College Principal

As you may be aware, the College was in the media this week in relation to the removal of a public memorial that was placed outside the entrance of the College.

On the advice of mental health experts including Headspace, who are working with the College, we removed the memorial because of the concerns that were raised about the impact this could have on our children in such a prominent position. I have reached out to Charlotte’s family to begin conversations on how we may be able to find a permanent and loving way to remember Charlotte. We guarantee she will not be forgotten. If you have any further concerns relating to this please reach out.

Just before the recent holidays, the Class of 2024 graduated as strong, compassionate and independent women. We are so proud of this beautiful cohort.

Term 4 has started with Year 12 HSC and IB Examinations which have so far run smoothly. We also welcomed our new friends to our satellite school, St Lucy’s @ Santa, who are undertaking an orientation program for the rest of the term before they formally commence next year.  

Together with the Board, we have appointed Rohrig to commence building works on the Primary campus with the hope that most of the work will be completed over the holiday break to minimise the impact on our students next year. We are hopeful that the rotunda will be completed by the end of Term 1. Our application for the Wellbeing precinct which will include the pool and gymnasium is now with the council and we hope that this will be approved in the new year. 

I fully endorse the article included in our newsletter this week by Debra Brodowski who is the National Manager – Psychological Services for the Centre for Corporate Health. Deb regularly contributes to our newsletter in her capacity as the Parent Liaison for our P & F Association.  I know that Deb has recommended some reading for you, The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, and I would like to add to your list by suggesting another good book with similar themes which I am working my way through – Raising Anxiety by Judith Locke and Danielle Einstein. There is growing evidence that points to social media access causing immense harm to young girls. The authors state that ‘adolescent girls who are heavy social media users are more likely to be at increased risk of self-harm, depression and lower levels of self-esteem after using apps like Instagram or Snapchat, one study shows around two in ten girls will feel worse about themselves. Their dissatisfaction will be about their friendship, body image, social status and popularity.’ p.79)  I will be addressing this further with parents at different times when we meet now and early next year. We monitor devices at school and have firewalls to prevent access to these apps, but they must also be monitored in the home. I would encourage all families to purchase a flip phone for their child if they want to be able to contact them when they are travelling by public transport to and from school. The danger of having access to everything and anyone at their fingertips in the privacy of their bedroom is something all parents should understand. If we worry about them walking outside alone at night, then we should be worried about them if they are unmonitored and on social media apps at home. Their access to strangers is a huge risk. 

I would like to extend my thanks to the P&F for their recent efforts. The Colour Fun Run was a huge success as was the P&F Trivia Night. These were great opportunities for our community to come together and enjoy each other’s company.  I am also grateful to Janelle Powter who is a Senior School Social Coordinator who has been working tirelessly to establish a secondhand uniform store for our current and future families. I encourage you to read more about their fantastic initiative in the P&F section of this newsletter. Please donate where possible. 

Our Years 3 and 4 students had a wonderful time completing their St Dominic the Adventurer Journey at Tallong with their parents a few weeks ago. Congratulations also to our musicians who performed magnificently at our Celebration of Music Concert at the Conservatorium last weekend and to those girls who entered the Independent Girls’ Schools Association (IGSA) Festival of Speech recently improving their overall position by five levels from last year to finish 10th out of 27 competitor schools. 

We have many community events to look forward to as we approach the end of the year including Speech Night on 27 November. This is a compulsory event for students from Years 3-11. We will host our Sports Awards Dinner on 15 November and we will once again hold the Fra Angelico Festival showcasing our students’ work and this will be on the evening of 22 November. The year will close with our Advent Carols which will be in the Chapel on 2 December. 

Go gently.

Paulina Skerman
College Principal