Stage 2 Musical

Last Wednesday night the Stage 2 girls presented an outstanding performance of the musical, “The Little Mermaid”. We were joined in the Great Hall by over 400 family members and friends and the atmosphere was electric. Having been almost two years since the last Primary School musical, it was just a joy to come together again as a school community to enjoy singing, dancing and drama once again.

All 100 girls shone on the stage and gave their all in the performance. The props that they had made themselves at school had such a great visual impact on the stage and brought the underwater world to life. A huge thank you goes to Bronwyn Cleworth and her team for their tireless work in bringing the musical together.

Helen Dempsey
Head of Primary 

Prefects’ Update – We are all here for you in 2022!

The Prefects have been working hard this term to bring to life our theme: “We are all here for you in 2022.”

Trivia Night

On Monday 9 May we hosted a Trivia Night. It was so lovely to see groups of students chatting with their friends and getting competitive over questions about flightless birds. We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to see girls from every year group in the one room.

There was also a goods drive where we collected sanitary products for women who don’t have access to them. Overall, it was a very rewarding evening.

Thursday Lunches with the Prefects

Thursday 12 May was our first “Lunch with the Prefects” event. This was a great opportunity for girls to just come, chat, play boardgames, and eat their lunch with some of the Prefects and their friends. Through everyday activities like this, we are able to incorporate our theme throughout the School community.

Social activities with students from Sydney Grammar

The Prefects played in the annual basketball game against Sydney Grammar on Friday 13 May, coming away with a great victory. We are excited to host the Grammar prefects at SCEGGS later in the term for a laugh and another chance to dominate the basketball court. We are also excited to see for the first time SCEGGS Secondary School students join Cadets-based group on a Friday afternoon at Grammar for social debating and chess club. We are busy planning some reciprocal events to host the Grammar students at SCEGGS in Term 3, which is part of our commitment in building these cross-school relationships once again after so many broken events in the last few years.   

The City2Surf

This year we will be running a school City2Surf team, fundraising for Beyond Blue. This is a perfect opportunity for the school community to come together and support an organisation doing amazing things in the mental health realm.

Register in the YELLOW GROUP through this link to run with our school team!

What’s to come?

Plus…we have a big event in the making for Term 3, so watch this space.

Thank you all for supporting the Prefects!

Clementine Hooper
Head Prefect

Festival on Forbes 21 August 2022

Calling for Donations!

Thinking of having an autumn clean out, updating your wardrobe or inspired by Marie Kondo? 

The Fair needs your donations of the following items 

• Vintage clothing
• Vintage handbags and shoes 
• Vintage jewellery 
• Second hand sporting equipment 
• Books, books and more books plus any records/CDs 

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

Class parents will be in contact about arrangements to drop off these items in the lead up to the Fair. Please email the Committee at sceggsfof2022@gmail.com if you have any questions.

The Fair Committee 

From the Primary School

There has been lots of exciting learning happening in the Primary School including our outdoor classroom day and the Year 4  Planetarium Incursion.

Outdoor Classroom Day

Despite the chilly weather, the Primary School girls enjoyed the opportunity to take their learning outside the four walls of the classroom to celebrate Outdoor Classroom Day. Outdoor Classroom Day is a worldwide movement designed to celebrate and inspire outdoor learning and play. Why? Well, outdoor learning improves children’s health, engages them with learning, and leads to a greater connection with nature.

Lessons held outside on the day included Year 1 hunting for animals in our school habitat in Science and Technology, Year 4 conducting a hands-on investigation in Maths on perimeter and area, and  Year 3 venturing outside to use informal measurements to measure the distance between two points during as part of their current maths investigation of ‘A Snail’s Holiday’. The gardening club girls took a walk across the road to the Frances Newton Community Garden to engage in a scavenger hunt and take a look at some of the vegetables growing in this important community space. We are certainly glad this rain held off to allow us time outside!

Year 4 Planetarium Incursion

Excitement filled the classroom last week as the girls took part in an interactive journey using a mobile planetarium to look at our Planet, Solar System and Galaxy.

The Superdome was equipped with the latest technology and offered the girls a 360° movie experience that explored the relationships between the Earth, Sun and Moon. It complemented the girls’ learning in the classroom and provided a wonderful opportunity to consolidate their understanding, allowing them to question how we experience day and night on Earth and changes in the seasons around the world.

