Deputy Head of Campus Update – 25 June 2018

St Margaret’s School continues to host a large number of schools for DAV Debating and Round 4 took place on 14 June. This round involved secret topics, whereby teams have one hour to prepare for their debate.  It’s always a pleasure and a privilege to observe the dedication of our students as they collaborate, work in teams, plan, assist each other and deliver compelling and thoughtful ideas and opinions. St Margaret’s School students achieved 7 wins from 9 debates including 5 best speaker awards.

We are always proud of our student’s dedication to social service. In the past month, we have Tin rattled for the Salvation Army (on 31 May) and held a bake sale for The Zoe Foundation on 21 June.

The GSV Cross Country carnival was held on 1 June at Bundoora Park. Our girls showed great determination, stamina and support for each other throughout the day and we were very proud to place third overall in the Division 3 Championship Carnival. Of particular note were the efforts of Grace Davis, Jessica Day, Amy Herbert and Tahlia Lane who were all individual top ten finishers in their respective age groups.

House Athletics Carnival was held 19 June. A frosty morning pre-empted a beautiful, sunny day, full of colourful costumes, enthusiastic renditions of House songs and many determined and personal best performances on the track and in the field.  Congratulations go to Gipson House on winning the 2018 House Athletics carnival. This was their first Athletics Carival win in 25 years! Two exceptional and very special individual performances were recorded on the day. Congratulations go to Elizabeth Day who broke the school’s Year 10 Shot Putt record which has stood since 1987. Shae Jones also broke the school’s Year 11 200m record that has stood since 2007.

Music Recitals continued to take place in the Music Room foyer and Auditorium and the Music Camp, held on 15 June, was once again a great success. Amazing talent was on display at the Masters Recital, held on 18 June.

Year 10 and 11 examinations were held between 4-14 June and the Year 7-9 exams were held on 7 and 8 June. This period provided students practice in many aspects pertaining to planning, preparing for and undertaking examination style assessment. I encourage students to reflect on areas of success and possible areas that could be improved in each of these phases and to carefully and critically review teacher feedback. The process of undertaking examinations at these year levels is an important learning opportunity.

At the beginning of Term 3, our school community look forward to welcoming seven exchange students from York, England and Aberdeen, Scotland. We thank our homestay families in advance for the hospitality they will afford the girls and look forward to meeting each of the girls and welcoming them to our community.

Semester 1 always concludes with Senior School staff and students coming together for our Colours and Awards ceremony. This ceremony held on 22 June was once again a wonderful celebration of student achievement. Congratulations to all students who received awards.

Many of our Year 10 students are excited for the Presentation Ball taking place on 23 June as are students involved in the Year 9 Central Australia departing 24 June and the New Caledonia trip departing 27 June. I wish all involved in these experiences a safe and wonderful experience.

Next term, we warmly welcome back our Head of School – Mrs Fiona Williams from her well-deserved leave. We look forward to hearing about her travels and experiences. I wish everyone a safe and restful mid-year break and I look forward to our students return to school on Wednesday 18 July.

Mr Paul Atkins
Deputy Head of St Margaret’s Senior School