Light Her Path Fundraising Gala Dinner

Don’t miss your opportunity to book your tickets to the Light Her Path Gala Fundraising Dinner on Saturday 1 June 2024. This special evening in the Great Hall will feature a beautiful atmosphere, delicious food and drinks and a very special performance from an Aria-Award winning Australian artist.

For further information or enquiries, please contact the Development Office.

Festival on Forbes 2024

Calling for Donations! Calling for Donations!

The Festival on Forbes is very much a whole school event and relies on your wonderful contributions.

The Fair needs your donations for the following items:

• Vintage clothing that is in good condition – men’s, women’s and children
• Vintage handbags, shoes and jewellery
• Second hand sporting equipment
• Books, books and more books plus any vinyl records (no CDs or DVDs)
• Bottles of wine for the Coin Toss
• Prizes for the Chocolate Wheel/Tombola 
• Gourmet Pantry items – sauces, marinades, jams, spice rubs

We ask that all items be clean, in good condition and able to be resold.

Class parents will be in contact with you about arrangements to drop items off in the lead up to the Fair, but for now please start collecting your donations and keep them at home until further notice.

We thank you in advance for your support!

Please reach out to us if you need any further information.

The Festival on Forbes Committee

From The Chaplain

The SCEGGS Podcast “Walk The Mile” Episode 55: The Image of Success with Zoe Vrachnas

The goal to be “successful” is very enticing for many of us. Not only do we want to be good at what we do but we would love to be recognised and applauded for it. But is that all there is to success? This is a conversation with one of our former Head Girls, Zoe Vrachnas. We talk about what success might look like, the subjectiveness of such a description and whether it is necessary for confidence and fulfillment. We also discuss her path to where she is now and what influences or impacts her goals and dreams. I hope you enjoy the conversation.

And a reminder that we are published on Spotify, Apple, Google Podcast and Deezer, so you can access it easier from your preferred device. I always welcome your feedback or any ideas you may have for further episodes. You will find each podcast as they are produced in this newsletter and on other platforms as well as our website.

A reminder about Pet Supplies and Confirmation

Thank you to all of those families and individuals that have already donated to our pet supply drive. We have received some very generous and diverse donations over the past week. I am asking for donations of pet food and pet accessories (eg. Bowls, collars, leashes, beds, toys etc. new or used but in good condition) to be given to Vinnies Community Centre Redfern for distribution amongst their clientele. There is a basket outside the Chapel, clearly labelled, where donations can be left. The cut-off date for donations is Friday 24 May.

And if anyone is interested in having their daughter confirmed this year or has any questions about it, please contact me via email or call me before Friday 31 May. This is for students in Years 8 to 11 and the service will be some time in Term 3. More information about this can be found in previous issues of Behind The Green Gate.

Rev. Garry Lee-Lindsay
Chaplain

Careers Corner

Old Girls’ Career Evening

On behalf of the SCEGGS community, I extend a heartfelt thank you to all our Old Girls who came back to SCEGGS last week for our Old Girls’ Career evening. Our current students were enthused by the experiences and insights they shared and I hope our Old Girls’ also gained a sense of fulfilment by offering their advice and support.

Careers Corner

Please click here to view the first Careers Corner newsletter for Term 2!

Andrea Pinnock
Careers Adviser

Year 5 Camp

The Year 5 camp that took place in Tallong, Bowral from May 1 to May 3 was a roaring success. The girls formed new friendships and bonds with other students in the grade who they may not have known as well. They created lifelong memories with their peers and teachers. 

It all began on the one-and-a-half-hour bus drive. The CD player was broken, and all games of 20 questions had been put aside. A burst of Taylor Swift hit the teachers and bus driver by surprise. That lasted until about 20 minutes from the campsite, and the bus was in silence as everyone took in the beautiful scenery around them.

The Tallong campsite had many thrilling and fun activities, beginning with the high ropes course. It was a long rope that stretched around 7-10 metres from the ground. The girls took on the challenge, showing an incredible display of courage and persistence. Next was the low ropes: a tightrope half a metre in the air. They found that teamwork and collaboration were the keys to successfully making it across. Then there was the Mountain Biking, an exciting set of drops and obstacles. It stretched a few girls out of their comfort zone and taught everyone at least one new skill. Shout-out to all of the girls who learned how to ride a bike for the first time! Canoeing was the next activity. Girls were put into canoes of four, and they paddled along the still river. The Flying Fox was one to remember; a 100-150 metre long zipline that took you soaring over a tree-lined dam. This took lots of bravery and many girls pushed themselves to their limits. Finally, there was the bush walk that took them through the beautiful bushland. The girls hiked along and spotted wombat holes and other curious sights as they went.