The girls learned about our very own Milky Way and the origins of its name, given to it by the Ancient Greeks and Romans. There was an audible sound of amazement when they discovered that the Sun is just one of hundreds of billions of stars, and that it is only classified as a medium star despite its gigantic size. Particularly astonishing were the images of the Milky Way’s beautiful spiral structure and how it forms into an extraordinary and flat galactic disc.

This immersive experience concluded with a look at how stars can form recognisable pattens in our night sky, including the Southern Cross, one of the best-known constellations in the Southern Hemisphere.

Gabriela Grocott
Year 4 Science and Technology Teacher

SPAN Event – A Musical Evening with Anna Dowsley

SPAN Event Thursday 9 June 6.30pm

featuring Internationally Acclaimed Mezzo Soprano Anna Dowsley (Class of 2005) and
Madrigal Ensemble, Choir and Cantare

It really is a great honour having an Old Girl of Anna’s calibre back at SCEGGS! Anna has made her mark on the international stage, making her United Kingdom debut in 2017 performing Meg Page at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. In 2019 she received third prize in the Toulouse International Singing Competition and was the recipient of 2019 Australian Opera Award. Anna has had many roles with Opera Australia including Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Rosina (The Barber of Seville), Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Siebel (Faust), Smeton (Anna Bolena), Flora (La traviata), Tebaldo (Don Carlos) and Zaida (Il turco in Italia). She received a Helpmann Award nomination for her performance of Dorabella and Green Room Award nominations for Tebaldo, Zaida and Siebel. With Sydney Chamber Opera, Anna performed the title role in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia.

We are fortunate to have this amazing opportunity to enjoy Anna’s talents while she is in Australia.  Anna will be performing items with singers from the Madrigal Ensemble, Choir and Cantare.  She will also be performing some solo items accompanied by Ms Heidi Jones. 

Tickets are $40 for adults and $20 for students and includes an individually packed picnic platter.

We hope you can join us!

Music Matters

Year 12 Concert Evening – Thursday 2 June Great Hall 5.30pm                                                                            

Students from Year 12 Music 1 and Music Extension will be performing repertoire from their HSC performance program next Thursday afternoon at 5.30pm in the Great Hall.  This concert forms part of the students’ preparation for their HSC Performance assessments. This is a great opportunity for students, friends and family to come along and support them along this journey. 

Sydney Eisteddfod 6 June Chatswood Concourse – Clarion Concert Band

The Clarion Concert Band will be competing in the Sydney Eisteddfod on Monday 6 June at the Concourse Chatswood in event number 302, Secondary School Novice Band. 

Rehearsal: A special rehearsal will be held on the morning of Monday 6 June at 7:30am in the Great Hall; this will be followed by a performance at assembly. All students must attend.

We encourage parents, family and friends to attend this event and show their support for the Band. Tickets are available for purchase at the venue, from 45mins prior to the session. Adults $25, Concession $25 and Child/youth $10. Sydney Eisteddfod is cashless, EFTPOS facilities will be available. Best wishes to Clarion Concert Band!

Congratulations String Studio Concerts – Week 5 Monday to Wednesday

Congratulations to the String players who performed in a series of String Studio Concerts throughout Monday to Wednesday of Week 5.  Some of the students who shared their performances are also preparing for their AMEB examinations which are taking place on Saturday 28 May and 4 June at the Primary Music Room. Thank you to Ms Stephanie Holmes and Ms Heidi Jones who have assisted with the accompaniment of these performances.  Special thank you to Mrs Anne Sweeney for her organisation and the string tutors who have helped to prepare the girls.  Well done everyone!

Piano Concerts – Week 8 – Thursday 16 June

Pianists are invited to perform in the Piano Concerts scheduled in Week 8.

3.30pm – Primary Piano Concert

4.30pm – Secondary Piano Concert 

We encourage students who learn at school, and students who learn externally to perform. These concerts will be held in the Great Hall. Family and friends are welcome to attend.

Upcoming Events

Pauline Chow
Head of Music

Science News – World Bee Day

On Friday, 20 May, girls were buzzing with excitement for World Bee Day. Students in the Secondary School celebrated the day by inviting Anthony Sweeney, an enthusiastic Sydney Beekeeper to speak about his European Bees and also our Sustainability Co-ordinator Sue Zipfinger who discussed Native Australian Bees.

