April Monthly Newsletter

It has been pleasing to observe the girls return to Term 2 and to their studies with great positivity and commitment to learning. The students involved in the cast and crew of the musical, Freaky Friday, resumed rehearsals very quickly and have been busy preparing for the opening night on Friday 5 May. It was also impressive to see the girls embrace the stories that form the history of their School, St Hilda’s. Many stories were shared during the moving ANZAC Day Service on Monday 24 April, one of which highlighted the connection of St Hilda’s School and the support provided during times of conflict.

We are honoured that in our St Hilda’s School history, we have a strong connection with the Australian Armed Forces. Many may not realise that although we have always been an all-girls' school, St Hilda's does have 'old boys'. During the Second World War, secondary schools were used as army barracks and in March 1942, St Hilda's School evacuated 90 boarders to Pikedale Homestead near Stanthorpe. The Anglican Church relocated boys from the Church of England Boys' School in Toowoomba to St Hilda's in April 1942. St Hilda’s School was also used as a base for a short time by the 135^th Medical Regiment. The school returned from Pikedale Homestead to Southport in December 1943 and resumed its function as an all-girls’ school.

Our School also has a number of Old Girls who have bravely served Australia and on Monday, I shared the story of an Old Girl who has forged a strong career in the Armed Forces.

Lieutenant Colonel Krystal Wright graduated from St Hilda’s School in 2004 before commissioning into the Royal Australian Navy in 2005. She completed a Bachelor of Engineering (Aeronautical) at the Australian Defence Force Academy in 2009 before transferring to the Army. She is a graduate of the Australian Command and Staff Course, and she holds a Master of Science in Reliability Engineering from the University of Maryland and a Master of Defence and Military Studies from the Australian National University.

Lieutenant Colonel Wright has been posted across Army and the broader Defence Force and she currently serves as the Director of Land Strategic Engagements and Communications within Army Headquarters. A career highlight for Lieutenant Colonel Wright was being appointed the Officer Commanding the Technical Support Squadron within the 5^th Aviation Regiment.

Lieutenant Colonel Wright has served in East Timor and the Middle East Region. We are very proud that Lieutenant Colonel Wright is a St Hilda’s Old Girl as she is a strong role model for embodying our School motto; Non Nobis Solum, as she works to protect us all now and into the future.

2023 Academic Story

As our 2023 story continues, we are proud to share the results that our students achieved in the 2022 NAPLAN testing. The media and many other schools will attempt to identify how their results compare to that of other schools, however, this can be very difficult as each school has a different number of students per cohort and each school has different participation rates involved in the testing which will impact how schools achieve. In 2022, St Hilda’s School is proud to share that we achieved a participation rate of 99% while many other similar schools on the Gold Coast only reached a participation rate of 94% or less.

St Hilda’s Junior School placed in the top four schools on the Gold Coast and St Hilda’s Middle School achieved in the top five schools on the Gold Coast. The strength of achievement for girls was consistent with research that states girls perform very strongly in Literacy which was evident in the results for 2022. Our girls also achieved very strong results in Numeracy testing. When looking at results of similar schools, it was evident that the St Hilda’s girls also outperformed students in many co-educational and other single gender settings when taking into consideration participation rates.

St Hilda’s School is an inclusive school, and we are proud of the diversity within our community and the achievements of all our girls as we work together to ensure that every girl has the opportunity to develop strong knowledge, skills and abilities to allow her to be the best person she can be and to work towards shaping and serving the world in the future.

Mrs Amanda Shuttlewood

Acting Principal

The Chaplain's Column

At St Hilda’s, we begin most terms with a staff service the day before school resumes. I have often thought as I give an address at such services that I am like an AFL coach giving a talk to the team after each quarter of football. This term’s staff service had two themes, Easter and Community. I began with the reading of the first Easter from St Mark’s Gospel which has a most extraordinary ending. The women who have travelled with the disciples following Jesus over the three years of his earthly ministry, come to the tomb in the early hours of that first Easter Day. They have not come looking for a resurrection but rather to properly prepare his body for burial in the tomb. This is the last loving act they could do for him and one they could not do over the preceding Sabbath from Good Friday evening until sunset on Easter Eve. They are so grief stricken and upset that they don’t even think how they will roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb. Of course, the tomb is empty, the stone rolled away, and a young man tells them Jesus has risen. Then comes the most extraordinary scene, the women are shown to be so overcome that they run away and don’t tell anyone! This is such a strange ending that later editors of this gospel added at least two other endings to tie it up neatly! To me, those other endings are unnecessary. If you were going to try and convince people about the authenticity of Christ’s teachings, then you would not necessarily include the Crucifixion let alone the Resurrection. These appear implausible yet they are the very basis of Christianity. The authenticity of these facts is found in their very implausibility. If you were to make up a story such as this surely it would have to be plausible from beginning to end? But the story of Christ is not a human invention but the truth of God. Moreover, would a group of dispirited men and women having seen their leader, master, teacher, rabbi, and friend be able to do what the disciples did after the Resurrection?

