July Monthly Newsletter

“A true community is not just about being geographically close to someone or part of the same social web network. It's about feeling connected and responsible for what happens, and everyone plays a crucial role.” – Yehuda Berg

Well done to all our St Hilda’s students and families on a very successful start to Term 3. The School has been filled with energy as the girls returned to their studies and extra-curricular activities and the academic commitment by all students that has been observed is very pleasing.

During the short time that school has resumed, the Middle and Senior School enjoyed a successful Inter-House Athletics Carnival and the Junior School celebrated French Week, dressing in red, white and blue to celebrate Bastille Day.

Today, our whole St Hilda’s School community celebrated St Hilda’s Day and we welcomed more than 30 Old Girls to attend a very special Chapel Service, tour of the School and School Assembly. During the assembly, Ms Alana Chesser, President of the OGA, announced the recipient of the OGA Bursary, Miss Jacqueline Cartwright. This significant award has historically been presented to the graduate of the most recent Year 12 group who is the daughter of an Old Girl achieving the highest ATAR. We congratulate Jacqueline on her award and we wish her every success with her future studies. St Hilda’s Day was a wonderful recognition of the tradition and history of our great school.

This week, we are also delighted to share that our Head of Music Faculty, Ms Janette Kelly, has been awarded Honorary Life Membership of the Australian Society of Music Education (ASME). The award was announced at the recent Australian Society for Music Education National Conference. An Honorary Life Membership is ASME's highest accolade and is bestowed by ASME on members who have made an outstanding individual contribution to music education and who is recognised for distinguished service to their respective Chapter Council. Janette has been a key member of the Queensland Chapter Council since the 1990s. Congratulations to Ms Kelly on this well-deserved achievement!

Term 3 also marks the start of the rowing regatta season and our rowing crews have been training very hard to prepare for the first regatta which will be held this weekend at Lake Wyaralong. Last Saturday, the St Hilda’s rowing community, staff, coaches and parents gathered at the TSS rowing sheds to participate in the Blessing of the Fleet and the christening of a new eight boat. I would like to extend my deep gratitude to Fr Don from St Peter’s Anglican Church who conducted the blessing in Fr Patrick’s absence and I would like to thank the Rowing Supporters Group and the sponsors who attended the event for their valuable support of the rowing program. We wish all our rowers every success on Saturday.

Parent and carer support and volunteering provides our school with an essential gift of help during periods of busy events and activities. The first two weeks of this term have been filled with Parent Support Group meetings and I am very grateful for the work completed by these groups. The support of the different groups ensures that activities from breakfast at rowing each morning to Mother’s and Father’s Day Markets and the School Fete are able to be hosted. These groups are also a valuable way to become connected with the school and make friends with other families. There are a number of groups to be involved in including: Parents & Friends, Supporters of Creative Arts (SOCA), Women’s Auxiliary (WA), Fathers' Club, Rowing Supporters Group (RSG) and the Boarder Parents Support Group (BPSG). Please contact Mrs Simone Crowther, [email protected] if you would like further information and please check the school calendar for meeting dates and times. You will be warmly welcomed to any or all of the groups listed.

Thank you to our whole community for your ongoing support and for your awareness of using the roadways around and within our school safely and respectfully as the term has resumed. Enjoy Term 3 and all the exciting activities and events that are planned ahead.

Mrs Amanda Shuttlewood
Acting Principal

Sports Psychology Session

Athena students participated in a sports psychology workshop conducted by Kat Mellon, the lead psychologist for Coorparoo Kings QAFLW program and experienced working with professional and amateur athletes and coaches across a range of sports.

Topics covered included performing under pressure, confidence, focus, pre-competition routine, breathing techniques, managing expectations, self-talk and reflection.

Congratulations

• Evie Caple – Year 11 competed in the World Aquatic Championships this week in Japan. She is a member of the New Zealand Artistic Swimming Team. Evie has been preparing for the last three months through training camps and competitions in New Zealand for the competition which lasts all week and serves as a qualifier for teams to the 2024 Paris Olympics. Preparing for this level of competition requires a great team behind the athlete – family, friends, coaches, teachers, school, medical staff. We extend our thanks to all involved in #Team Evie!

• Alexia Abela (Year 10) on winning the 3000m track at the Coast-to-Coast Athletics in the 12 – 15 age group.

