From The Chaplain

Some exciting events coming up…

Walk the Mile Live

We are very excited to present our first episode of Walk the Mile Live! This will be held on Monday 11 September in the Great Hall, starting at 6.30pm. A few people have asked if this would be appropriate for younger students to attend – everyone is welcome to attend!  The style of the night will be a conversation with our guests about show business and their involvement in the industry. There will be no performances as such (at least I am not expecting any) but hopefully the discussion will be entertaining and insightful. I hope that helps in making your decision.

P&F Committee Meeting

On Tuesday 29 August at our P&F meeting, Dr Caroline West will be speaking about her research in happiness, parenting and children. This week’s podcast is a bit of a taster in preparation for the event.

The SCEGGS Podcast “Walk The Mile” Episode 41: My Happiness

There is plenty of stuff out there telling us how we can find happiness. But what is it that we are looking for? Dr Caroline West is a SCEGGS parent and Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Sydney, where she teaches and researches on topics ranging from ethics to happiness. She is a popular public speaker and writer and is currently working on a book on the philosophy of happiness. In our discussion we talk about the value of philosophy, a historical view of happiness and what it might look like for the individual. I hope you enjoy our 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 the other platforms as well as our website.

Prayer Points

I and others in our community pray for the school community and those that belong to it on a regular basis. You are always welcome to let me know if there is something specific you would like prayer for, regardless of belief or faith. I know that a lot goes on in our lives and at times we can feel helpless in all sorts of situations. Prayer is just another way in which we can support and walk with one another throughout our different journeys.

Rev. Garry Lee-Lindsay
Chaplain

Science News

National Science Week is here! Before we get to the latest news, a BIG REMINDER that next week, there will be lunch-time activities EVERY DAY. There will be a home-made flame-thrower demonstration and other fire experiments, Physics Phun, a chance to train an AI Generator to detect broken bones, a cane toad dissection and finally, a massive volcano explosion on the front lawn. Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Now, back to the latest update! The excitement has been building, and this week the Super Science Bake Off and the Inter-House Science Competition was a huge successes. More than 23 cakes and desserts were entered in the Bake Off competition. We also had over 250 votes for the People’s Choice Award. 

The winners of the People’s Choice Award were:

The Female Reproductive System team wrote “Our cake illustrates the female reproductive system showing the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, cervix and the vagina. We chose to do this as it is often stigmatised and only represented in vulgar drawings.”

The winners based on Best Representation of a Scientific Concept were:

The winners based on Explanation of the Concept were:

The Science Lab explanation was “For my super-science cake, I have made a scene of what you would see in a science lab (glasses, test tubes, conical flasks, spillages). I have made a cake based on a science lab, as science is my favourite subject and prac lab lessons are my favourite! However, I recommend NOT eating the cake, as it has a lot of sugar, which can be unhealthy. I made this cake mainly for display, although the whole cake IS edible.”

The Gravity team wrote “Gravity is the force that attracts a body towards a physical body having mass”. We chose this because it seems like a simple concept to begin with, but when we tried to describe it we all failed.”

The Neptune team wrote “These delicious cupcakes represent the little knowledge we have on space. Each cupcake tried to bring forward the concept of Neptune and the diamonds that fall upon its surface. The gold and white sprinkles represent the stars surround this gorgeous planet.”

The winners for best 3D cake were:

Primary School Division winners go to:

Highly Commended goes to:

• Plant Cell Cake – Phoebe Lowe (Year 8)
• Volcano Cake – Adelaide Gilpin (Year 7)
• Terrestrial Planets – Savannah Wechgelaer-Eyssens (Year 10)
• Space Cake with Planets – Sofia and Jamilla
• Solar system and Space – Annabelle Jessup and Annabel Lavery (Year 7)
• Solar system in scientific order – Camille Asher and Abby Simmons (Year 8)
• The Solar System – Jemima Lowe (Year 9)

And last, but definitely not least, Best Teacher Entry goes to Miss Alison Johnson for a very impressive and scientifically correct Galvanic Cell.

Big congratulations to everyone who entered! The level of creativity and skill from all entrants was impressive.

Mia Sharma
Science Teacher

TAS Year 12 D&T Exhibition Night

The TAS Department warmly invites the SCEGGS community to view the 2023 HSC Design and Technology Major Design Projects. Join us at 6pm on Tuesday 22 August in the JFSATC Foyer to witness the future of design and innovation!

Visual Arts

Our community is warmly invited to the SCEGGS Darlinghurst Year 12 2023 Body of Work Exhibition in the SCEGGS Auditorium.

Opening Wednesday 23 August from 5.00 – 7.30pm
Official Speeches with Ms Allum at 5.30pm

Exhibition Open:

Music Matters

This weeks banner picture is from the Woodwind Ensemble Year 7 Orientation Performance 

Woodwind Ensemble – Year 7 Orientation Performance

Congratulations to members of the Woodwind Ensemble who performed at the Year 7 Orientation. The students provided a wonderful backdrop of music for current and new SCEGGS families.  Thank you to Ms Nicole Barrett (Woodwind Ensemble Conductor) for her preparation of the ensemble and to Mr Michael Tierney who assisted on the day.  Well done girls, your performance was very well received!