My second theme was community and was illustrated by a passage of dialogue from the film “The Duke”. In a particular scene, the hero, of the film, Kempton Bunton, explains why he stole a portrait of the Duke of Wellington. His motives were purely altruistic; he saw a wrong and tried to right it. His explanation is this: "On my own, I’m a single brick – a bit useless, however when you put a load of bricks together you get a building … you create a shadow already you have changed the world.” It is that load of individuals two thousand years ago that cast a shadow through which the world has changed.

Fr Patrick Duckworth
School Chaplain

Middle/Senior Sports Overview

Summer Fixtures Round 9 - Cricket

QGSSSA Artistic Gymnastics Competition

Following a term of hard training, QGSSSA Artistic Gymnastics was held at Clayfield College and the team produced some great results. Congratulations to all students involved for their efforts and commitment leading into the day and well done to the teams for their results. Special mention to Grace Tapper from B grade and Millie Wilson from Year 7 (ii) who had the highest floor scores in their divisions. Also, congratulations to Jessica Cleverly who had the highest beam score in Open division. Further, some great scores were produced by Grace O’Reilly on floor, Sienna Barrett on bars and Ivy Wagner all around.

Artistic Gymnastics Captains – Lily Beaver and Jessica Cleverly

Autumn Fixtures Round 3 - Basketball

Senior A’s came away with their second win for the season. A very intense game for them with the other team being within 6 points the entire game. The 7A’s played their absolute hearts out, not giving up even though they were down, and they pushed through to the end. Great effort from all the teams.

Basketball Captains – Liliana Allen & Paige Le Gassick

Autumn Fixtures Round 3 - Football

All the football teams played very well and put up a strong fight against BGGS last Friday. Special shout out to Lidia Wynn from the Opens team for a great goal. All the girls in the Intermediates and Juniors team also put in their very best effort up until the very end.

Football Captains – Saffron Williams & Zoe Kitchin

Autumn Fixtures Round 3 - Touch

On Friday we saw three teams get the win against Brisbane Girls Grammar School and our 8A’s came away with a draw. Shout out must go out to our Opens team who had another successful week with major improvements in their communication and teamwork which saw Cilla Monie go over the line for a diving try to open the game. Also, from the Opens team we saw Abby Long get a spectacular hat-trick of tries. Piper Holtsbaum from Senior A’s had an amazing game with both great attacking and defence skills. That’s a wrap for Term 1 touch, and we can’t wait to see what Term 2 has in store for our girls. Rest up and have a great holiday!

Touch Captains – Holly Smith & Cilla Monie

Autumn Fixtures Round 4-Basketball

Basketball Captains - Liliana Allen & Paige Le Gassick


Autumn Fixtures Round 4-Football

Our first week back from the Easter holidays and all teams were able to give 110% out on the fields. Although St Aidan's was a tough opposition, it was amazing to see the girls trying their hardest. A special shoutout to Jess from the Juniors team who played remarkably against St Aidan’s, and to Gabby in the Intermediate team who played an outstanding game.

Football Captains – Saffron Williams & Zoe Kitchin

Autumn Fixtures Round 4-Touch

It was our first game back for Term 2 and we came home with 2 wins, and 2 draws for the evening. St Aidan’s is a very competitive side, and it was great to see such a fight in our Opens game with the girls drawing 6-6 which is even more incredible with three girls out due to injury. From last years to this year’s result, it was amazing to see our girl’s determination and ‘GRIT’ as our one and only Mrs Shuttlewood would say! Girls you should be so proud of yourselves and us as your touch captains are so extremely grateful to captain such an amazing group of girls. Shoutout to Maddy Doring for coming home with a spectacular three try hat-trick and Amy Symons from Senior B’s coming away with the double. A mention to the 7B’s for gaining their first try of the season, WooHoo! Good job girls and looking forward to another term of touch. Let’s keep up the good work and don’t forget about the commitment we have made…5 weeks to go!

Touch Captains – Holly Smith & Cilla Monie

Club & Non-School Sport Shout Outs!

Tennis News – Congratulations to Elise Virr who had some incredible Tennis Tournament results over the school holidays. Elise participated in the Tweed Heads Autumn Championships, winning 14/u Singles and runner up in 14/u doubles. Elise then took out the singles and doubles in the Churchie Tournament before moving on to the Ashley Cooper Championships where Elise was runner up in singles and winner of the doubles for 14/u age group. Some incredible results – Well done Elise!

