo project with Perth Festival at the end of the month. Her project, Between Us, is a Morse code light installation on the roof of the Art Gallery of Western Australia. The public are invited to submit messages that form a collaborative poem that is translated and beamed up into the night sky over four consecutive evenings during the last weekend of the festival.  You can find out more information about the project (and submit a message if you wish!) here and find out more about Michaela’s practice here.

Applications for positions on the editorial team for SCOPE Art magazine are due tomorrow

Thank you to the students who have already submitted their applications.

You can view last year’s editions of SCOPE here:

• SCOPE Edition 11
• SCOPE Edition 10

Why not join Digital Photography this term?

Co-curricular classes have started this week and students are settling in beautifully to their chosen disciplines. Of course, due to demand these classes do full quickly and we encourage any student who missed out on a spot this semester to re-apply when classes reopen for enrolment in Semester 2. We still have a few spots to fill in Digital Photography on a Wednesday afternoon. Please get in touch via email if you are interested in joining this course.

In Digital Photography classes Chris Gleisner delivers refined training in the conceptual and technical skill of photography in a professional, yet fun and exciting way.

Students may be interested in using a compact camera or smartphone and learning how to control the camera’s creative ability in manual mode. Maybe some creative inspiration and experience in compositional techniques or understanding of light is what will take students work further.

Being visually literate is a critical skill taught to Art students as they negotiate an increasingly complex set of signs, codes and symbols embedded in visual material. Think advertising, social media, not to mention being able to confidently infer meaning in a range of art works. Visual Literacy is about language, communication, and interaction. Art is a linguistic tool with which we communicate, exchange ideas, and navigate out complex world.

Creative Kids Vouchers

We are mindful that some families will have art and craft supplies at home and students will be able to access materials such as paint, brushes and paper/board/canvas but in the event this is not an option for your family we would like to suggest that students take advantage of the NSW Creative Kids Voucher that gives them $100.00 towards a creative pursuit.

We encourage you to shop around to find quality suppliers or to apply to this organisation and the application form is here.

This process takes a matter of minutes, shipping is free and within the week your daughter can have access to a great range of art materials to use now and into the future.

This week’s banner is a still from Michaela’s work: Between Us.

Heidi Jackson
Head of Visual Arts

Science News

New Opportunity Available and Science Club

Happy International Day of Women and Girls in Science! This is a global United Nations celebration that occurs every year in February to encourage us all to think about how we can motivate more women to enter Science, since women remain underrepresented in many of the scientific fields. You may have seen some of the inspiring media articles such as on the ABC about this issue.

As part of celebrating this important day, the Science Department is very pleased to announce that we will be taking a group of Year 10 students on a wonderful opportunity to attend the Maritime Museum’s Women in STEM event, held on the Thursday 9 March . This will be a day full of hands-on activities and inspiring presentations by women in scientific fields. Students have the chance to ask questions and meet real scientists. However, places are limited, so its “First in, best Scienced!”. If you are in Year 9 or 10 and would like to attend this event, please email Mrs Sharma ASAP. There will also be other activities and competitions during class to help celebrate this event, such as the one shown above from 2022.

In other important news, Science Club is back on! After rigorous polling at the Co-Curricular Expo, it was determined that Friday was the day! So tomorrow lunch, the first 2023 Science Club session will be starting at 1.05pm in JF9. Looking forward to seeing you all there for some more Super Science!

Mia Sharma
Science Teacher

Music Matters

Music Committee 2023

The music committee is a group of five students, each holding an individual role associated with a type of ensemble at SCEGGS. Starting from last week, over the next few weeks, each member of the committee will share a little bit about themselves and why they love music! This week, Teagan Barrack (Year 11), our 2023 Band Captain, shares her musical journey.

My name is Teagan, I’m in Year 11 and I am the Band Captain for 2023! I started playing the clarinet when I was eight years old, and I’ve been in love with it ever since. Before starting at SCEGGS, I also started learning the saxophone to allow myself to play in as many bands as possible once I was in high school. This year, I will be a proud member of the Basie Jazz Band, Holst Wind Ensemble, Woodwind Ensemble and the School Choir. I love the variety of ensembles I can play in at SCEGGS and enjoy spending my mornings, lunchtimes, or afternoons in the DB Centre, making music. I think that the best part about Music is that I can work in a team with all sorts of people from the school to make something beautiful. I’m hoping to see many old and new faces as ensemble rehearsals begin and I’m looking forward to seeing what 2023 will bring for music at SCEGGS!

