May Monthly Newsletter

“A life filled with varied experiences is a rich life, however, one filled with plans and no action is a lonely one. Choose to live a rich life as this will fill your pockets every day,” anonymous

This month has been filled with many moments of pride for both myself, and the staff as we watched our students perform confidently and with great professionalism in the School musical, Freaky Friday. We were all in awe of their talent. It is important that we acknowledge the significant amount of time and effort that students and staff committed to ensure the musical was a success and a wonderful experience for the audience. I would like to extend my gratitude to the musical cast and crew for all that they achieved in producing and performing this year’s school musical, Freaky Friday. Thank you also to Mrs Gravel and Ms Kelly for their expert skills to bring the musical to life this year and thank you to SOCA for their valued support.

This week we had students continuing to compete in a regional debating competition and mooting competitions challenging opponents using their knowledge, skills and quick thinking. Last week our United Nations Team earned a medal commendation for their teamwork when submitting their response to a global sustainability issue.

The sporting abilities of our girls have been evident, and we have celebrated strong success in Basketball, Touch Football and Tennis. Well done to the girls involved for representing St Hilda’s with pride. Congratulations to our Andrews Cup Cross Country team who competed in Toowoomba recently and placed 3^rd overall out of the 10 schools. Well done! We are looking forward to cheering on our QG Cross Country team this Saturday as the team challenge their opponents at John Paul College. The rowing shed is abuzz with early morning training underway, and we have been very impressed with the strong commitment that the girls have shown in both their presentation and training.

Last week we welcomed our mothers as we celebrated Mum’s Coffee and Pastries morning in the Junior School and this week, we enjoyed the Women’s Auxiliary High Tea on the Green hosted at HOTA. We deeply value the contribution that mothers, grandmothers, aunts and special women in the lives of the girls make towards the support and development of each girl in our care. Congratulations to the Year 1 Choir, the Years 4 to 6 Vocal Ensemble and the Junior School Strings for their very talented performances at the High Tea.

This week the whole school participated in celebrating National Boarder’s Week and on Wednesday, all of our boarding girls wore pink socks to school to identify that they belong to the St Hilda’s boarding community. A special boarder-hosted assembly was held and the girls shared stories from different perspectives including the remote locations of their homes, some girls who have come to us from overseas and those girls who come from homes that are a little closer to school. We value each girl and the enormous courage and strength that she must demonstrate to help her become independent and enjoy all that boarding has to offer.

May is a very busy month for community events and I look forward to connecting with many of you at the Mother Daughter luncheon, the Bush to Beach evening, the Year 12 Formal, and our upcoming parent workshop hosted by Judith Locke.

As our students in Junior, Middle and Senior School enter into a period of assessments and exams, we wish the girls well for their study. I also send all in our community my very best wishes as we enter the second half of the term.

Mrs Amanda Shuttlewood
Acting Principal

I grew up in Kogarah, Sydney which is in the heart of the St George district. It was the time when the St George Rugby League side were just finishing their record run as annual premiers and my first introduction to the game was sitting on the grassy hill near the scoreboard of Jubilee Oval. This comes to my mind each year when we approach Ascension Day, which effectively finishes the season of Easter in the Church.

Ascension Day, when Jesus was taken from his disciples’ sight, and the resurrection appearances end, has often presented a difficulty for artists and theologians alike. For artists, the problem is one of depiction; how do you render a person disappearing into a cloud in a realistic manner that is not comical or banal? I remember once seeing a modern painting of Jesus’ Ascension where his feet are shown pointing out from beneath a cloud as the disciples stare up! Rather a naive conceit, I have always thought!

For theologians, the cloud presents no such problems. They know that the image of a cloud throughout the Old Testament is an image for the presence of God; the cloud surrounds Mt Sinai when the Covenant is given to Moses, the cloud covers the Temple in Jerusalem when it is dedicated while in the New Testament, it is from a cloud that that the voice of God the Father is heard declaring Jesus to be his Son. So, at the Ascension, the cloud represents the presence of God, the Father and Jesus, the Son, returning to the intimacy of the Triune Godhead.

But why did Jesus have to ascend and leave his disciples (and us) without his physical presence? Certainly, it seems to have been a precursor to the coming of the Holy Spirit to spiritually enliven the disciples (and us). However, to my mind there seems a simpler and more homely explanation and this takes us back to those early memories of Rugby League mentioned above. Jesus has spent a month and a half after the Resurrection appearing to his disciples. These are not random acts or examples of divine fiat but rather times of training and coaching. The two disciples walking home on that first Easter evening encounter the risen Jesus who opens the scriptures and makes their hearts burn within them. Thomas has a lesson in belief and faith when Jesus appears and asks him to see the marks of crucifixion on his hands and the spear wound to his side.

