From Ms Allum

At Speech Day last year, I encouraged the SCEGGS community to be courageous; to seize opportunities, to be strong and caring and to try our best in everything we do. With Term 1 almost behind us, I can happily attest that we achieved all this and much more!

It is with sadness that I announce that Bethany Lord, the Director of Pastoral Care, has resigned from her position at SCEGGS due to ill-health. Ms Lord had a significant fall in her home late last year, and has continued to have ramifications from that fall which will take some time to resolve. She has decided to concentrate on getting fully recovered before returning to full-time work.

Ms Lord has been at SCEGGS for nine years, teaching English and Drama. She was a Year Co-ordinator for a number of years until her well-earned promotion to Director of Pastoral Care and a member of the School Executive in the middle of 2018. Ms Lord has made a significant contribution through all of her time at SCEGGS and I am very sorry to lose her. We will miss her! She goes with our best wishes for a full recovery as soon as possible.

I will let you know about our plans to fill her position early in Term 2.

I also take this opportunity to thank Ms Laura Connolly who, in addition to establishing her new role as Head of Student Services, has also assumed the role of Acting Director of Pastoral Care. She has done an outstanding job and we are very grateful for her expertise, leadership and compassion in everything she does.

But for now, it is time for a holiday. I wish you all a restful break, and that the Easter message of forgiveness, renewal and hope brings joy to you all.

See you in Term 2!

Best wishes
Jenny Allum

From the Primary School

From the Head of Primary               

We have had a wonderful Term 1 in the Primary School! The girls have filled their days with learning, creativity, discovery and above all, looking after each other! I am so proud of the positive attitude and resilience the girls have displayed as we adjust to school life with COVID. I also thank our dedicated teachers and staff, as well as our parents and carers who have been so supportive.

I wish you all a Happy Easter and a holiday that is both fun and restful!

Helen Dempsey
Head of Primary

Primary News and Updates

The Primary School has been a hive of activity! Read about Year 6’s “Build a Business” market day, the Year 6 French Film excursion, what the girls have been up to in the Gardening Club and tips for selecting age-appropriate books for your daughter.

Build a Business

Last week on Friday 1 April, Year 6 held a market day for Stage 2 girls (Years 3 and 4). We worked long and hard over two and a half weeks to create and design merchandise to sell. Our project was called Build a Business. The aim of this task was to raise money to support a charity of our choice.

Build a Business helped us develop many skills from quick maths calculations to real life business skills, marketing and good customer service. Year 6 were given around two and a half weeks to construct a business plan, buy materials, calculate costs and work collaboratively. We had to plan and work efficiently, racing against the clock.

Each group of four was given a budget of $10 per person. In order to make the highest profit we could, groups searched online for the lowest prices and bundle deals.

Marketing and visual appearances were essential parts for the project. Posters and signs had to be visually appealing and advertising played a huge role. Each group came up with a name, and some companies even designed logos and catchy slogans.

One of the hardest parts was figuring out what products to make and sell. We brainstormed items that the Stage 2 girls would find interesting and then made a business plan about how we could do it.

Well done to all the Year 6 girls as we persevered through the tough challenges. Even though some girls were in and out of isolation, we all managed to contribute to the project.

Together, Year 6 raised an outstanding $844.35 for people in need. Even though we wanted to support multiple charities, we could only choose one. This year the earnings of the Build a Business project will go towards White Ribbon. This charity is the world’s largest movement that helps end men’s violence against women and girls and promotes gender equality. Year 6 all had a blast this year doing Build a Business and we hope that the money contributed to White Ribbon will make a difference in the future.

