What a remarkable first term of 2024 for St Hilda's School. It has been an absolute blessing to be in and out of classrooms to witness the deep care and commitment to educating the ‘whole girl’ with the pursuit of excellence in academic learning and wellbeing from Pre-Prep all the way through to our Year 12 students.
The theme across Anglican Schools this year is Flourishing together for Wisdom. Our School values: Love, Compassion, Forgiveness, Hope and Grace are the foundations that see us valuing relationships, encouraging growth in curiosity, confidence, courage, and kindness in our girls. As we approach the special time of Easter, I pray that the Peace, Love, Joy and Hope of the Easter story adds to the joyful time of relaxation and renewal that the school holidays and a change in routine bring.
As I write, we are celebrating Harmony Week and the 2024 theme, Everyone Belongs. This resonates with our lived culture of appreciation and celebration of diversity. At St Hilda's each of our girls are known and valued as unique individuals and learners. The strong culture of sisterhood and championing of one another adds to the vibrancy of a St Hilda’s education. I continue to be inspired by our girls, their ambitions, and their commitment to being the best they can be, not for themselves alone, non nobis solum, but to shine a light in support of others and to fan the flame of one another's spark!
This month I have been grateful for many opportunities for connection within our diverse and far-reaching St Hilda’s School community. The School Council and members of each of the Parent Volunteer Group Executives gathered last Thursday night to connect, share intentions for the year ahead, and to tour the Granowski facility. This joint meeting is a new initiative that provides a time for informal connection. The work of our School Council, and our Parent Volunteer Groups, ensures St Hilda’s thrives today and into the future. This event will now be held annually.
The Granowski building is close to opening and next term, Music and Drama classes in Senior School will be relocated into these beautiful, state-of-the-art spaces. The official opening for Granowski, and the Bourne-Fittock building will be on Friday, 31 May. We are delighted that Archbishop Jeremy Greaves will bless and open the buildings. In the evening, a Gala event will be held in the Granowski building.
In the Boarding House, the bespoke refurbishment in a wing of Whitby House was completed in February, and the engineering work for air-conditioning Whitby and McCulloch Houses is being finalised this term with installation planned for mid-year. We are also in the process of consultation with an architect regarding the staged refurbishment of both McCulloch and Whitby Houses. We have partnered with Chartwells who will assume the operations of hospitality aspects of boarding and catering from the commencement of next term. Later in the year, there will be a redesign of the kitchen and dining hall with work likely to commence over the longer summer break. We look forward to capturing our students’ voices in these redesigns.
Inspiring Women – International Womens Day
On International Women’s Day, we were blessed to share in a range of meaningful events and conversations with inspiring girls and women at varying stages of their journeys. Across the day and varied events, we heard from exceptional guest speakers, including:
- OGA - Alaina Masters, Qantas Airways Pilot and Boeing 787 Second Officer
- OGA - Elle Davidson, Director at Zion Engagement and Planning and Aboriginal Planning and Lecturer at the University of Sydney
- OGA - Vanessa Paraka, Senior Program Manager (PNG-Australia Partnership) Abt Associates
- OGA - Celeste Humphrey, Creative Director at Novasoma Photography.
- Reverend Mary-Anne Rulfs, Robina Anglican Church.
- Dr Peta-Anne Zimmerman, Senior Lecturer at Griffith University, School of Nursing and Midwifery
- Angie Bell, Federal MP for Moncrieff
- Roselle Tenefrancia, Human Rights Lawyer and member of Amnesty Vision Action Group
Year 11 Student, Madeleine, was invited to be a guest speaker at the Gold Coast City’s International Women’s Day Celebration Breakfast, and shared what International Women’s Day means to her. There was so much lovely feedback from our Old Girls in attendance and Women in Leadership across South-East Queensland. In Pre-Prep girls read the book “This Girl Can” and shared reflections on what they each hope to be when they grow up.
Last month we travelled to Sydney for a well-attended Old Girls event, and last weekend was our OGA Toowoomba Luncheon which again provided opportunities to connect with alumnae. I feel most privileged to hear from our past graduates, and to be helping to shape the experiences for our inspiring current and future St Hilda’s students. This year we are looking at further enhancing our OGA and current student connections.
