eNews Archive Issue 12 - 2 May 2019

Stanford Professor Carol Dweck developed the concept of a growth mindset after observing thousands of students’ behaviours in relation to failure, and which of those students were best able to go on and achieve success in what they were learning. She found that there were some students who were devastated by failure, saw it as a real setback and were unable to move on. Those who were able to move on, took the feedback and then used this to adjust their effort or focus and as a result were far more successful.

American psychologist Angela Lee Duckworth asserts that taking a longer-term view of learning can help us to better manage the ups and downs that life throws at us. In her studies she found that a student’s level of resilience rather than their IQ was a predictor of success. She calls it ‘grit’.

So, as our students are now settling back into Term 2 and have their feedback from their teachers from the last term, I urge them to look at this feedback, learn from it and continue to put in the best efforts they can.

"Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again." Nelson Mandela

Karen Gorrie 

St Margaret's Anglican Girls School is committed to:

• promoting and striving to provide a safe, supportive and ethical environment for the wellbeing and holistic development of students; and
• providing a safe, secure and nurturing environment in which all its students may grow and learn.

 

Student Protection Officers are persons designated as liaison people to whom students may refer if they are not feeling safe; or to whom they make complaints of harm, inappropriate behaviour or physical/sexual abuse. The St Margaret's Student Protection Officers are:

• Deputy Principal - Karen Gorrie
• Head of Boarding - Lesa Fowler
• Head of Primary School - Angela Drysdale
• Assistant Head of Primary School - Cathy Cox
• Dean of Students - Nikki Townsend
• Guidance Counsellor - Sharon Stone

 

All Student Protection documentation, including all policies and procedures, can be viewed on our website: https://www.stmargarets.qld.edu.au/discover-st-margaret-s/student-protection.

Our Statement of Commitment is as follows:

St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School supports the rights of children and young people and is committed to ensure the safety, welfare and wellbeing of students. St Margaret’s is therefore committed to responding to allegations of student harm resulting from the conduct or actions of any person including that of employees.

This commitment includes the provision of a safe and supportive living and learning environment for all students and requires all employees, volunteers and visitors to model and encourage behaviour that upholds the dignity and protection of students from harm.

In support of this commitment, St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School is dedicated to our Child and Youth Risk Management Strategy which includes having relevant policies, procedures and training in place to effectively address the safety and wellbeing of students in our care.

Nicole Devlin 

The RAP program is conducted over 8 weeks, consisting of a 1-hour interactive session per week. Please see the attached flyer (PDF 659KB) for further information.

This term, I will be conducting this program with the Year 7 Boarders, where they will all receive a detailed workbook to enable them to reflect on what they have learnt.

As always, please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Sandra Johnson 

Assessment Planners
Years 7 to 12 Assessment Planners have been updated on the Year Level POD pages. The Year 11 and 12 planners include all assignments and exams for the year and provide a very useful tool for planning study schedules. Exam Block schedules will be available in Week 3. The Years 7-10 planner provides due dates for Semester 1 assessment only.

QCS Online Practice
Improving the skills needed to answer the different types of QCS questions and respond within the time limit is all about practice. Each term, the Year 12 OP eligible students complete practice tests and now they have the opportunity to complete extra practice multiple choice tests online. The girls have been sent the details to access the online tests, so please encourage your daughter to complete the first multiple choice practice by Friday 10 May. Every little bit of practice will help everyone’s OP result!

Jo Butterworth 

This term, the following staff will be hosting pre-service teachers: Ms Phoebe Mawer, Ms Ysabella Dawson, Mrs Nicole Walker and Ms Emily Ethell. These members of staff will be working with the pre-service teachers to develop their skills in preparation for demands connected with the teaching profession. These experiences are very powerful in that they provide real opportunities for the pre-service teacher to develop their proficiency in planning and organisation, classroom management and teaching practice.

We would like to welcome the pre-service teachers to the school and thank the supervising teachers for supporting them in entering this wonderful profession.

Tom McCormick 

What I want for my children, and yours, is that they are compassionate, empathetic and resilient all underlined by a sense of wellbeing. Yes, I do want them to be happy – but not all the time. I believe we put too much pressure on our children to be happy because, let’s face it, if they’re happy then we’re happy. We need to be very careful of focusing continually on how they are feeling as this could inadvertently amplify feelings of anxiety or sadness.