Anika Buchanan and Elizabeth Teoh
Year 6 Students

Year 6 French Film Excursion Le Trésor du Petit Nicolas (Little Nicholas’ treasure)

In 2022, Palace Verona decided to open its doors again to host the French Film Festival. The girls in Year 6 went to the screening of the popular French Film Le Trésor du Petit Nicolas (Little Nicholas’ Treasure). Dressed in our raincoats and braving the rain, we went on a lovely walk through Darlinghurst and Paddington. We enjoyed experiencing an authentic immersion into the French film culture. With the whole cinema theatre to ourselves, it was a special screening of the film for the girls indeed.

Little Nicholas’ Treasure is the most recent film publication of a beloved French-Belgian children’s film series. The film series chronicles the adventures of a young boy named Nicholas and his friends. In the newest film, Nicholas makes multiple attempts to stop his father’s promotion and his family’s planned move to the French region Auvergne. He places many obstacles in his path and sometimes he has success.

The girls loved discussing the important theme of friendship which emerged throughout this film. The girls had a lot of fun taking part in this excursion as they left smiling and encouraged to continue practising their French outside the classroom. There was a great sense of joy in Year 6.

With the holidays approaching, we encourage you and your families to create your own French Film Festival at home. This is a great opportunity to explore the range of children’s French films available on SBS on demand as well.

Madame Arbabzadah & Madame Tobin

Gardening Club in the Primary school

Gardening Club is an educational experience for Years 3-6 girls where we learn to plant, transplant, care and identify different plants. We work in our school gardens to maintain the old plants and when they die, pull out the old and replant something new. It’s a fun activity to burn some energy and get your hands dirty (luckily, we are fortunate enough to have gardening gloves and shovels to use when working in the garden). The Gardening Club girls especially enjoy when we use the vegetation from our garden to make delicious dishes.  Thank you to Ms Zipfinger for making our gardening sessions possible.

Josephine Wheater
Year 6

Helping your daughter choose her next book

Would you like assistance selecting the next age-appropriate book or series for your daughter?

Using the Premier’s Reading Challenge site of curated book titles, this 2-minute instructional video has been produced to make book selection easy! 

Simply choose a Year Level and Genre, and then watch the book recommendations appear on your screen.

Please remember to always consider your daughter’s interests and reading abilities prior to making a final selection. 

Karen McBride
Teacher Librarian – Primary

Creative Writing Opportunities and Competitions

Creative Writers’ Group                       

It has been wonderful to begin our Creative Writers’ Group over the last couple of weeks. This group meets in C6 each Tuesday at lunchtime to play with language, discuss our passion for literature and consider upcoming writing competitions. All students are welcome to join and should speak to their English teacher if they have any questions.

We are so fortunate at SCEGGS to have so many keen and accomplished writers. While teachers will be working towards some of the writing competitions mentioned below in class, we thought that the school holidays might provide the time and space for some keen writers to escape into the world of writing and begin to consider some of the opportunities below. We wish all our students and families a lovely holiday with plenty of reading and writing!

Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Competition

The Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Competition is one of the most prestigious Australian Poetry Competitions for school aged students. The theme for the competition this year is “In my Opinion.” Many fabulous resources and past winners of the competition can be found at their website. The School has registered for this competition, so please contact your class teacher if you would like to submit your poetry.

Open now until 30 June 2022.

What Matters Writing Competition

This is a national writing competition which encourages students to write reflectively and persuasively about topics which they are passionate about. Again, a wide range of resources are available on the website.

Open now until 6 May 2022.

Inner West Young Creatives Awards

Limited to students from the Inner West, these awards offer a range of creative opportunities for students.

Open now until 31 July 2022.

Jenny Bean
Head of English

Science – Inspirational Speaker and Marine Biology Excursion

Recently, Year 8 students were treated to a unique opportunity to learn about the life and extraordinary photos of a marine photographer/videographer. George Evatt, award-winning cinematographer, marine educator and professional diver, visited the girls and showed them some amazing images and videos. George’s passion and enthusiasm for marine biology was inspiring, and his stories of dives underwater were engrossing and educational. George’s photos, some of which are shown below, were impressively sharp and colourful.