Now something the girls will never forget is the meals. Delicious desserts, delectable dinners! A very special mention to Cheffrey and the team, who made sure everyone had a full stomach.

Tallong had stunning landscapes and scenery, and the Year 5 students were extremely lucky to be able to experience such an amazing campsite.

And that’s a snapshot of the Year 5 camp!

Dasha Jolley & Eva Geha
Year 5 Students

Visual Arts

We have a high number of students who choose to study at the National Art School on completion of their HSC at SCEGGS.

The National Art School is a highly regarded institution modelled on the atelier setting where students develop their skills under the tutulege of practising artists complemented  by a rigorous art theory course.

We encourage students to visit NAS either online or in person at these sessions.

This week’s banner is a landscape work by Ebony Colliss in Year 11.

Heidi Jackson
Head of Visual Arts

Primary Music

Musicale 2 

We are excited to announce that Musicale 2 will be taking place on Wednesday 5 June, with Katie Noonan as our guest artist. There will be many opportunities for our students to be involved and celebrate the musical talents of our community.

The Primary Ensembles that will be performing are Cantare, Stage 3 Choir (all students in Years 5 and 6).

Further details can be found in this note.

Term 2 String Studio Concerts

All string players are invited to perform a short, well-prepared solo. Pieces that exceed four minutes will be cut.

Please Click here to complete the form and note the closing date carefully as no late entries will be accepted.

Family and friends are most welcome to attend.

Term 2 Primary Piano Concert

All pianists are invited to perform a short, well-prepared solo. Pieces that exceed 4 minutes will be cut.

Please Click here to complete the form. Entries close today, Thursday 16 May.

Family and friends are most welcome to attend.

Australian School Band and Orchestra Festival

Several SCEGGS ensembles have been enrolled to perform in the Australian School Band and Orchestra Festival (ASBOF) this year. The Festival is a non-competitive event and rather than being ranked, all ensembles received a Gold, Silver or Bronze rating which reflects their level of achievement for the particular event level in which they have performed. All events are adjudicated by professional musicians and music educators. ASBOF is a wonderful opportunity for our SCEGGS ensembles to perform on stage, to hear ensembles from other schools and receive inspirational advice and performance tips from the adjudicators.

30 Years of SCEGGS – Hope Concert 2025

In 2025, SCEGGS will celebrate 130 years. The Music Department has the privilege of creating a concert to celebrate this milestone.

The concert will be held in the Sydney Town Hall on Monday 23 June 2025 and the theme for the concert is ‘Hope’. 

Hope involves optimistic thinking and focusing on good things to come. We will collect and commission works that reflect the theme of hope.

But we want you to be involved. We want to know what it is you – the students, staff, parents, and old girls of SCEGGS – are hoping for.

Some examples might include equality, reconciliation, better care of the environment, and peace. Your responses will be shared with composers, and commissioned works will be created that reflect the things that the SCEGGS community is hoping for. You have 140 characters to let us know what it is you are hoping for. Go!

Student News

Congratulations to Olivia Yan (Year 1) who received first place in the Australian Preliminary session of the International Young Musicians Music Competition, Wien 2024.

Clipboard

All co-curricular music ensemble schedules are now available on Clipboard. If you haven’t set this up yet, please follow these instructions.

If you are having any issues with Clipboard set-up, please contact our Music Administration Assistant, Miss Alice Kotowicz.

Beyond the Green Gate

We are always happy to hear about ways our primary musicians are involved in music-making outside the school. Please send details to Heidi Jones.

Dates for your Diary

Term 2

Heidi Jones
Head of Music (Co-curricular)

Secondary Music

Carmina Burana – Choral Collaboration with Sydney Grammar School

Date: Thursday 16 May – Combined Rehearsal 2 & Performance

Venue: John Vallance Hall, Yurong St, Darlinghurst

Time: Meet at 5.00pm to get marked off the roll. Rehearsal will run until 6.15pm with the concert beginning at 6.30pm and ending at 8.30pm.

