College Principal

We are just three weeks into the new school year and already we have enjoyed so many opportunities to come together as a school community. Our Orientation day for new students to the College as well as those in Years 5 and 7 was filled with nervous excitement. It was a lovely chance to welcome parents to the College. I spoke to the families about the importance of helping their children to develop their growing independence and take responsibility. By Year 7 children should be getting themselves ready for school, packing their lunches and organising their own homework. The important thing to remember is that our job as parents isn’t to clear a path for our children so that there are no obstacles, but to instead allow them to experience the discomforts that life will invariably deliver so that they can learn to make good decisions, become self-aware, develop coping mechanisms, resolve conflict, develop compassion and feel confident to tackle future setbacks. This is important if we want our children to grow up to be confident and capable adults. You can hear more about ways to support your child to take responsibility, become resilient and be resourceful by coming along to hear Dr Judith Locke present in March. She will be speaking with Primary and Gioia House parents at 6:30pm on 4 March and will then run another workshop for parents of older students the next evening, Tuesday 5 March at 6:30pm. You can register to attend here for the Prep to Year 6 session and here for the Years 7-12 session.

The spotlight is very much on single-sex versus co-education at the moment and the media is certainly enjoying the debate. For the past 30 years, I have worked in a mix of co-educational and single-sex schools and I have loved almost every minute of my time in each of those environments. We are fortunate in this country to have a choice about where we choose to send our children and I see this as a good thing. I myself am a product of both co-educational and girls’ only schooling environments and for me personally, attending a girls’ secondary school was one of the single most empowering experiences of my life and for that I will always be grateful to my parents for the sacrifices they made to allow this to happen for me. I acknowledge though that this is not the case for all girls and it is always about the best fit for the child. However, I do believe single-sex secondary educational environments offer many advantages for adolescent girls and I am passionate about Santa Sabina College and what we achieve for our students. I see the very positive impact of a girls’ only education borne out in the young women with whom I interact every day. At our school, we are fortunate to have the co-educational experience in the Primary Years when there are very few differences between the genders. This allows us to establish emotional and social building blocks for the future before students have to navigate the physical and emotional changes that come with adolescence. In all educational environments, single-gender or co-educational, the principals I know strive to cultivate schools where respectful relationships are highly valued. We work hard to create opportunities to support our students to be able to enter into healthy relationships grounded in respect and to ensure our graduates are good humans who will work to make the world a better, kinder, more compassionate place. 

Our annual High Achievers Assembly was a wonderful success and it was great to catch up with students from the Class of 2023 to celebrate their achievements and congratulate them on the university courses that they are about to embark upon. Ella Curran and Cece Addabbo, joint Dux of the Class of 2023 spoke to the girls with their advice of choosing subjects that they genuinely enjoyed, and that despite the cliche, ‘balance was the key’. Ella elaborated explaining that, ‘Learning is about setting your own standards. It’s about extending your passions and desires into tangible skills that allow you to reach your goals. If you focus too much on the numbers, I find you lose your real purpose. And purpose is what drives success. That’s why it’s so important to choose subjects you love and simply commit to doing your best, rather than becoming lost in the corrosive cycle of comparison and competition. When you study in order to extend your own knowledge of the world, that’s when you truly shine.’ 

As we enter into the Lenten season, we begin a period of reflection and preparation before the celebrations of Easter. Pope Francis’ Lenten message is based on the theme: through the desert God leads us to freedom. In his message to us, he writes, 

It is time to act, and in Lent, to act also means to pause. To pause in prayer, in order to receive the word of God, to pause like the Samaritan in the presence of a wounded brother or sister. Love of God and love of neighbour are one love. Not to have other gods is to pause in the presence of God beside the flesh of our neighbour. For this reason, prayer, almsgiving and fasting are not three unrelated acts, but a single movement of openness and self-emptying, in which we cast out the idols that weigh us down, the attachments that imprison us. Then the atrophied and isolated heart will revive. Slow down, then, and pause! The contemplative dimension of life that Lent helps us to rediscover will release new energies. In the presence of God, we become brothers and sisters, more sensitive to one another: in place of threats and enemies, we discover companions and fellow travellers. This is God’s dream, the promised land to which we journey once we have left our slavery behind.

Finally, our Welcome Drinks event for the whole school parent community was just a lovely evening and very well attended. I really enjoyed speaking to parents, hearing how their children are settling into the new year and feeling deeply connected to this community. There was such a feeling of positivity and joy in the air and it was quite contagious. My thanks to all teachers and staff who attended this important event to connect with our families which is so important if we are to work together to see our children flourish. 

Looking forward to seeing those of you who can attend the 130th Anniversary Gala Dinner!

Paulina Skerman
College Principal