George taught the students about organisms that many had not heard of, such as the brightly coloured sea spider (only slightly creepy!), the burrowing Red Octopus (which disappeared underground in the blink of an eye) and the (rather non-octopus-looking) Blanket Octopus. Girls were also simultaneously intrigued and alarmed by the huge masses of Giant Spider Crabs filmed in Port Phillip Bay. George’s presentation helped the girls learn the value of persistence and answered their questions about safety in the ocean. It was a lively presentation that complemented the Science Unit “Take the Plunge” that Year 8 students have been studying this term. The girls thoroughly enjoyed the visit, stating it was “amazing!”

The Year 8 unit “Take the Plunge” has been a fun-filled program! Earlier this term, students went on an excursion to Kamay Environmental Education Centre in Botany Bay, where they investigated biotic and abiotic features of coastal ecosystems. They heard from experienced educators about changes to the land, coastline and bay that have occurred in recent history, and how this may have affected the organisms that inhabited the area. They also had close encounters with creatures in the rock pools such as sea anemones, cunjevoi, sea stars, sea urchins and periwinkles.

After a short bushwalk, students were amazed to see a possum hiding in an old termite nest and enjoyed learning about some of the traditional uses for the native plants of the area. A great day was had by all!

Mia Sharma
Science Teacher

Music Matters

Musicale 1 – Of Foreign Lands and Places                                        

Congratulations to the following ensembles that performed at the Musicale 1 concert last Tuesday evening, 29 March:

• Year 7 Choir
• Clarion Band
• Primary Percussion Ensemble
• Chamber Strings
• Bugles Wind Band
• Cantare
• Sinfonietta
• Primary Cello Ensemble
• Contemporary Strings

The concert also featured the premiere performance of the Year 7 Choir who opened the concert with The Promise, a SCEGGS 125^th Birthday commission by Alice Chance and Georgiana Thomas-Pedell.  The audience were transported on a musical journey to many exotic destinations that have yet to be opened to us.

Many thanks to members of the Music Department for their hard work and to the Music tutors who supported student performances.  Thank you also to Music student committee members who assisted throughout the evening.

If you would like to have another opportunity to musical armchair-travel, the concert can be accessed via this link here.

SCEGGS Eisteddfod Highly Commended – Ilaria Roncolato

We acknowledge Ilaria Roncolato (Year 10) who also received a Highly Commended in this year’s Secondary Eisteddfod Highlights concert and was inadvertently not acknowledged in last week’s article. Ilaria received this recognition for her performance on the Harp.  Well done Ilaria!

Easter Festival 7 April and School Easter Services 8 April

Members of the Madrigal Ensemble, Secondary Choir, Cantare, Amati Strings and select Primary string students will be performing at the school’s Easter Festival on Thursday 7 April.  The Easter Festival will be held at the Great Hall at 7pm.  Following the evening service, students will be performing in two school Easter services held on Friday 8 April.  The services will be conducted at 8.50am and at 10.10am. 

It will be a glorious representation of music featuring works by J.S. Bach, David Fanshawe, Laura Farnell, Mary Lynn Lightfoot and G.F. Handel.

Thank you to Miss Allison Harrigan, Mrs Anne Sweeney, Ms Lanneke Jones and Mrs Bronwyn Cleworth for their hard work to prepare the students for this event.  Thank you also to Mr Kurt Ison for his accompaniment from the Organ.

Cello Power!

The Primary Cello Ensemble had a fun lunchtime this week after a wonderful term of rehearsals with Ms McCluney, culminating in their performance at the Musicale 1 Concert. Evelyn Li (Year 7) performed the 1^st movement from the Cello Concerto No. 1 by Camille Saint-Saens for the primary cellists, accompanied by Ms Heidi Jones. The primary students were amazed and entertained by Evelyn’s virtuosic performance and they enjoyed chatting to her afterwards about all things cello.