Girls were amazed to find out about the Bee Waggle Dance where bees come back to the hive and do a special dance that shows the other bees where to get food. The ingenious system includes the time taken to do the waggle section, which indicates the distance to the food source, and the angle that the dance is completed indicating the direction to the food, based on the angle from the sun. The girls also enjoyed hearing stories about when the bees had decided to nest in a neighbour’s yard, and the trials and tribulations of removing the hive from their garden.

Students learnt about the different layers that beekeepers use in their beehives including the process of keeping Queen bees separated from other layers of the hive, and how to smoke the bees out when humans need to interact with the beehive.

Mr Sweeney discussed the effect of weed-spraying and back-burning. The essential role that Bees play in our ecosystems, including for food, biodiversity and ecosystem health, was also considered.

Ms Zipfinger also spoke to the girls about native Australian bees. These are stingless bees that require little maintenance, but which perform a vital role in pollinating the local flowers. Some of the hives that her bees had produced were remarkable!

Overall, it was an enlightening experience and many girls were convinced that they should start having beehives of their own!

Mia Sharma
Science Teacher

Visual Arts – Year 11 Watercolour Workshop at the Year 11 Retreat       

As part of the Year 11 retreat in Week 3, students were invited to participate in an en plein air watercolour painting session during the three days. En plein air is a technique pioneered by the French Impressionists whereby artists paint outdoors directly at the scene. We were presented with an incredible vista across the Southern Highlands with a remarkable fleeting light to capture and explore. This week’s banner is one of Matisse Asher’s work from the retreat and below are some examples of students’ work.

Heidi Jackson
Head of Visual Arts

Secondary Sport News

In Secondary Sport news this week, read the important information about our commitment to sport as well as student achievements in Equestrian and Rhythmic Gymnastics. There are also reminders about Athletics, Rugby and Term 3 sports nomination forms.

Term 3 Sports Nominations                                                                

Sports nominations for Term 3 were emailed out last week and are now overdue. We ask that all students sit down with their parents and carefully choose what activities they will be able to commit to in Term 3.

SCEGGS Commitment to Sport

SCEGGS expects full commitment to both sports training and matches. Parents are required to write to Ms Allum or Mrs Dempsey and request leave if there is an unavoidable clash of commitments for a competition match.

Unexplained absences from training and matches may result in disciplinary action and potentially exclude the student from further sporting activities at SCEGGS. If a student does not reach a minimum attendance requirement, the co-curricular activity will not appear on the student’s school report or be credited for House/School colours.

Please consider the impact on other students when you enrol in a sporting activity and miss training sessions or fail to show up to matches. It is unfair on fellow teammates and the opposition if the team forfeits due to a lack of players. It also reflects poorly on the reputation of SCEGGS within the community.

It has been very frustrating this term to see numerous students withdraw throughout the term with no notice to staff or valid reasons. Teams have been left playing short due to multiple withdrawals after the commencement of competitions. Many parents have emailed very late on Friday evenings to notify of absences that could have been communicated sooner or avoided altogether. With advance notice we are sometimes able to find replacements to fill in.

As we approach Term 3 and Sports choices for the term, we ask you to consider your commitment to Saturday sport, and whether it would be more appropriate to sit out Saturday sport this term if you can’t commit to every round of the competition.

Equestrian

Well done to Hannah Doolan who competed at the NSW Country Championships that were recently held in Canberra. Hannah and her horse Charlie were successful in winning the Children’s Championship.

Good luck to Scarlett Webber, Natalia Randle and Hannah Doolan who will be competing at the North-Western Equestrian Interschools event to be held at Coonabarabran from June 3- 7. We look forward to hearing all about the event when they return.

Rhythmic Gymnastics

Congratulations to Ilana Patkar, Madison Liew, Hannah James, Lily Hallgath-Jolly and Sienna Morris for their performances at the Club PERO In-House Meet held on 21 May at SCEGGS Darlinghurst.

All Rhythmic Gymnasts performed their new routines of the season with confidence and skill, and we will look forward to their improvement and development in the coming months.

Athletics

SCEGGS 1500m Trials – Thursday June 2

We will be conducting our 1500m trials for both the Primary and Secondary School on Thursday June 2 at Hensley Athletics Track. All students will be taken by bus on the afternoon of the trials. A bus will return to school at the completion of training at 5:15pm. Otherwise students maybe dismissed directly from the track if collected by a parent.