SCEGGS HSC ENCORE Concert – Thursday 24 August Great Hall 6pm

An invitation is extended to all interested families and budding musicians who would like to hear our annual showcase of Year 12 Music 1 and 2 students.  The SCEGGS HSC ENCORE Concert will take place in Week 6 on Thursday 24 August at 6.00pm in the Great Hall.

This evening would also provide you with an insight to the work by our senior music students in their respective music courses.

Any students who are currently learning an instrument in the secondary school or are an elective music student, should come along and see where music can take you into the HSC.

We look forward to sharing the work of our students with you!

Application for 2024 Music Captain and Music Committee

Students in Year 10 and Year 11 are invited to apply for the role of 2024 Music Captain and positions in the Music Committee. Applications are due Week 6 on Wednesday 23 August.  You can access the application form here.

Please feel free to talk to Ms Chow or any of the Music staff if you have any questions about the role or application process.

Term 3 Primary Piano Concert

All primary pianists are invited to perform a solo in the upcoming Primary Piano Concert.

If your daughter is in Year 3, she will be at Camp on Thursday 14 September. A concert for Year 3 pianists has been arranged for Friday 8 September at 1.15pm in the Primary Music Room. This concert sits between the two “Look and Learn” sessions, so you are welcome to either come early or stay later to watch these performances.

Please enrol your daughter for either of these concerts by Thursday 7 September to ensure the accuracy of the program. Click here to join.

Ryde Eisteddfod – Olivia Yan

Congratulations to Olivia Yan who received a Highly Commended for her Piano performance in the Ryde Eisteddfod (6yrs old group.)  Well done Olivia!

AUSTA (NSW) Double Bass Day

The Australian Strings Association is hosting an afternoon of inspiration, workshops and masterclasses for Double Bass players of all ages and levels on Sunday 17 September from 2.30-5.30pm at Santa Sabina College in Strathfield. Double Bass players Kees Boerma and Alex Henery from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra will lead the learning, culminating in a massed Double Bass performance for parents at 5pm! Places are limited. Click here to join.

Upcoming Music Events

Term 3

Term 4

Pauline Chow
Head of Music

The SCEGGS P&F Term 3 Meeting with Special Guest Dr Caroline West

The P&F warmly invites parents and carers to join them for an insightful discussion on children and happiness with Dr Caroline West.

Dr Caroline West is a SCEGGS parent and Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Sydney. Having received her PhD in Philosophy from the Australian National University in 1997, she is renowned for her teaching and research on concepts such as ethics, the philosophy of happiness and wellbeing and feminist philosophy. She is a popular public speaker and writer with her expertise being often called upon by the media including the Sydney Morning Herald, ABC Radio and TV and she has been published in several academic journals. She is currently working on a book on the philosophy of happiness. 

Dress for Success

“A world where women thrive in work and in life” – this is the vision of Dress for Success Sydney, which is the charity that Year 10 have chosen to support through our upcoming Year 10 Social.

Dress for Success is a Sydney-based organisation that aims to help unemployed and underemployed women to achieve economic independence. Every year, Dress for Success Sydney supports and assists over 2500 women into employment across NSW.

Through their Career Support services, Dress for Success is able to provide women with advice on jobs, interviews and entering the workforce – with no costs passed onto clients. This provides women with the confidence, knowledge, and tools they need to become financially independent. Additionally, Dress for Success provides women with a ‘styling service’ that offers clients with pre-loved workwear and donations from high-quality brands giving women cost-free work attire, whilst also boosting the circular fashion economy.

Year 10 plans to support Dress for Success in two ways:

The first of these will be a clothing stall held at school. We ask for students (especially those in older years) to bring in clothes that they would be happy to contribute to the cause. These clothes will then be sold on the ‘market day’, where students will be able to purchase any clothes and other items brought in by other students. All funds raised through the market will be donated to Dress for Success, as well as any clothing that is not sold. In addition to these donations, $10 from every social ticket will also be donated to the charity. 

The second way Year 10 would like to support Dress for Success is by collecting pre-loved work attire from the families of students. This business attire is crucial for women seeking employment to be able to attend job interviews with confidence and appropriate clothing, and to allow them the best opportunity in being employed. Additionally, this service that is provided by Dress for Success allows women to dedicate their income to other financially demanding factors, rather than on business attire. This boosts women in their journey towards financial independence. Contributions of business attire such as suits, skirts and shirts would be greatly appreciated by the Year 10 cohort, to donate to Dress for Success. The organisation would also appreciate donations of jewellery, handbags, shoes, accessories, and clothing in larger sizes. More information on the donation guidelines can be found in this link.

We would greatly appreciate the SCEGGS Community’s help in supporting this valuable cause of empowering women.  All donations may be dropped off at the Old Gym.

Emma Chang
Year 10 

Book Character Parade

Reminder: Book Character Parade

The annual Book Character Parade will take place at 9am on Tuesday 22 August, in the primary playground. This event is organised to celebrate Book Week 2023 and is a highlight of the library calendar!