As parents, we often try to smooth out the bumps in the road before our daughters trip up. Yes, we may be trying to protect them from the disappointment of failure, but are we doing them any favours? Should we not rather use these opportunities to teach them the value of failure; teach them to acknowledge the disappointment and determine how they might improve in the next attempt and the next. The relatively safe environment of school and home is the perfect place for them to learn these skills and thus build up resilience.

Too often when parents level the path for their daughters they are teaching them to be helpless because mum or dad will sort out any difficulties. Yes, parents feel the pain when watching their children struggle with friendship issues, poor grades, breakups and disappointments but, we should resist the almost overwhelming urge to rush in and make it all better. We do this because they have to learn to deal with these challenges and we know we have to teach them.

Nikki Townsend 

Sport provides a great opportunity to be involved in the wider community. It was impressive to see some of the girls playing their first game of the season at Downey Park on Saturday. They played hard for their school and I look forward to witnessing the physical growth of each team member.

Learning is at the heart of our community and last term the girls’ learning experiences were wide and varied. Such experiences continue with the girls finding themselves immersed in engaging and challenging new learning tasks this week. They have much to look forward to this term with the Year 2 excursion to Telstra Museum, Years 1 and 2 excursion to Samford, Year 5 camp and the Year 6 Canberra trip.

When one analyses the curriculum offerings and life experiences the girls are exposed to, there are two common factors evident; the dedication of the teachers and the motivation of the girls. Hilary Clinton popularised the Benin proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child”. As a school we believe that everyone in our community contributes to each child’s learning and growth. We have created a community in which our students learn confidently, parents support that learning competently and the teachers share their expertise cooperatively.

Angela Drysdale

 

Upcoming Events:
Wednesday 8 May: Year 2 Telstra Museum Excursion
Friday 10 May: St Margaret’s Primary Mothers’ Breakfast
20-21 May: Year 5 Leadership Days
20-24 May: Year 6 Canberra Trip
22-24 May: Year 5 Camp
Friday 31 May: Student Free Day (Day/Border Weekend)

 

Movie Night
The Music Support Group are hosting a Movie Night to further fundraise for the St Margaret’s Music Program. The Movie Night will be held on Friday 17 May 2019 and is open to all students in Years 5-12. It will commence with a sausage sizzle at 5:30pm in Eton Courtyard, followed by the screening of Incredibles 2 at 6:30pm in Eton Hall, supervised by St Margaret’s staff. The cost for the event is $15, and includes a sausage sizzle, drink and movie. Popcorn, lollies and drinks may be purchased at an additional cost on the night. Tickets for the event will be available for purchase via Flexischools shortly. We look forward to a fun night!

Extra-Curricular Music Ensemble Photos
Students in the majority of Music Ensembles will have their photos taken on Monday 13 May. The photo schedule will be published as soon as possible. Please note, the Encorah photo will be taken in Term 3. Students are asked to bring their respective performance uniforms to school, along with their musical instrument.

Encorah 2019
Encorah will commence rehearsals this week under the direction of Ms Stephanie Taylor. As part of the St Margaret’s Choral Program restructure, Encorah will now be open to all students in Years 9-12, with rehearsals each week from 3:30-4:30pm in the Sister Helen Orchestra Room (SHOR). The choir will work on a large selection of styles including R'n'B, soul, pop, indie pop, acapella repertoire, Latin music and music theatre numbers just to name a few. We are looking forward to having many girls involved!

Encorah/Exultate Music Tour 2020 – Proposed Itinerary
There will be a meeting on Thursday 16 May at 6pm in the ACF to discuss the proposed Encorah/Exultate tour to France and Belgium during the June/July holidays in 2020 (draft itinerary attached (PDF 1.9MB)). This event is the largest global choral festival in the world and brings together choirs from around the world. Students will have the opportunity to participate in the opening ceremony which brings together 20,000 choristers in a single venue. This promises to be a truly unique experience, bringing together thousands of people with a love of choral music from all around the world. Further details may be found here: https://www.interkultur.com/events/world-choir-games/flanders-2020/.

 

Music Support Group
The next Music Support Group meeting will be on Tuesday 4 June at 5:00pm in the Primary Music Room (second floor of Chaseley). Parents from both the Primary and Secondary Schools are welcome to attend.

Brad King 

Communication surrounding each of the upcoming sports is via the Secondary Sport POD page and the individual Sport POD pages. To assist parents in logging into the POD and joining the individual sport groups please access the 'Pod Parent Guide' (PDF 1MB). Additionally, to access the POD via your mobile phone, ensure you have downloaded the St Margaret’s App.