Thus, just as a coach prepares their team for a game, a season or a premiership, Jesus prepared his disciples to preach and live the good news of his death and resurrection for all humanity.

O God,

you withdrew from our sight

that you may be known by our love:

help us to enter the cloud where you are hidden,

and to surrender all our certainty

to the darkness of faith

in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Fr Patrick Duckworth
School Chaplain

Middle/Senior School Sports Overview

School Sport Shout Outs!

Queensland School Swimming – Congratulations to Millie Simm who competed for South Coast at the QLD Swimming Championships. Millie qualified for 4 finals and medaled in the 200IM Final. Millie has now qualified for Nationals and will compete in Sydney in August. Well done Millie!

Autumn Fixtures Round 5 - Basketball

On Friday night's basketball games, all teams gave their best efforts. The 8A’s, 7A’s and 9A's determination and use of skills they have learnt throughout the season was showcased. The Senior A’s had a great competitive game and in the last few seconds of the game Misha made some free throws which put St Hilda’s in front and they won the game against BSHS!

Basketball Captains – Liliana Allen & Paige Le Gassick

Autumn Fixtures Round 5-Football

Football Captains - Saffron Williams & Zoe Kitchin

Autumn Fixtures Round 5-Touch

It was a successful round for our Senior A girls and our 10A girls with both winning their games. Highlight to Piper Holtsbaum for having another cracking game and to Sydney Prendergast-Burtenshaw from the Open’s team for a great game. Our Open’s went down for the first time this season but looking forward to this week’s game for much improvement and a big lift from all our girls. Good luck girls and see you all Friday for our round against IGGS.

Touch Captains – Holly Smith & Cilla Monie


Autumn Fixtures Round 6-Basketball

Basketball Captains - Liliana Allen & Paige Le Gassick

Autumn Fixtures Round 6 - Football

Autumn Fixtures Round 6- Touch

It was quite a successful round for our girls this week against Ipswich Girls Grammar with 5 wins across the board, and one draw to our 9A’s. Opens had a highlight week winning 10-0 with the girls playing well as a team. Our Senior A girls also had another winning week with a dominating score 11-1. Shout out to the 7A’s for having an entertaining rescheduled game on our school oval winning 2-1, and where we saw a bunch of our Year 12 boarding girls come down to watch. Thank you girls for the support! As well from the 7A’s special mention to Annie Ramsay for another outstanding game!

Touch Captains – Holly Smith & Cilla Monie

Autumn Fixtures Round 7- Basketball

Great job to the girls who played games on Thursday and Friday last week. A special shoutout to the Opens for their 2^nd win on Thursday and to the 9B’s for their win on Friday. A tremendous amount of effort from everyone who turned up, with all the girls playing their absolute best as a team, even though the games were tough.

Basketball Captains – Liliana Allen & Paige Le Gassick

Autumn Fixtures Round 7-Football

Last Friday our girls played exceptionally against Moreton Bay College. The Intermediates came away with an excellent win due to their strong effort and the great communication between attackers and defenders. The Opens also played very well, managing to tie with MBC, a special shout out to Annabelle Montgomery who played exceptionally well, with a great goal and assist.

Football Captains – Saffron Williams & Zoe Kitchin

Autumn Fixtures Round 7 - Touch

The girls had a tough round against Moreton Bay College on Friday night but was great to see the effort put in by all teams. Congratulations to the Senior A girls who won their game 9-1 meaning they remain undefeated for the season so far. Shout out to Abby Long from the Opens team who had a cracking game and congratulations to Daisy Hickson for another outstanding game. Thank you to all the girls and families for sticking around to support the other rounds. We look forward to this week’s round against St Margaret’s.

Touch Captains – Holly Smith & Cilla Monie

Club & Non-School Sport Shout Outs!

Pure Tennis Tournament – Congratulations to Elise Virr who took out the U18 category at the Inaugural Tournament. Well done Elise!

Swimming Australia National Para Development Squad - Congratulations to Holly Warn who has gained selection into the Swimming Australia National Para Development Squad and will attend Squad Camp this term. Holly also recently attended the Australian Open Championships achieving 1 Silver - Open age 2nd - 100m Backstroke, 3 Australian S7 records in 100 Backstroke, 400 Freestyle and 100 Freestyle. Well done Holly!

Gold Coast Cup Touch – Congratulations to Madeline Doring who was part of the 18girls team that took out the Gold Coast Cup final beating Palm Beach 5-2 in the Final. Congratulations also to Lorielle Scholz who was runner up in the 14 girls and Lucy Nash who competed as part of the 16B team.