Students are invited to come to school dressed as their favourite book character and to bring a book to match their outfit. The girls may come to school already dressed in their costume and go home the same way. If girls come to school or go home by public transport, they will need to wear their uniform to school and change into their costume when they arrive.

Parents should ensure sensible shoes are worn as “character” shoes can be worn for the parade only. Girls should also be aware that it is a normal school day, and they need to sit and move around the classroom as usual, so large or uncomfortable costumes may not be such a good idea!

Parents are warmly invited to watch the parade!

Book Stall in Lower Primary Playground!

Join us this year for The Children’s Bookshop’s ‘Book Stall’ in the lower primary playground! From 8:00 am to 8:30 am, parents, friends, and students can explore and buy high-quality, newly published books. Cash and cards accepted. We suggest the students are provided with a maximum of $30 for book purchases. Note: there is no guarantee of student book purchases due to time constraints. Book purchases may also be donated to the School Library. The Book Stall will open after the Parade for parents and friends.

Karen McBride
Primary Teacher Librarian

Secondary Sport News

Water Polo

Well done to Claudia Quinn (Year 11) who recently returned from competing in Europe with the Australian U17 Water Polo Team. Claudia was selected in this team after an intense selection process at various training camps. Claudia was obviously very excited by this announcement.

The team travelled to Europe during the school holidays and competed and trained for two weeks in the Netherlands and then followed by Serbia. The team came away with some great results, winning 3 out of their 4 International Games. It was an incredible experience for Claudia to wear the Australian team colours and play for Australia. She came away with so much experience and knowledge throughout the tour.

Back home in Sydney Claudia has continued to shine in the pool with her club team, Balmain UTS narrowly defeating Sydney Uni in the Winter Metro Grand Finals on the weekend. This makes her team undefeated having won: Winter Metro 2022, Summer Metro 2023, Canberra Cup, Australian Nationals and now Winter Metro 2023.  We look forward to hearing more about Claudia’s water polo exploits in the future.

Well done also to Elizabeth Shin (Year 10) who travelled to the USA to compete in the US Junior Olympic Water Polo Championships. Elizabeth represented the Santa Barbara team for the second year, in what is the largest junior water polo competition in the world. The team faced some tough opposition but performed very strongly. Elizabeth learnt a lot and enjoyed her time competing.

City2Surf

SCEGGS had many students, staff and parents who ran in the annual City2Surf. Well done to Annabelle Jessup (Year 7) who placed 3^rd in the 10-14 years age group with Anna Slack (Year 6) placing 6^th.

We would like to congratulate all our students and families who competed and finished the course.

Basketball

We celebrate our Senior 3rds who were narrowly defeated by Tara in a closely fought match at Five Dock Leisure Centre. Whilst our Year 7 2’s had a tough match against Wenona at the Marie Bashir Centre.

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 (Please ensure that photos are of your daughters only. We are unable to publish photos of non SCEGGS students without parental permission).

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

Primary Sport News

City2Surf 2023

Congratulations to all of the girls who ran in the City2Surf on Sunday. Seeing so many faces in the Primary School at the finish line underneath the SCEGGS Banner was great. Well done to each and every student who was involved.

Primary Sport Achievements

Congratulations to Georgina Sharp (Year 3), who competed at the State Dressage on the weekend. Georgina won two dressage tests, was Reserve Champion in her age group and was part of the best-performed zone team at the Pony Club State Dressage Championships. Well done Georgina for your incredible efforts!

Please help us celebrate any other achievements outside of school!

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
Primary Sport Co-ordinator

Debating

Well done to the Year 7B, Year 7A, Year 10, and Senior teams for progressing through to the Archdale Quarter-Finals! This puts them in the top 8 of 24 teams in their division, and the finals rounds are an exciting opportunity to demonstrate the skills and confidence they have gained throughout the season.

Details for the final rounds will be emailed to debaters as soon as they become available.

Congratulations also to Gabrielle Cheung (Year 10) and Helena Piazza (Year 12) for their selection in the IGSA Debating Representative Squad. This means that in September they will represent both SCEGGS and IGSA in the Representative Competition, which also involves representative teams from CHS, GPS, and CAS.

Imogen Harper
Debating Coordinator

SPAN Presents Walk the Mile Live!

SCEGGS’ beloved Walk the Mile podcast hosted by Rev Garry Lee-Lindsay is coming to you live.

Monday 11 September 2023
6.30pm – 8.30pm
RSVP Friday 1 September

Join Garry and the stellar panel who will discuss their careers in the Performing Arts.

This is a great opportunity for aspiring actors to hear from successful practitioners Elizabeth Butcher (Arts Administrator), actors Charlotte Friels, Deborah Galanos and Poppy Lynch, as well as our very own Mr Eyers! Read more about each panel member here.

Click here to book your ticket today for an entertaining and engaging evening!

Parents’ and Friends’ Association

Special Events

Class Parent Events

Careers Corner

Issue 43 of the Careers Corner newsletter is now available! Please click here to see upcoming university open days including at UTS, Sydney University and Notre Dame, as well as information about applying  for scholarships at UNSW.