The girls watched videos of inspiring cellists and shared food and lots of laughs together. Special thanks to Evelyn for being an excellent role model for the primary cellists, encouraging them to practise every day!

Forthcoming Music Events – Term 2

Pauline Chow
Head of Music

Drama News

Lend Us Your Ears

The SCEGGS Junior Production is deep into rehearsal as we near the end of term. We are running the show and refining moments as we prepare for the addition of set, costumes, lighting, and sound elements in Term 2. Students from Years 7-9 are having a great time as many of them are experiencing their first time on stage.

The production will play:

• Wednesday May 4^th @ 7pm
• Thursday May 5^th @ 7pm
• Friday May 6^th @ 7pm
• Saturday May 7^th @ 1pm

Bookings are now open.

Here is a preview of some of the costumes!

Drama Tour – Melbourne

It is with great pleasure that we announce a Drama tour to Melbourne for girls studying Drama in Years 9, 10 and 11. The trip will take place over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend in June. Students will attend productions of Cinderella, Harry Potter and the Australian Ballet’s Kunstkamer.

St Peter’s Players – Playwriting Workshop

During Term 2, students will have the opportunity to participate in a 7-week playwriting course with Director/Playwright, Liv Satchell. Interested students should email Mr Eyers.

Wishing everyone a super term break!

In your easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it, you’ll be the grandest lady in the easter parade.

Irving Berlin – Easter Parade

Peter Eyers
Head of Drama

TAS News – 9DT Excursion to Penrith Regional Gallery

The Year 9 Design and Technology classes attended the “Pattern and Print: Easton Pearson Archive” and “A Tangled Bank” Exhibitions at the Penrith Regional Gallery on Wednesday 30 March 2022.

The aim of the excursion was to give students an insight into technical innovations, bespoke digital fabric designs and ethical manufacturing. They had a Guided Exhibition Tour and attended a workshop where they explored the creative use of textiles through eco-printing with natural materials, and other contemporary and traditional surface decoration techniques. The design-led exhibitions and workshop gave the students an insight into the history of Australian fashion design.

The excursion was full of inspiration, creativity, and collaboration for our students. The students enjoyed new experiences and attained new knowledge and skills which they will now apply to their current design projects at school.

Melinda Chadwick
Design & Technology Teacher

Light Her Path – Save the Date!

Please save the date for a very special ‘Light her Path’ fundraising dinner on Saturday, May 28 for an evening of fun, connection and contribution in a transformed Great Hall.

Each generation has helped build the SCEGGS our girls enjoy today – now it’s our turn to ‘Light her Path’.

This is an opportunity to come together as a community to make our generation’s contribution  by ‘Lighting the path’ for the education of SCEGGS girls current and future – investing in our community and in female leadership.

Please mark your diaries now and look forward to the invitation at the beginning of next term.

Light Her Path Capital Campaign

Light Her Path Capital Campaign Committee

Go Greener – Treadlightly and Easter sustainability tips

TreadLightly campaign                 

A big thank you to all the families who sent in their tired shoes to school last week. We collected 142 shoes which will be sent to TreadLightly for recycling into other products – a win for the environment!

Easter

According to the CSIRO Australians consume 32kg of chocolate per person per year.

Before you purchase eggs or chocolate to celebrate over Easter you may wish to consult the Choice website for ethical brands with certification to Fairtrade, Rainforest alliance or Cocoa horizons.

Other tips include:

• Look for eggs that do not have excess packaging. If they are wrapped in soft plastic dispose of this thoughtfully through your supermarket outlets.
• Crunch the foil from your eggs into golf ball size balls before disposing in the mixed recycling bin.
• Melt left over easter eggs with toasted coconut to make coconut roughs.

Also don’t forget to get creative with left over food from family celebrations. There are lots of recipes available on the internet for left over hot cross buns and other treats from Easter.

Have a happy Easter and a wonderful holiday break.