Transport: Some students are choosing to study in the library and then walk to Grammar. Otherwise, public or parent transport to the rehearsal and then parent pick up from John Vallance Hall in Yurong St, Darlinghurst after the concert at 8.30pm.

Concert Attire: Full winter uniform including blazer and tights.

Musicale 2

We are excited to announce that Musicale 2 will be taking place on Wednesday 5 June, with Katie Noonan as our guest artist.

There will be many opportunities for our students to be involved and celebrate the musical talents of our community as outlined below:

Secondary Ensembles Performing

Year 7 Choir (all students in Year 7), Choir, Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, Madrigal Ensemble, Year 9 Rock Band, Secondary Jazz Combo, Holst Wind Ensemble, Basie Jazz Band, Amati Strings, Lux Strings.

Further details can be found in this note. 

Songwriting & Musicale 2

During the week of Musicale 2, we would like to feature a songwriter from each year group, with one or more songs to be performed in the Musicale. If you would like to be considered, please submit a draft of your song (it may still be unfinished) to Mr Gresham by Friday 24 May. Songwriting lessons are available for free on a Thursday afternoon, though these are not compulsory for consideration. Please come and speak to Mr Gresham if you have any questions.

Australian School Band and Orchestra Festival

Several SCEGGS ensembles have been enrolled to perform in the Australian School Band and Orchestra (ASBOF) Festival this year. The Festival is a non-competitive event and rather than being ranked, all ensembles received a Gold, Silver or Bronze rating which reflects their level of achievement for the particular event level in which they have performed. All events are adjudicated by professional musicians and music educators. ASBOF is a wonderful opportunity for our SCEGGS ensembles to perform on stage, to hear ensembles from other schools and to receive inspirational advice and performance tips from the adjudicators.

For more information about ASBOF click here.

130 Years of SCEGGS – Hope Concert 2025

In 2025, SCEGGS will celebrate 130 years. The Music Department has the privilege of creating a concert to celebrate this milestone.

The concert will be held in the Sydney Town Hall on Monday 23 June 2025 and the theme for the concert is ‘Hope’. 

Hope involves optimistic thinking and focusing on good things to come. We will collect and commission works that reflect the theme of hope.

But we want you to be involved. We want to know what it is you – the students, staff, parents, and old girls of SCEGGS – are hoping for.

Some examples might include equality, reconciliation, better care of the environment, and peace. Your responses will be shared with composers, and commissioned works will be created that reflect the things that the SCEGGS community is hoping for. You have 140 characters to let us know what it is you are hoping for. Go!

Term 2 Secondary Piano Concert

Thursday 13 June at 1.10pm in the Great Hall.

All pianists are invited to perform a short, well-prepared solo. Pieces that exceed 4 minutes will be cut.

Please click here to complete the form and note the closing date carefully as no late entries will be accepted.

Family and friends are most welcome to attend.

Clipboard

All co-curricular music ensemble schedules are now available on Clipboard. If you haven’t set this up yet, please follow these instructions.

If you are having any issues with Clipboard set-up, please contact our Music Administration Assistant, Miss Alice Kotowicz.

Date for Your Diary 

Term 2

Elective Music Performances

Heidi Jones
Head of Music (Co-curricular)

Primary Sport News

Week 2 IPSHA Results

The IPSHA Minkey/Hockey teams played their second round on the weekend with some close encounters. The 6A team played against Queenwood at Ku-ring-gai Hockey Centre in what was a hard-fought game, with the game finishing 2-2. The 5A team also had a draw, against a strong Abbotsleigh team. Both teams had their chances to take the win, however some excellent defence meant the game finished 1-1. What an exciting game it was! The 5B team were too strong for Abbotsleigh, showcasing some excellent passing and good teamwork, finishing off with a 4-0 win.

IPSHA Netball and Year 3 Netball were cancelled due to the wet weather.

Student Achievements

A big shout out to Natalia Adrian (Year 5) for her recent efforts in Ballet. Natalia attends pre-point and grade 5 for classical ballet, however she can’t compete at the moment since she is enrolled in a grade higher than her age group. What an excellent effort; keep up the fantastic work!