Mrs Lisa Cleverly
Head of Athena

Music Gala Concert 2023 – “Dreams” - Sunday 23 July 3pm – Annand Theatre TSS

The 2023 Music Gala Concert is to be presented by musicians from Prep to Year 12 at 3pm on Sunday 23 July at The Southport School Annand Theatre.

This year's concert will include some of our most favourite music, ranging in style from classical to pop, rock and music theatre. Performing ensembles will include: Prep and Year 1 Singers, Years 2 and 3 Choir, Years 4-6 Choir, Senior Choir, Senza Ragazzi, Junior and Senior String Ensembles, Junior, Middle and Senior School Concert Bands, Big Band, and the Rhythm & Blues Band.

Costs are $30 Adults and $20 for Students/Concessions/Children. Performers do not need to purchase seats (unless parents wish their daughters to sit with them after their performance is completed).

Last chance to book tickets: https://events.humanitix.com/2023-gala-concert-dreams

Evening Stars Twilight Concert – 18 July - The Chapel

Congratulations to all our performers who presented their musical talents at the Evening Stars Twilight Concert on Tuesday 18 July in the Chapel. Many thanks to those staff members and over 70 parents and friends who came along to form the appreciative audience.

Performers included the following outstanding young musicians:

• Years 4-6 Vocal Ensemble
• Year 5 Wendy Chen (violin), Maggie and Lucy Ritchie (drum kit and guitar)
• Year 6 Mila Park (voice), Effie Tang (piano), Athena Wang (piano)
• Year 9 Georgia Thomasson (saxophone),
• Year 10 Alexia Abela (saxophone), Amelia Dunwoodie (voice), Grace Fong (drum kit) Aurora Salmon (flute),
• Year 11 Elaine Wu (piano), Flora Yang (piano)
• Year 12 Annalize de Wet (trombone), Maeka Free (drum kit), Lucy Holt (voice), Skye Hill (piano), Cecilia Kim (violin)
  

State Honours Ensemble Program June and July – Griffith University Young Conservatorium

Some of our Middle School and Senior School musicians were honoured to be chosen to participate in the intermediate sessions of the State Honours Ensemble Program for Middle School students (2-4 June) and Middle/Senior students (7-9 July). Run through the Queensland Conservatorium’s Open Conservatorium in Brisbane, they participated in workshops and a final concert alongside hundreds of other musicians, showcasing the breadth and depth of artistic talent being nurtured by teachers, parents and schools throughout Queensland. Congratulations to:

• Mila Park (violin) from Year 6
• Arizona Lee (voice) from Year 7
• Juliette Cohen (voice), Charlotte White (saxophone), Phoebe Wiggins (French horn) and Emily Wilson (French horn) from Year 8
• Jaxsyn Fill (trumpet) from Year 10
• Claudia Devereux (voice) from Year 11
• Amber Kemp (voice) from Year 11

Gold Coast Composers’ Competition 2023

Congratulations to our Junior School musicians who have achieved such great success in the annual Gold Coast Composers’ Competition:

• Mila Park (Year 6) 3rd place 11-12 yrs section
• Mila Park (Year 6) Pop Rock Award $50 14 -17yrs
• Athena Wang (Year 6) 2nd place 11-12 yrs section

Gold Coast Eisteddfod 2023 - Performance Dates for St Hilda’s Ensembles

The 41^st Gold Coast Eisteddfod began in earnest on 17 July for thousands of students in solo and ensemble performances across the Gold Coast. Before parents start receiving emails advising of Gold Coast Eisteddfod excursion invitations through Parent Lounge, please find below a list of ensembles and their approximate performance times to assist you with your advance planning.

Junior School Eisteddfod Performance Times

Middle and Senior School Eisteddfod Performance Times

Ms Janette Kelly

Head of Music

St Hilda’s Foundation Sponsorships are now open for the new financial year, 1 July 2023 – 30 June 2024.

We are thrilled to announce four exciting events in the 2023-2024 Sponsorship Calendar:

• Festival of the Arts, 18 – 19 August 2023

This exciting community event is not just a showcase of professional artistic creativity but also an opportunity to help inspire extraordinary young women to reach their full potential.