Assembly Pianist Weeks 2 and 3

Congratulations to Rebecca Colwell (Year 11) who played the hymns and excerpts for “walk-in/walk-out” in Assembly for Weeks 2 and 3.  Rebecca is an accelerated Music 2 student who will be sitting her HSC exam later this year.  She has also achieved her L.Mus.A last year.  Accompanying the school’s singing of hymns in assembly is a wonderful way for student pianists to extend their skills.  There are further opportunities coming ahead for interested pianists to perform.  Well done, Rebecca!

Peripatetic Music Program

All students enrolled in the Peripatetic Music Program should have heard from their Music tutor by now. If you have not heard from your Music tutor, please contact Ms Heidi Jones.

If you wish to read more about the program, you may read the information through the Peripatetic Music Program here.

Music Tutors

A reminder about the role of our Music Tutors. Music Tutors:

• are not full-time employees of SCEGGS;
• understand that students may need to miss lessons through illness or other school disruptions, and expect that parents will notify them at least 24 hours in advance;
• cannot always offer make-up lessons;
• develop rotating timetables to provide a weekly lesson for each student;
• display their timetables on Cognito;
• are responsible for collecting and returning Primary School students promptly, to and from their  classrooms, for each music lesson;
• require four weeks’ notice if lessons are to be discontinued.

Secondary Students

Secondary students must advise their classroom teachers, at least 48 hours in advance, that they will be absent for a music lesson.

Enrolling for Peripatetic Music lessons

The Music Department accepts applications for instrumental and vocal lessons all year round. Please fill in this form if you wish to apply. Click here for music tuition request form.

Waiting lists may be created when tutors reach capacity.

Practice-a-thon

The Practice-a-thon will run from Weeks 3-6 in preparation for the SCEGGS Eisteddfod.

Practice trackers will be available from music tutors and classroom music teachers. Use the tracker to monitor your daily practice. We are aiming to see how long our best practice streak is. Earn a Bronze award for a 7-day streak, a Silver award for a 14 day streak, a Gold award for a 21 day streak and a Platinum award for a 28+ day streak. The awards will be distributed along with your Eisteddfod award.  

SCEGGS Eisteddfod

• The SCEGGS Music Eisteddfod is a competition open to all musicians currently taking private lessons, inside or outside of school.
• Entry into the Eisteddfod is FREE.
• All Elective Music students are preparing for participation.

Applications

• Will be collected through a google doc form which will be available in Weeks 4 & 5 (Monday 20 February and Friday 3 March).
• No entries will be accepted after Friday 3 March. 

Heats – Week 7

All heats will be held in Week 7.

• Instrumental heats will be held during regular Music class lessons for Primary students, Year 7 students and Elective Music students.
• All other heats will be held during regular class lesson time.
• Students will perform for the external, specialist adjudicator in a music studio – there is no audience.
• Due to timetabling restrictions, adjudicators do not provide written reports or any other feedback.
• Time limit: 5 minutes

Highlights Concerts – Week 8 – Friday 24 March

• Adjudicators select between 15-20 performers to perform at each Highlights concert (Primary & Secondary).
• Primary Highlights concert: Friday 24 March at 4.30pm
• Secondary Highlights concert: Friday 24 March at 6.00pm
• A variety of awards are made at these concerts:

1. Outstanding Musician of the Primary School/Secondary School
2. Wran Prize for Up and Coming Vocalist (Secondary only)
3. Acknowledgement Awards

Any questions please contact Heidi Jones – Peripatetic Music Co-ordinator/Accompanist & Performance Coach by email here.

Primary Assembly Performances

Congratulations to Angelina Wang (Year 6) and Anara Murugesan (Year 5) who performed at the Year 3-6 Assembly this week. Anara performed “Pavan” by Alex Rowley on the oboe and this beautiful, lyrical piece that was well-received by the audience. Angelina learned to play the School Song “Luceat Lux Vestra” on the piano for the Assembly. This is a very tricky piece which is usually played by our music staff. Well done to Angelina and Anara!

Pauline Chow
Head of Music

Primary Sport News

Year 3 Basketball

Congratulations to the Year 3 girls on a fantastic first week of basketball! Your teamwork and skills have truly shone on the court. It’s wonderful to see you working together and having fun while improving your game. We look forward to Week 2 with matches against Ascham and Kambala. Best of luck, girls!