Sue Zipfinger
Sustainability Co-ordinator

Year 8 – Celebrating Us Pastoral Day

On Monday, we had a Celebrating Us Pastoral Day which allowed our Year 8 cohort to come together and celebrate us as a year group and as individuals. We started the morning with a lovely year group breakfast, getting us excited and motivated for the day ahead. We celebrated the similarities and differences between one and another. An organisation called Burn Bright came to talk to us about the diversity of our year group and people that surround us and the similarities and differences that we have with each other. Throughout the day, we played games together and did short challenges organised by Burn Bright and our Year 8 Co-ordinator, Miss Smith. We talked and participated in an Easter hunt created by the Prefects which strengthened our bonds with our House groups. 

Through the games we played, we were able to learn new and interesting things about each other, gathering a further understanding of our cohort and bringing us all closer together. We learnt that it is important to talk to people other than your friendship group and it is important to feel comfortable around a large range of people. The games were a lot of fun, and as well as getting to know people, we had some friendly competition!

We really enjoyed Celebrating Us Pastoral Day, as we both learnt so many new things about our Year 8 cohort. We also developed new relationships with new people. Overall, we thought it was a really fun and an exciting day that we believe our whole year group enjoyed. 

Lily Cooney and Melody Li
Year 8H

Secondary Sport News

Secondary Cross Country Carnival – Take 3                       

The Secondary Cross Country Carnival has now been re-scheduled for Monday May 2 at Queens Park. Please arrive at 6:45am for a 7am start. This will be the selection event for the IGSA Cross Country Championships to be held at Frensham School on Friday May 13.

 
Australian Athletics Championships

SCEGGS had two current students, and two Old Girls, compete at the Australian Athletics Championships held over the last week at Sydney Olympic Athletics Centre, Homebush.

Coco Espie won the Bronze Medal in the U15 years 800m Para event. Coco also placed 4^th in the 400m, 7^th in the 100m and 6^th in the 200m. She also competed in the U15 Discus and Shot Put Para events despite being only 13 years old.

Ruby Fry competed in the U16 years 3000m. She won her timed final and placed 13th overall, achieving a personal best. Ruby also contested the 2000m Steeplechase and placed 14^th in her second ever attempt at this event.

Elizabeth Baral (Class of 2015) placed 9^th in the Open Pole Vault.

Laura Roderick (Class of 2021) placed 5^th in the U20 1500m Final and won the Gold Medal in the U20 5000m. Laura has now been selected to represent Australia in the 5000m event at the World U20 Athletics Championships to be held in Cali, Columbia in August.

Surf Life Saving

Backing up after the Australian Junior Athletics Championships, Ruby Fry represented North Bondi Surf Club at the Australian Youth Surf Lifesaving Championships on the weekend. She placed 5th in the 2km Beach Run. She also teamed up with Emmaline Shapiro in the Beach Sprint Relay and they made the final of that event also.

Sydney Indoor Hockey

Well done to our SCEGGS Senior 1^st Indoor Hockey team who played a closely contested match against Ascham 1’s last Wednesday evening. The game resulted in a 4 – 4 draw with both teams finishing in equal 3^rd place overall. The match was clearly the highlight of the whole competition and raised the standard to a whole new level.

SCEGGS 2’s played off in the 3^rd v 4^th match and were defeated by Queenwood 2’s. They showed great improvement from their earlier round games with the match being a lot closer this time around. Well done to everyone who participated this term. Indoor Hockey was the one sport that was not impacted by wet weather this term.

Term 2

I would like to wish everyone a safe and relaxing holiday over the Easter break. The PDHPE Department look forward to welcoming everyone back next term and we will pray for a little less rain so more sport can take place.

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

Primary Cross Country Carnival

With a break in rain, we managed to get the Primary Cross Country Carnival up and running! What a beautiful day it was too! All students displayed enthusiasm and gave their best effort running and competing for their house.