The St Hilda’s Sport Team regularly receives school sport results and achievements. The Sport Team loves to be kept up to date with our girl’s achievements across a wide range of club and non-school sports. Please email sport@sthildas.qld.edu.au with any sporting news that we can recognise and celebrate!

For all enquiries relating to Middle/Senior Sport at St Hilda’s please email sport@sthildas.qld.edu.au and ensure that you have downloaded the isthildas app for all our sporting notices.

Mrs Mel Lilley
Director of Sport and Coaching

Enthusiastic Performances Start the Term

St Hilda’s musicians have been out in force during the first week of Term 2.

ANZAC Day

A big thank you to the combined talents of our Middle and Senior School musicians and staff whose contribution to the ANZAC Day Service on the first Friday of term greatly assisted in commemorating our national day of remembrance.

The service featured a stunning choral piece sung by Senza Ragazzi and ceremonial music played by the Middle School & Senior Concert Bands including Annalize de Wet’s (Year 12) beautiful rendition of “The Last Post”.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Flora Yang (Year 11) on her stunning performance of the Shostakovich Cello Concerto - 1st movt in the final of the Qld Symphony Orchestra 2023 Young Instrumentalist Competition at the ABC Studio South Bank in front of an audience of approximately 600 people.

There were seven finalists of an amazing standard from throughout Qld and Flora was placed 4th and received $1000 in prize money. An amazing achievement.

School Musical – Freaky Friday

This week’s Assembly featured an excerpt from the 2023 School Musical – Freaky Friday - which is being presented on Friday 5 May at 7.30pm and Saturday 6 May at 5.00pm in The Annand Theatre at TSS. Tickets are selling fast for both performances, so if you wish to attend – get in quickly to book your tickets here.

We encourage you to bring your family along to share in this humorous and entertaining piece of musical theatre.

What’s Up Next?

• 17 May – High Tea: Featuring Year 1 Singers, Years 4-6 Vocal Ensemble and Junior String Ensemble.
• 21 May – St Peter’s Church Service: 8.00am for 9.30am featuring Senior String Ensemble and Senza Ragazzi.
• 23 May – Twilight Concert: 5.00pm Langford Theatre featuring Senior Choir and Junior Concert Band

Ms Janette Kelly
Head of Music

Click here to view upcoming events.

Giving Day

We are delighted to announce that this year, St Hilda’s Foundation Giving Day will be on Thursday 11 May 2023, from 8am – 8pm.

Giving Day is a 12-hour fundraising movement where we will be asking our community members to dig deep for a very special new legacy project. Donations will contribute towards a new state-of-the-art Health and Wellbeing Centre.

Our vision for the new centre is to create a space that embraces holistic health and wellbeing. A place where students can strengthen their physical and mental resilience and build their confidence and knowledge so they can reach their full potential.

Last year with your generosity, and the help of our matchers, over $200,000 was raised for our first St Hilda’s Foundation Scholarship.

View more information and register your interest here: https://charidy.com/sthildasfoundation

Wellness is built on a strong foundation. With your support, we can shape tomorrow and #BuildTogether.


St Hilda's Foundation Experiential Opportunity Grants

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to the 2023/24 St Hilda's Foundation Experiential Opportunity Grant Recipients:

Holly Bertwhistle - Gold Coast Suns

Judy Zhang - Qscan

Audrey Kuk - Qscan

Tharangini Thirumurugan - News Corp

Ava Manton - Triple Eight Engineering

We look forward to hearing about their experiences!

Mrs Karen Minahan
Foundation Officer

During adolescence young people are often challenged with increased independence, which can lead to increased decision making around risk taking situations. Having positive role models, effective boundaries and opportunities to choose healthy behaviours are all important in developing a strong sense of self.

Our boarding community is a large united and supportive network, allowing our boarders to gain connection and feel a part of something bigger than themselves. Last Tuesday, 133 of our boarders volunteered their time during the Anzac Day ceremonies. I was incredibly proud of the large amount of girls that took part in the important events.

Our committee meetings also allow boarders to unite, share their voice and work towards a particular objective to assist our community or others. The website ‘Raising Children’ offers support for our Wellbeing Program, ‘..when teenagers get involved in community activities and volunteering, they get many personal rewards and feelings of achievement’. The article continues by stating ‘Young people often feel good about being involved in something where others expect them to turn up, where they feel helpful and valued, and where they’re supported to achieve something as part of a group. These positive feelings can help protect young people from sadness and depression.’

Words cannot describe the positive community culture that exists from within. Congratulations boarders.

Mrs Amanda Rigby
Head of Boarding