• Fathers’ Club Foundation Golf Day, 8 September 2023

The must attend Golf Day is an annual sell out event that unites our community with the common goal of supporting a scholarship to St Hilda's. This event is proudly supported by the St Hilda’s School Fathers’ Club.

• St Hilda’s Foundation 10 Year Anniversary Gala Dinner, 2 November 2023

St Hilda’s Foundation is celebrating 10 years this year and it is with much excitement that in celebration of this we are hosting a 10 Year Anniversary Gala Dinner at Warner Bros. Movie World. A magical evening of celebration, dining and dancing, an event not to be missed!

• A Day at the Races, 2 March 2024

Another event that is an annual sell-out is the much loved Race Day at Aquis Gold Coast Turf Club that has become a prominent fixture in the Gold Coast event calendar.

Your support not only enables this rapidly expanding Foundation success to achieve our objectives, including sponsorships and support for the greater St Hilda’s community, but also connects you with our already expansive and growing community network.

For more details please email [email protected] or contact Karen Minahan on 5577 7358.

Mrs Karen Minahan
Foundation Officer

Click here to view upcoming Community events.

St Hilda's Business Directory

We invite the St Hilda's community to advertise your business in the 2023/24 St Hilda’s Business Directory, proudly presented by St Hilda's Foundation.

For more information, please contact Ben via the below details.

BEN RYAN
0432 545 995
[email protected]
www.advcollab.com.au

This term as part of the Year 4 RE program, students are taught about Baptism and First Communion. They are then offered the chance to be baptised and/or receive First Communion. For many years in this diocese, young people were confirmed around the age of twelve. However, it was thought that such an age was too young to make the promises a person does at their Confirmation, so an extra step was introduced, that of First Communion.

So, what is First Communion and Confirmation? First Communion is a service in which a person makes a series of promises about their commitment to the Christian Faith. They then take Communion, the consecrated bread and wine, for the first time. Confirmation is the service where a bishop lays his hands on the Confirmation Candidates after they have repeated the same promises as in the First Communion. It is, if you like, a more formal occasion as the promises that are being made and made in front of the bishop who represents not just the local congregation (or school) but the Church at large. This begs the question as to what are the promises that a person makes? These are fourfold:

Before God and this congregation, you must affirm that you turn to Christ and reject all that is evil:

Do you turn to Christ?
I turn to Christ.

Do you repent of your sins?
I repent of my sins.

Do you reject selfish living, and all that is false and unjust?
I reject them all.

Do you renounce Satan and all evil?
I renounce all that is evil.

Then, after reciting the Apostles’ Creed, the candidates kneel before the bishop who lays hands upon each and prays the following prayer:

Strengthen, Lord, your servant, Name, with your heavenly grace, that they may continue yours forever with your Holy Spirit.
Amen.

The expectation is that someone who makes their First Communion should later be confirmed when they are older. We are hoping to hold a confirmation at St Hilda's later in the year. Stay tuned for more information.

Fr Patrick Duckworth
School Chaplain

Middle/Senior School Sports Overview

School Sport Shout Outs!

QSSTT - Over the holidays, the St Hilda’s Open Tennis team represented the Gold Coast in the Queensland Secondary School Championships in Rockhampton. We finished with a Bronze Medal, doing very well only losing a couple of round robin matches by a few games. Overall, a successful campaign against some excellent teams across the state. Big thanks to Gabriela, Sarah and Elise for joining me in competing and to Marnie and Nick for attending with us from St Hilda’s.

Tennis Captain – Dayna Whiteley-Hall

Inter-House Athletics Carnival

It was a beautiful day at the Runaway Bay Sports Performance Centre for the 2023 St Hilda’s Athletics Carnival. There were plenty of hot performances by our girls across the track and field. It was so nice to see all our House colours on display and to see so much excitement and participation by the girls across all age groups. Special mention to those girls who got in and had a go to get valuable points for their House. Every point counts. Well done to some of our girls who performed at a very high level throughout the day. We look forward to training hard together as a team to represent our School at the 2023 QG Athletics Carnival in a few months. Thank you to our amazing teachers and volunteers who worked hard to put on a great day for all our girls, especially Mr Andrews who added so much enthusiasm and energy on the day. Congratulations to Karragaroo House for taking victory honours, closely followed by Banksia House who were second and Melaleuca House who came in third. Lastly, it was a bittersweet day for us Year 12 girls who shared their last every Athletics Carnival. It’s been an incredible journey and we are so proud to have shared the memories together.