Easts Rugby Come and Try Rugby 7’s Day

Easts Rugby will be hosting a Try Rugby 7’s session on Sunday June 12 for girls aged 11-15. See attached flyer. If any further information is required, please contact Oonagh Bolton (Class of 2018) on 0413 935 616 or email oonaghbolton1@gmail.com

IGSA Fixtures, Results and Wet Weather

There is a new IGSA website and platform for accessing wet weather and team results. You do not need to register or sign up to be a member to access this site.

SCEGGS Training sessions before and after school plus Saturday Sport

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

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact myself on 9052 2721 or 0418 491 521. Alternatively, if you have any news or photos that we can highlight in the newsletters please email alisongowan@sceggs.nsw.edu.au

Alison Gowan
Director of Sport

Primary Sport News

In Primary Sport news this week, read about Athletics trials, Year 2/3 Minkey Skills and Rythmic Gymnastics. A reminder that Term 3 sport nomination forms are now overdue.

Athletics                                                      

We will be conducting our 1500m trials for Primary on Thursday, June 2 at Hensley Athletics Track. Students will be able to register their interest in class. Parents will then be emailed to confirm their daughter’s attendance for the trials that afternoon. All students will be taken by bus on the afternoon of the trials. A bus will return to school at the completion of training at 5:15 pm. Otherwise, students may be dismissed directly from the track if collected by a parent.

Please note that there is a lot of renovation work currently being completed at ES Marks Athletics Field. The building works have been significantly delayed due to the constant wet weather over the past four months. Unfortunately, it is looking more and more unlikely that the venue will be available for our carnival on Wednesday, June 15.

In the event we are unable to conduct our carnivals in June, we have managed to secure alternate dates at Hensley Athletics Track on Monday, August 1. More information will be provided as it becomes available.

Year 2/3 Minkey Skills

A reminder to all Year 2/3 Minkey Skills girls that a mouthguard and shinpads are required when participating in the session.

Term 3 Sport nomination forms

Sport Nomination forms were due on Wednesday 25 May. If you have not submitted yours yet, please do so ASAP to secure your availability for Term 3 sport.

Rhythmic Gymnastics

Our Rhythmic Gymnastics club run by Club Pero are currently looking for more primary aged students to join the program. Our Head Coach Rachel has written the following introduction:

“Have you ever wondered how rhythmic gymnasts (the sport with the sparkly leotards and ribbons) move so gracefully across the Olympic floor throwing a hoop or rolling a ball whilst leaping into the air? Have you ever wondered how they can dance with music whilst doing a ‘trick’ with a set of clubs or skip so quickly through a rope that if you blink, you’ll miss? If you’ve ever been even a little but curious, then come and try Rhythmic Gymnastics at SCEGGS!

The sport of Rhythmic Gymnastics combines strength, flexibility, hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness and music appreciation with ropes, hoops, balls, clubs and ribbons.

Gymnasts through their training develop a love of movement and music, as well as confidence, resilience and self-discipline and classes comprise of cardio, strength and flexibility training, not to mention, learning how to work with hand-eye apparatus and body movement skills such as balances, rotations and leaps/jumps.

We’d love to welcome Year 3-6 students along on a Wednesday from 3.15-6.00pm or Saturday from 12.30-3.00pm to join our classes here at SCEGGS in Term 3, and to try something new for the year!”

SCEGGS Training sessions before and after school, plus Saturday Sport

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

If you have any news or photos that we can highlight in the newsletters, please email me.

If you have any questions regarding Term 3 sport enrolments or any other queries, please email TomMitton@sceggs.nsw.edu.au.

Tom Mitton
Primary School Sports Co-ordinator

Go Greener

Increasing Biodiversity at SCEGGS                                                                    

The UN International Biodiversity Day was celebrated on Sunday May 22 with the slogan “Building a shared future for life”.

 At SCEGGS we are looking at ways to improve the biodiversity on our school grounds. Over the holidays, the Juniper Pines were removed from the walkway leading to the mathematics staff room. In their place, Innes our gardener, has planted three varieties of flowering native plants to encourage small bird species and insects to visit the school.

The species chosen are:
Grevillea Moonlight is a beautiful hybrid tree growing large cream-coloured flowers all year round. The Moonlight Grevillea is a cross between Grevillea Banksii and Grevillea Whiteana. The nectar of the Grevillea flowers when mixed with water was a sweet drink for Indigenous peoples.