A big thank you to all the coaches for their dedication and hard work in guiding and mentoring the girls during their first week of sports. Your guidance, support, and encouragement have been invaluable in helping the girls develop their skills, teamwork, and love for the game. Thank you for being such amazing role models!

Waterpolo/Flippaball

The Year 5-6 water polo girls had a fantastic first match for the season at St Catherine’s. Unfortunately, our Year 5 Flippaball team could not get their season started due to the last-minute closing of the Abbotsleigh pool. Thanks to the girls who came along for a pool session instead, learning many rules and building their camaraderie as a team! Keep up the great work, and best of luck for the coming weeks!

Year 4-6 Football

The first week of Football was a great opportunity for the Years 4-6 girls to showcase their abilities and compete against other schools. With all teams having close matches, it was exciting to see the girls giving their all and performing their best on the field. The hot weather added an extra layer of challenge to the games but they never let the heat get in the way of their performance.  

Sporting Reminders

To help your child have the best experience on game day, it’s important for them to arrive at the venue 30 minutes before the start of the game. This extra time allows them to warm up properly, join in the team’s preparation, and be ready to play their best. Being on time also shows respect for their teammates and coaches, and demonstrates their commitment to the sport. Your child will be fully prepared and ready to have fun on the field by arriving early. Thank you for supporting your child’s love for sports!

As we also head into the season, a quick reminder for all parents and supporters taken from the IPSHA rules.

• Focus on the efforts and performance of the children rather than the result
• Children play organised sports for fun. They are not playing for spectators’ entertainment, nor are they miniature professionals.
• Applaud good performances and efforts from each team. Congratulate all participants upon their performance regardless of the game’s outcome.
• Respect the officials’ decision.
• Never ridicule or scold a child for making a mistake during a competition.
• Positive comments are motivational and encourage continued effort.
• Show respect for your team’s opponents. Without them there would be no game.
• Encourage players to follow the rules and the officials’ decisions.
• Demonstrate appropriate social behaviour by not using foul language, or harassing players, coaches or officials.
• Comments should not interfere with the running of the game.

Please ensure your daughter is at the venue ready to start 30 mins before her game so that there is time to complete a full warm-up as a team. Girls must arrive in the correct uniform, have a full water bottle and bring all other sports-specific equipment required to play (e.g. shin pads for football).

Primary Cross Country Carnival

We look forward to our Years 3-6 Primary cross-country carnival, which is happening on Tuesday, Week 6, this term. Before the carnival in PE classes, we will be working on improving our fitness with the help of our amazing cross-country coaches. This is the first event this year in which you can earn points for your house. Above all, it is a day for you to challenge yourself to work hard and give it your all!

In preparation for this, we also invite all families from Years 3-6 (and 4-legged friends) to our Cross-Country Carnival preparation sessions on Friday 24 and Friday 3 March at 6.45 am at McKay Oval in Centennial Park. A bus will be provided for students to return to school at the session’s conclusion at 7.40 am.

If you are interested, please fill out this short form, so we know you are coming!

We can’t wait to see you there!

Sport Information

For Years 4-6, please download and use the IPSHA App on your mobile device for Saturday matches. All match locations are posted through the app.  Any wet weather will also be posted on the @SCEGGSport Twitter feed.

Important Sports Dates

Primary Sport Achievements

Does your daughter compete in any sport outside of school (for example, at a representative level or a sport we do not currently offer)? If so, I would love to celebrate their achievements by recognising them in this newsletter!

Please email any information (and photos, if possible) to Tom Mitton. These will be included in newsletters throughout the year.

Tom Mitton
PDHPE and Sport Coordinator: Primary

Secondary Sport News

Beach Volleyball

Congratulations to Aliyah Bensan (Year 9) who has been selected to represent NSW at the Australian U’16 Youth Beach Volleyball Championships. The competition will take place at the end of March at Coolangatta Beach in QLD. We wish Aliyah all the very best with her preparation over the next 6 weeks.

Touch

Good luck to all of our SCEGGS students representing Easts Touch at the Junior State Cup this weekend to be held at Wagga.