SCEGGS Gymnastics Coach – Lachlan Forato

Lachlan Forato, SCEGGS Gymnastics Coach, recently competed at the Australian National Championships in Queensland in the Senior International Men’s Division. This is the highest level you can achieve in Gymnastics. Lachlan is also studying Commerce full-time and is a wonderful asset to our team.

Upcoming Dates:

A reminder that any changes to sports, including cancellations, will be made through Clipboard. Please ensure you have the Clipboard ‘App’ saved to your mobile home screen with push notifications enabled, to receive the most up to date information. The IPSHA app will also advise of cancellations for IPSHA fixtures.

Have a wonderful week!

Mr Adrian Hammond
Primary Sports Coordinator

Secondary Sport News

Paris 2024 Olympic Games

The news we have all been hoping and waiting for has finally been officially announced! Following on from her strong performances at the World Aquatic Championships in Doha earlier this year, Sienna Green (class of 2022), has been selected in the Australian Stingers Water Polo Team for the Paris Olympic Games. We are very excited and proud of Sienna and can’t wait to follow her as she embarks on her Olympic journey in July.

Athletics

The SCEGGS Athletics Carnival got off to a flying start on Monday afternoon with 1500m events being held held prior to the actual carnival.

Results:

Swimming

Well done to Georgia Cate Baker Wood (Year 10) who represented IGSA at the NSWCIS Swimming Championships last week. Georgia swum brilliantly and placed 2^nd in the 200m Breaststroke, and 4^th in the 100m Breaststroke.

Georgia has now been selected to compete in the 200m Breaststroke at the NSW All Schools Swimming Championships to be held at the end of April. We wish Georgia all the best with her training and preparations.

Hockey

Congratulations to Melody Li (Year 10) who has been called up into the IGSA Open Hockey Team. She will join Madeleine Tudehope (Year 12) and Jess Weatherall (Year 10) in competing at the NSWCIS Hockey Championships.

Cross Country

Good luck to the 48 SCEGGS students who will be competing at the IGSA Cross Country Carnival on Friday. A bus will depart SCEGGS at 6am and return at the completion of the final event. All runners have been emailed the program with the rules and map of the course.

This term SCEGGS has several runners who are competing in the GPS/CAS Saturday morning Cross Country series. The first Saturday was held at Up John Park and hosted by Waverley College and St Aloysius. Our SCEGGS runners did very well against the boys schools with results as follows: Lily Cooney (Year10) – 17^th, Annabelle Jessup (Year 8) – 20^th Melina Gouveros (Year 7) – 30^th, Annabel Lavery (Year 8) – 46^th (out of 141 runners).

Last weekend was unfortunately a washout at Centennial Park. We look forward to hearing more results as the term progresses.

Annabel Lavery (Year 8) also represented Balmain Athletics Club at the NSW Short Walks at Homebush. She came 5^th place in the U’16 age group.

Gymnastics

Congratulations to Jamilla Yamani (Year 8) who competed at the NSW Gymnastics Border Challenge and came 1^st in Beam and 8^th overall. As a result of these results, Jamilla has now been selected to represent NSW at the National Border Challenge to be held in Queensland later in June. Good luck Jamilla!

Congratulations and good luck to SCEGGS gymnastics coach Lachlan Forato who is currently competing at the Australian National Championships in Queensland. Lachlan is competing in the Senior International Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Division. This is the highest level you can achieve in Gymnastics! Results so far: 7^th on the Pommel, 12^th on the Parallel Bars.

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 Alison Gowan.

SCEGGS Training sessions before and after school plus Saturday Sport

Any cancellations or adjustments will be made in Clipboard and families will receive a notification or email when changes are made. Please ensure you have notifications enabled.

GSA Fixtures, Results and Wet Weather

The IGSA website and platform for accessing wet weather, 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

Debating

Congratulations to the Primary A, Year 8, and Year 9 ISDA teams for winning their ISDA Octo Finals last Friday night!

They will now progress through to the Quarter Finals, the draw for which will be released on Monday 20 May. We wish Primary B and Year 10 the best of luck with their Octo Finals this Friday.

Next Tuesday will be the first round of the Archdale Debating Competition. Debates will be at Tara – the bus will leave immediately after school, and then leave Tara to return to SCEGGS at 7.45 pm. Debaters should remember to bring any extra food they need from home, along with paper, pens, and palm cards.

Imogen Harper
Debating Coordinator

Parents’ and Friends’ Association

Class Parent Events