Global Connections and Learning Opportunities
Earlier this month, we farewelled four exchange students from Linden Hall in Japan and in a few short weeks, our students and staff will visit Japan. Planning for the return to International Exchange opportunities commenced last year and I would like to thank and acknowledge Amanda Shuttlewood and Nicole Devlin who have both played vital roles in reintroducing these opportunities and sister school partnerships. Later this year, St Hilda’s students will travel to the UK, New Zealand and the USA as part of our sister school exchanges. Senior students will travel to Borneo in September on a Service-Learning Tour and mid-year, and a group of girls will travel to New Zealand on an expedition including reforestation of Kiwi habitat and skiing.
Late in February, School Council member Debbie Buckley and Head of Teaching and Learning Alma Loreaux travelled to Dubai as part of a Knowledge Immersion program for Women in Business. Dubai is an innovative and enterprising city, and we are considering opportunities for a Mother Daughter Dubai experience in the years ahead.
A student-led initiative from our International Group will see Professor Peter Greste, an award-winning foreign correspondent who spent 25 years working for the BBC, Reuters and Al Jazeera, visit St Hilda's on Monday, 29 April. Peter will speak at the Senior Assembly and at an afternoon event for our wider community where he will share his experiences of being wrongfully imprisoned in Cairo, and the importance of journalistic integrity.
Connected Community
Amanda Rigby, Head of Boarding and Nicole Devlin, Deputy Principal – Head of Senior School travelled to Dubbo for the ICPA NSW Conference earlier this month. Our Boarder Parents Support Group also hosted the annual Long Lunch at Orzo in Broadbeach last week. St Hilda’s Foundation Race Day was recently held to support Foundation initiatives and scholarships for our girls. Having been part of the interview panel this year, I was incredibly impressed by the strong candidature and rich experiences these Foundation Grants provide for our girls.
TSS Connection Events are such wonderful opportunities for our girls, the boys at TSS and our shared families. Earlier this month, our Year 1 students from St Hilda’s and TSS teamed up for a funky sock activity and shared in a picnic morning tea. Students involved in the upcoming TSS Musical The Addams Family are busy preparing for their roles and we look forward to sharing in this event with our Brother school. On Sunday, our boarders played a highly contested Netball tournament here against TSS boarders. These are but a few of many interactions that continue to build our deep connections and the opportunities our sister – brother school relationship brings for St Hilda's.
Our girls have continued to shine in their cultural and sporting activities. From showcasing their talents at the Twilight Concerts and Sing Out events to successes in Sport, it has been wonderful to see so many parents at these events. I congratulate our Andrews Cup Swimmers on an impressive 2nd Placing at their recent competition and our QGSSSA Swimmers and Spectators on a fantastic meet. It was fabulous to witness the athleticism and mentoring that took place at the Inter-House Cross Country last week. Congratulations Banksia! The week ended with the annual, ‘So you think you can sing and dance’ competition, and once again it was the shared pursuit of something truly remarkable that stood out in the House Spirit of the girls. Congratulations, Karragaroo! On stage, on the pitch, in the pool, and in the grandstands, the St Hilda’s spirit continues to be impressive.
Excellence in Academic Learning
Our Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 students completed NAPLAN last week. While academic excellence is but one measure of success at St Hilda’s, we look forward to receiving the data and using it to help inform our literacy and numeracy programs. Based on 2023 data, the Year 3 and 5 results achieved at St Hilda’s places us in the top two Junior Schools on the Gold Coast together with our brother school. We also achieved the highest score of any primary school on Gold Coast for Year 5 writing and second highest for reading. This is a testament to the excellent teaching and learning program in the Junior School and Ms Amanda Shuttlewood and the Junior School teaching team’s pursuit of excellence.
Years 9-12 students have been undertaking exams over the past couple of weeks. I applaud the girls and their teachers on the diligent approach to preparations for these summative assessments.
Early next term we will conduct a comprehensive community consultation and feedback questionnaire in consultation with MMG Education. This will support us to gain feedback from parents, staff and students and help to inform our flourishing future at St Hilda’s. Please feel warmly welcomed to reach out to me or to other members of our St Hilda's team if we can offer any support to you or your daughters.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
Mrs Virginia Warner
Principal