Flying the flag for SCEGGS will be:

• U’18’s: Sophie Davis (Year 12), Emma Juneja (Year 12) and Olivia Ward (Year 12)
• U’16’s: Julia Machliss (Year 10), Lily Cooney (Year 9), Sadie Juneja (Year 9)
• U’14’s: Rosie Pallett (Year 8)

Cross Country

Good luck to Matilda Emanuel (Year 9), Ruby Fry (Year 10), Nancy Newton (Year 9) and Annaliese Stackpool (Year 9) who will be competing as a SCEGGS team in the 14-17 years age category at the World Country Championships school event on Friday. This race is the lead event to the World Championships and the team will have the opportunity to race on the World Cup course around Mount Panorama. Good luck!

Athletics

Good luck to Coco Espie (Year 9) who will be competing at the NSW Junior Athletics Championships to be held at Homebush. We look forward to hearing her results as she attempts to break her own National records in the U’17 age group.

SCEGGS at Play

Do you have any sporting news or photos to share in the Green Gate?

We love seeing our students being active and want to celebrate their passion and enjoyment amongst the SCEGGS community. Please send in any action shots from the weekend and any other interesting sporting highlights to alisongowan@sceggs.nsw.edu.au

SCEGGS Training sessions before and after school plus Saturday Sport

Please check the @SCEGGSSport Twitter feed for the latest updates relating to cancellations and wet weather.

IGSA Fixtures, Results and Wet Weather

The IGSA website and platform for accessing wet weather, fixtures and team results can be found here.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact myself on 9052 2721 or 0418 491 521.

Alison Gowan
Director of Sport

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at SCEGGS

Welcome to the new Bronze participants, welcome back to Silver and Gold.

We hope that all reading this have had a worthwhile holiday break and a good start to the term. We’d like to remind everyone that time in the outdoors is widely considered both mentally and physically beneficial, and is an excellent recreation for making new friends, developing stamina and resilience.

We were fortunate to run a Gold hike in the Blue Mountains before Christmas, and we congratulate our Gold participants who completed this and also to participants who completed their Residential Projects. These ranged from intensive courses run by the Australian Bar Association and First Aid courses to attending Crusader study camps or being a Youth Leader on a children’s camp.

Year 12 Gold participants who still have a hike to complete are encouraged to take up hike opportunities early in the year, before trials and the HSC demand all their attention. We encourage participants to take any option to complete an Expedition, as delaying may subject them to missing out – the usual problems such as bad weather, a sports injury, timetable conflicts, and so on. Some girls are reluctant to do so because they may be with a group outside their circle of friends, (or even a different year group), however we usually find the girls end up with new, positive friendships, and often have novel experiences or leadership opportunities.

Those girls starting Bronze are encouraged to:

• Read the requirements of the Award here, knowing all the conditions and rules may save you a lot of time or inconvenience at a later stage.

• Attend all the meetings that are held at school, and be diligent with organisation for the hikes.

• Discuss your Components with potential Assessors and ask them to read and complete the NSW Assessor’s Volunteering Guide and your Award Plan and then email it to me or return to my desk in the Sports Office.

• Get your components done sooner rather than later – it’s easy to fall behind, much harder to catch up – and keep up to date with logging your hours into your online Record Book. Remember to write one sentence per log and to reflect your progress and improvement, especially towards the end of your logs.

• Embark on the Award with positive attitudes and remember: “we never said it was easy, but we do say it will be worthwhile”.

Finally, on a practical note, please remember:

• Permission notes for hikes are due no later than the Wednesday prior to the hike.
• Borrowed camping equipment is a shared resource, and should be treated with care and consideration – remember another girl will be using that equipment again, possibly within the week, so please respect their needs. Generally, equipment should be returned clean, dry and in good repair within two days of the end of your hike.
• Never wash a tent in a washing machine – it destroys the waterproofing and renders the tent unusable!
• If your hike clashes with a sport or other extracurricular commitment, it is up to you to inform those people affected, and make arrangements which are satisfactory to all concerned. Expeditions are not a “Get out of Sport” card.
• If you have a technical problem with your online record book, contact the help desk on 1300 4 Dukes (1300 4 38537) or email.

Please remember that I am more than happy to discuss issues and ideas with participants via email or we can arrange to meet during lunch-times. We are looking forward to another exciting year of discovery, new experiences, learning, and delighting in nature with our ever-dependable students.

Joanne Bower
Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Leader

Doric Swain
Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Expedition Facilitator