Hakea Salicifolia is a 3-5 metre tree with attractive foliage and creamy flowers. It was named after Baron Christian Ludwig von Hake who was a German patron of botany in the 18^th century and the Latin words salix and folium meaning willow like leaves. This tree grows on the NSW coast.

Banksia Ericifolia is one of the most beautiful varieties of the Banksia growing between the Central coast of NSW and Jervis Bay. It has large yellow to reddish orange spikes and is perfect for attracting honey eating birds. Carl Linnaeus in 1872 named the Banksia species after Joseph Banks.

On another note, there has been in explosion of blue banded bees visiting the bush tucker garden on top of the Primary school. These are solitary native bees and have the unique characteristic of being able to shake their whole body to capture difficult to remove pollen from a flower. Unfortunately, they are too quick to get a photo!

Battery recycling at SCEGGS

In February, I mentioned that households could recycle batteries at the convenient drop off points in supermarkets and hardware stores thanks to the national bcycle scheme.

In the past we relied upon the generosity of members of staff to correctly dispose of any batteries collected in the school. SCEGGS has now formed a partnership with ECObatt to take away our batteries. Please take all used batteries to the labelled wheelie bin outside the IT Department.

Sue Zipfinger
Sustainability Co-ordinator

Public Speaking

The regional finals of Rostrum Voice of youth were held at the Eastern Suburbs Leagues Club on Monday May 23.

Year 9 students Cissy Watson and Sadie Juneja represented SCEGGS in the Junior Division and Sybilla Hooke in Year 10 in the Seniors.

Each girl spoke with passion and entertained a responsive audience on topics ranging from changing the face of politics (very current!) to youth activism. They met the challenge of the impromptu section, speaking confidently on the topics “You can’t say that” and “At the end of the tunnel”.

While the girls did not progress to the State Final, they can be very proud of their achievement in reaching this stage of the competition.

Sandra Carter
Co-ordinator of Public Speaking

Parents’ and Friends’ Association

Class Parent Events                                                                               

School Photographs

SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHS WILL BE TAKEN ON:
Thursday 2 June and Friday 3 June 2022

School photographs are taken and managed by Advanced Life Photography. An ordering envelope were sent home with students last week. The envelope has instructions on how to order school photography packages on their website at www.advancedlife.com.au.

To order online, you will also need to enter the 9 digit SCEGGS Advanced order code, which can be found on the order envelope sent home recently, or on the School Resources tab on the Parent Portal. These envelopes are also available from the Primary Office and from Student Services in the Secondary School.

Online orders do not require envelopes to be returned to School. If you would like to pay by cash, please place in the envelope for the student to give to the photographers on the day.

Sibling Photographs

If you wish to purchase a photo of two or more siblings together, you must order online, and note that the order must be placed before 9am on Wednesday 1 June; sibling photographs will only be taken if an order has been placed more than 24 hours before Photograph Day.

Additional order conditions to note:

• Late fees – a late fee will be applied to each package purchased after photo day due to the additional cost of producing these packages separately
• Package delivery – photographic packages will be returned to school for distribution approximately six weeks after photos are taken
• Previous Years’ photos – Past years’ photographs including sports, co-curricular and representative groups are also available to order under the “previous years or group photo” tabs at your school’s advancedorder site when you click on the “Order School Photos Here” button above. You can also order past packages, portrait images and gifts from your child’s unique, individual and secure advancedyou image archive site using the unique 9 digit image code found on packages you have ordered in the past

Please contact Advanced Life if you have any other questions.

Angelique Cooper
Special Projects

Careers Corner

In Careers news this week, view Issue 32 of the Careers Corner Newsletter and find out how students in Years 7 – 12 can participate in the Australian Society for Medical Research national online quiz.

Careers Corner Newsletter

Issue 32 of the Careers Corner Newsletter is now available. Please click here to read more.

Australian Society for Medical Research National Quiz Year 7 -12

The Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR) invites Years 7-12 students to participate in the ASMR Medical Research Week® 2022 national online quiz.  The quiz closes on 13 July. Students can simply enter the 2022 quiz through the following link: https://asmr.org.au/asmr-mrw/asmr-mrw-schools-quiz/. There are plenty of prizes up for grabs!