Thank you to the Primary staff, Sports staff and coaches for their help around the track and a special thank you to our Year 12 PDHPE students who worked closely with the staff and coaches to help run the carnival.

Congratulations to the following girls:

Age Champions

Final Points and Places

Term 1 Primary Sport Report

What a fantastic start to sport in 2022!

Despite the wet weather interruptions, students played positively and gave their best efforts throughout Term 1, across all activities. A big thanks to all the coaches and sports staff for their ongoing work to help girls improve their skills and enjoy themselves at all weekly sessions and Saturday games. We look forward to doing it all again in Term 2!

IPSHA Football

It was great to see the girls in Year 4 -6 back on the pitch for a full season of Football this term. Many students joined us for the first time, learning skills, playing structures and positions. Thanks to the hard work of our coaches (Jerry, Lily, Darcy, Luca, Daniel, Javier, David, Ethan, Connor, Sam, Stella, and Head Coach Craig) for providing challenging and engaging opportunities. On Saturdays, all teams competed with excellent sportswomanship against the other local schools. All players should be proud of their efforts this season! We look forward to further developing our skills in 2023.

IPSHA Water Polo

The girls’ Water Polo team had a great season! They are competitive girls and have shown great sportswomanship in some challenging moments. In their final matches, it was great to see a huge improvement in all girls’ skills and strength in the water. Coaches Lucy and Maeve ensured all girls gained valuable knowledge and skills and are proud of their teams’ efforts throughout the term. We are all looking forward to next season.

Year 3 Basketball

The Year 3 basketball competition hosted and organised by SCEGGS is the most wonderful introduction to team sport for our youngest sporting enthusiasts in the primary school. It is an invitational competition run with Ascham and Kambala joining the three SCEGGS teams. The season focuses on participation and learning the rules of the game of basketball, while also forming some strong connections with their peers across the Year 3 classes. A very strong thank you and shout out to the professionalism and support from our coaching team of Nick, Lucas, Markella, Mike S, Heleena and led from the front by our head coach Mark Handel.

Tom Mitton
PDHPE and Sport Co-ordinator: Primary

Careers Corner

Welcome to the 30th issue of the Careers Corner newsletter! Although brief, there are events and information sessions that may be of interest to our Years 10 – 12 students. Click here to read more.

Blazer Pocket Awards

Girls in the Secondary School who are awarded a blazer ‘Pocket’ for excellence and outstanding achievement in a co-curricular activity are able to have their blazers embroidered only during holiday periods.

Awards will be announced at the Final Assembly on Friday 8 April. Blazers may be left at  the Student Services Reception on either that Friday or before 1:00pm on Monday 11 April (the first weekday of the School Holidays).

Students with previous awards that have not yet been embroidered can also leave their blazers at this time.

As above, blazers cannot be accepted after the cut-off time of 1:00pm Monday 11 April. Any late submissions will need to wait until the next School Holidays.

Embroidery and dry cleaning will be done during the holidays and the cost will be charged to your daughter’s account.

Angelique Cooper
 Special Projects

Parent’s and Friends’ Association

Class Parent Events                                                                               

Festival on Forbes – Fair Meeting on 2 May 2022

The first Festival on Forbes meeting for Class Parents, the Fair Committee and any interested parents will be held on Monday 2 May, at 6.45pm in the Lecture Theatre. 

This is a very important meeting for all Class Parents to attend as we will be advising Year Groups of their allocated stalls along with the organisational information to help Class Parents plan and co-ordinate their stalls. Please note the change in date for this meeting which was previously scheduled for 10 May 2022. The P&F committee meeting (for committee members only) will still go ahead as planned on this date. 

It’s not too late to get involved in the Fair which will be held on Sunday 21 August 2022.

Come along to the first meeting or reach out by email or 9332 1133. 

We would love to hear from you!

Bree Parker
Fair Convenor