Athletics Captains – Fern Deshon & Indiana Sheehan

We had 5 records broken at our carnival:

Results and Awards

School Runner Up – representing Karragaroo – Lorielle Scholz

School Champion – representing Karragaroo – Sarah Bigg

Non Nobis Solum Award – Alexia Abela

Boarders v Day Girls Relay – Day Girls

The House Spirit Cup – Karragaroo

Inter-House Athletics Champions:

3^rd Place
1614.50 points
Melaleuca

2^nd Place
1669 points
Banksia

1^st Place
1883.50 points
Karragaroo

Winter Fixtures Round 1 - Netball

Netball Captains – India Rafter & Maisie Alexander

Winter Fixtures Round 1 - Tennis

Last Saturday, we started off the term with our first QGSSSA Tennis round against Clayfield College. All our Junior, Senior and Opens teams played incredibly well and had a lot of fun on the day. Shout out to Molly Crockett for stepping up into the Opens team for the first time, showing great spirit and doing an amazing job in the doubles and her singles.

Tennis Captain – Dayna Whiteley-Hall

Winter Fixtures Round 1 - Volleyball

In a fantastic start to the Volleyball season competing against Clayfield College, our Volleyball teams put on an impressive performance from all year levels. The girls fought hard out on the court with 5 teams taking the win. A special mention to the year 8A’s and Opens team who won every set on the day.

All of our teams showcased skillful serves, powerful spikes and impeccable teamwork on the day.

Volleyball Captains – Natalie O’Grady & Jessica Jolly

Rowing Pre-Season

With a term full of pre-season training completed, along with two very successful camps, the girls of the St Hilda’s rowing shed are ready and eager to see where their hard work places them amongst the competing BSRA crews. We were lucky enough to have the water on our doorstep at Maroochydore, allowing us to train three times a day, clocking up the final kilometers of the pre-season and concluded the camp with our traditional skit night where we had the opportunity to come together for a laugh and some bonding. Now that we have arrived at our last Saturday training of the season and the Blessing of the Fleet, the girls are excited for our first regatta next Saturday 22 July, where they have their first chance to display their hard work and St Hilda’s fighting spirit.

Rowing Captains – Grace Champion & Makayli Wright

Autumn Fixtures - Basketball Season Results

Autumn Fixtures - Football Season Results

Autumn Fixtures - Touch Season Results

Club & Non-School Sport Shout Outs!

• World Aquatics Championships – Congratulations to Evie Caple who is competing in the World Aquatic Championships this week in Japan. Evie is a member of the New Zealand Artistic Swimming Team. Evie has been preparing for the last three months through training camps and competitions in New Zealand for the competition which lasts all week and serves as a qualifier for teams to the 2024 Paris Olympics. Best of luck Evie – we are all behind you!

• Australian Indoor Cricket – Congratulations Stephanie Antees who has been selected into the U14 Australian Indoor Cricket All-Star team. Well done Steph!
• QLD Junior State Cup Touch – Congratulations to Madeline Doring, Lucy Nash, Lorielle Scholz who all competed for Gold Coast at the Junior State Cup in Rockhampton over the holidays. Madeline's and Lucy’s teams both finished 4^th overall with Lorielle’s team runners up narrowly losing the Grand Final. Well done girls!
• Rafa Nadal Tournament – Congratulations to Elise Virr who won the Values award – Only 1 player gets chosen out of 32 – which now sees her head to Melbourne in January to compete to win a trip to the Rafa Academy in Spain. Best of luck Elise!
• Equestrian State Championship – Congratulations to Keeleigh Wise who has been selected into the State team. Well done Keeleigh!
  
• 2023 SGC Short Course Champs – Congratulations to the following St Hilda’s students who competed over the weekend:

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 [email protected] with any sporting news that we can recognise and celebrate!

Middle/Senior Sport information regarding trials, training and competition is communicated directly to students and can also be found via the school app.

For all enquiries relating to Middle/Senior Sport at St Hilda’s please email [email protected] and ensure that you have downloaded the isthildas app for all our sporting notices.

Mrs Mel Lilley
Director of Sport and Coaching