Director of Tallong Campus

Well it has been a big few weeks at the Tallong campus. We have coordinated outdoor education programs for SCEGGS Redlands, SCEGGS Darlinghurst, St Paul’s International School and our very own Year 5 students. To top it off the campus also played host to our very first Santa Sabina College Health and Harmony weekend for Mothers and Daughters. This weekend saw 50 mums and daughters arrive at the campus for a weekend of yoga, basket weaving, embroidery, campfires, bushwalks, tree planting and insightful sessions from the author Madonna King on how to enhance connections between mothers and daughters. Our amazing Cheffrey and the kitchen team spared no expense in serving up an incredible array of healthy and nutritious meals over the weekend. 

With little to no phone service and zero internet, this weekend proved an invaluable opportunity for our mums and daughters to slow down, connect with each other and recharge. The weekend ended with a tree planting session where some playful metaphors were used to illustrate the raising of children. We need to prepare the soil for the sapling, fertilise it, nurture it, place guards and boundaries around it to protect it from the environment. We need to water it and tend to it. We also need to prune it back on occasion and remove the weeds that can sometimes surround it. At some point the boundaries and guards need to be brought down, the stakes removed to help it stand tall. The sapling needs to be exposed to hardship, wind, rain, frost, otherwise it will not develop the grit, determination and resilience for it to thrive. So with these metaphors in mind the mums and daughters chose a site on the campus to plant their tree and held a conversation with each other about what will nourish them going forwards, and what will get in the way of them thriving. 

Thanks to the incredible team from the College – Mel, Elise, Stacey and Britany – who gave up their weekend for this camp to go ahead.

From all accounts so far the weekend was a huge success and we look forward to the next one in 2024.

Kendal Hann
Director of Outdoor Education and Tallong Campus Manager