The St Hilda’s Sport Team regularly receives school sport results and achievements. The Sport Team loves to be kept up to date with students' 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.

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

Freaky Friday

Congratulations must go to the 100 girls and boys involved in the cast, band and crew of Freaky Friday which was presented in The Annand Theatre on Friday 5 and Saturday 6 May. Whether singing their hearts out on stage, performing the magnificent musical score on their instruments in the Orchestra, or organising all the props and staging backstage, our girls and boys truly excelled and presented a magical piece of theatre.

St Peter’s Church Annual Visit, May Twilight Concert, High Tea

• HOTA, Home of the Arts was the venue for the Women’s Auxiliary High Tea on Wednesday 17 May where Year 1 performed as a choir along with Year 4-6 Vocal Ensemble and Junior String Ensemble.
• Senza Ragazzi, Senior String Ensemble and our Junior School Captains will be contributing to the Holy Communion Service at St Peter’s at 9.30am on Sunday, 21 May. Their performance of anthems, preludes and contribution to the congregational hymns will add to the joy of the weekly service. The service commences at 9.30am. We would love to see you there.
• The Twilight Concert on 23 May will again be in “progressive mode” featuring Junior Concert Band in the Bev Philben Room before moving to the Chapel for performances by Senior Choir, Years 4-6 Choir, Years 2-3 Choir and various soloists. See you there for a 5pm start!

Music Gala Concert 2023 – 3pm on Sunday 23 July in The Annand Theatre

The 2023 Music Gala Concert to be presented by musicians from Prep to Year 12 on the second weekend of Term 3 is to be held 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.

Parents and friends are encouraged to get in early to purchase good seats. Costs are $30 for 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). A booking link will be released before the end of term.

Ms Janette Kelly
Head of Music

Congratulations

Willow Helgeson (Year 5) competed at the State Little Athletics Championships in Townsville placing 3^rd in Under 11 Shot Put and qualifying for the final of the Discus and Javelin events. All Willow’s performances were personal bests, well done Willow!

Ava Robbins (Year 7) competed in the AusCycling Junior National Track Championships during the school holidays. Ava won the 500m time trial in the Under 15 girls’ category in personal best time and also the sprint gold medal.

She also won a silver medal in the 30-lap point race together with a 4^th place in the individual pursuits (2000m). Ava was also asked to ride up in the Under 17 girls category for the 3 person team sprint. The team set a new Queensland State Record and finished 4^th overall.

Elise Virr (Year 8) has had a very bust time with tennis tournaments over the last few months with the following outstanding results –

Churchie Tennis Tournament – 1^st Singles and Doubles
Ashley Cooper Tennis Championships – Runner Up in Singles and 1^st in Doubles
Under 14 Samford Championships – 1^st Singles and Doubles
Pure Tennis Tournament – 1^st Singles

Holly Warn (Year 7) competed in the Queensland Schools State Swimming Championships recently and with a very heavy program of events came away with some outstanding performances producing 4 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal.

1st - 200m Freestyle, 100m Backstroke, 50m Backstroke, 50m Freestyle

2nd - 100m Freestyle, 200m IM

3rd - 50m Butterfly

Multi Class swimmer of the Meet

3 Australian S7 records (200 Free, 50 Back, 50 Free)

In the Australian Age Multi-class Championships, she gained 2 gold, 2 silver in the following events –

1st - 100m Backstroke, 50m Backstroke

2nd - 100m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle

In the Australian Open Championships Holly earned 1 silver in the Open age group for 100m backstroke and broke 3 Australian S7 records (100m Back, 400m Free and 100m Free).

In addition, Holly has been selected into the Swimming Australia National Para Development Squad. Congratulations Holly!

Keeleigh Wise (Year 12) for placing 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd in differing divisions of her Equestrian Competition.

Flora Yang (Year 11) placed 4^th in the QSO Young Instrumentalists Prize Winners’ Recital winning $1000 in prize money!

Mrs Lisa Cleverly
Head of Athena

National Boarding Week

This week is all about celebrating and recognising Boarders. There are more than 200 boarding schools and over 25,000 boarding students in Australia. Our school has been lucky enough to look after boarders for more than 100 years.

Being part of our day and boarding school means opportunity for all of us, opportunity to gain knowledge about others, opportunity to experience difference; different cultures, different home lives, different family values and ultimately helps us to be an accepting, tolerant and supportive school community.

There are many people that should be recognised for supporting boarders and our Head Boarder, Charlotte Baker, summed it up perfectly in her speech during our National Boarding Week Assembly.

Please enjoy parts of her speech below.

"We often forget to mention who makes boarding school even a possibility for us. Who contributes, who looks after, who provides support. So today, instead of telling you how strong our girls are and how hard it is to live away from home, I thought I might say thank you on behalf of all boarders to those who make it all possible.

First, I am going to acknowledge the kitchen staff. Now of course you may have heard the boarders complain about the food, but reality is they prepare, cook, and serve 4 meals a day to 166 girls, who all have different wants and needs. Mealtimes work differently in every household, but I know in our boarding dining room dinner is always loud and full of laughter. There are a lot of mouths to feed, and the kitchen staff do an impressive job of fuelling the boarders. Just to give you all a little bit of insight into what it takes to feed all of us I got some numbers from Chef Dave. In a year we go through over 350kg of milo, 3348 loaves of bread, well over 10,000 eggs, and about 608kg of broccoli. While I am a bit concerned that we consume over 2kg of milo each…these numbers just go to show how big of a task our kitchen staff have, so thank you.

Another integral part of our community are the house mothers. I would argue they have the most difficult job of all. They take on the role of a stand-in mother getting us to school on time and making sure homework is complete, all while doing this for 30-40 other girls at a time. Not only this, but I have never had a housemother yell at me like my mum does at home. I think a big thank you must go to Ms Boles, and Mrs Rigby as well as our boarder’s reception staff. Most of us do not see the half of what you do behind the scenes, but we are grateful, nonetheless.

The next group of people I would like to acknowledge is staff in the day school. Teachers provide more support and comfort to boarders than they probably know. For example, in Year 6 when I was going to Canberra I emailed my teacher Sunday afternoon, the day before we left, to let her know I did not have a raincoat or stockings, both a requirement on the packing list. She emailed me back saying ‘don’t stress I will sort something out’. The next day I arrived at the bus, and she had bought me a new pair of stockings and brought her son’s raincoat. This is just one example, and I am sure each boarder has an example of her own. Whether it was a comforting conversation or one of Mrs Pinkerton’s ‘mum hugs’, we are grateful for the support you provide and for understanding just how difficult it is for young girls to live away from home.

I would also like to thank the day girls. You truly have no idea how nice it is to go on leave with you and have a family meal, or just be in a family environment for a weekend. It is something we look forward to and appreciate. I also know our parents value you and your families. It is a comfort to them knowing I have people on the Gold Coast who are more than happy to help, to take me on leave or to support me when they cannot be here.

The final people I am going to thank are our parents as they are the ones who ultimately send us here. One of our own boarding parents is the editor of a beautiful magazine that I have had a subscription to for quite a while now. In her most recent edition, she starts by describing the absence of sending away her children to boarding school. Annabelle says, “These days I don’t know what he has for dinner…he has two homes, with two timetables, two sets of people to talk to, even two climates.” But she then goes on to quote a poem which states, “Why did I never see it for what it was: abundance.” I think the word abundance sums up boarding school to a tee. An abundance of laughter, of memories, of friends. Thank you to our parents who have made the difficult decision to, in Annabelle’s words, share custody, and as a result have filled our life with an abundance of good.

So, thank you. Thank you to the kitchen staff, to the housemothers, to the teachers, the day girls and to our parents. Thank you for making it possible for us to live away from home and our families.

Someone once said it takes a village to raise a child, and I think our St Hilda’s village is doing a pretty good job at raising us."

Mrs Amanda Rigby
Head of Boarding

St Hilda's Foundation Giving Day

WE DID IT!

We are thrilled to announce that thanks to the unwavering support of our community and the generous contributions of our matchers, we have successfully raised over $260,000 for St Hilda's Foundation during our second annual Giving Day.

The kindness and generosity of our community will help shape a brighter future for all St Hilda's students and create an environment where they can flourish for generations to come.

Donations will be utilised to assist in the establishment of a new Health and Wellbeing Centre, which will enable students to pursue holistic health and wellness and excel in all areas of their lives. We are excited to begin construction on this legacy project in 2024, and we look forward to updating you on its progress in the coming year.

Thank you to our students and staff who participated in the Giving Day lunchtime activities which consisted of a sausage sizzle and a house dance to the Cha Cha Slide, great fun was had by all. Congratulations to our overall House Winners on the day, Grevillea/Karragaroo. Pre-Prep supported Giving Day by participating in their Gold Coin Trail. Congratulations to Acacia/Banskia who were the gold coin donation winners on the day!

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all those who donated, volunteered and supported our Giving Day. Without your invaluable support, we would not have been able to achieve this remarkable success, and shape tomorrow by building together.

Mrs Karen Minahan
Foundation Officer

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