Lifesaving Success
Congratulations to our Lifesaving team who competed at the Queensland Secondary Schools Lifesaving Championships on Sunday 28 April. Our lifesavers took out the Sheena Dyason Shield (RLSA Champion Female School) for the 21st consecutive year and regained the Judith Beale Shield (for overall RLSA Champion School) which the school had won for four consecutive years prior to 2018.

Autumn Fixtures
Fixtures recommenced for all Autumn sports on Friday 26 April against St Peter’s Lutheran College. Within Touch Football, five teams recorded a win with the 8As remaining undefeated with a 5-all draw. Our Basketball teams were dusting the cobwebs off from the holiday break with only the Senior Bs and Year 7Bs recording a win. Our Football teams will be looking to the future rounds to chalk up a win.

This week, only 3 Touch Football teams will be playing at Windsor Park against Somerville House. The schedule for these games is available here (PDF 127KB).

*Please note, this round was played earlier in Term 1 against St Hilda’s resulting in no games this Friday afternoon.

QGSSSA Cross Country – 8 days and counting!
With only 8 days to go, the Cross Country squad is putting the final touches on their preparation in the lead up to the QGSSSA competition on Saturday 11 May. Over the past 90 days, the squad have run countless kilometres around the streets of Ascot and Clayfield, racing up Queens Road, destroying Bonney Avenue and dominating the repetitions at Oriel Park every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning in an effort to achieve a great team result.

Details of QGSSSA Cross Country Competition is as follows:

Date: Saturday 11 May
Venue: Rivermount College, Yatala
Events:
8:30am - 17 years and over - 3,000 metres
9:00am - 12 years - 3,000 metres
9:30am - 13 years - 3,000 metres
10:00am - 14 years - 3,000 metres
10:30am - 15 years - 3,000 metres
11:00am - 16 Years - 3,000 metres

Presentations: 11:30am

Please note, all squad members are expected to stay and enjoy a celebration of cupcakes and awards at the conclusion of the event.

QGSSSA Cross Country Spectators – Years 8 and 10
All Secondary students are required to attend one inter-school sporting events as supporters. The QGSSSA Cross Country is the second major sporting event of the year with students from Year 8 and Year 10 to attend. Please click here (PDF 109.7KB) to access further information on this requirement.

Met North Cross Country
Students are invited to trial for the Met North Cross Country team on Tuesday 28 May at St Paul’s School. To nominate for this event, girls should access the nomination form via the Cross Country POD page.

Support Group Meetings
The Hockey Support Group invites all interested parents to the first meeting of 2019 on Wednesday 9 May at 6:00pm in Ms Café.

Congratulations…

Jaclyn Barclay (Year 7) and Sienna Timms (Year 8) for being selected in the Queensland School Sport Swimming Team to compete at the SSA Championships in Melbourne on 27-31 July 2019.

Tiffany-Rose Kimeklis (Year 8) who competed at regional Futsal titles (Indoor Soccer) over the Easter long weekend and has been selected for the Queensland team as goal keeper to compete at the National Titles in Sydney in January 2020.

Helen Lobegeiger 

Rostrum Voice of Youth is an annual competition aimed to encourage Secondary school students to further develop their verbal communication skills and confidence by giving them a platform to speak out on topics that are important to them.

Harriet and Lily both delivered an eight-minute speech, each with their own take on the topic “A Modern Epidemic”. Both girls spoke with confidence and conviction. Harriet was chosen as the reserve from her heat and Lily won her heat and will progress to the next round of the competition. Well done to both girls who invested considerable time, effort and energy in preparing for the competition and in developing such valuable communication skills.

Maria Chamberlain 

Upcoming Events

• 6-7 June: visiting Exchange students go on a cultural excursion to Sydney
• 17 June: 2020 Global Exchange Information Evening, 5:30pm-7:00pm, ACF

 

Students currently away on their Exchange
We recently heard back from the following students:

Lucy Howard, Rachel Sands and Teneille Allen, St Anne’s, South Africa
We had a wonderful and long trip to South Africa, arriving safely at St Anne’s. We were welcomed by many friendly and kind faces as we had a tour, met the headmaster and received our uniforms. This afternoon we have been meeting many girls and settling into this beautiful school!

Celia Quinn and Estella Caro, Pensionnat du Saint Nom de Marie, Montreal, Canada
We had no trouble at customs and the flights were very smooth. We have both settled in very well here I think, with our families and also of course attending PSNM. Montreal is very different to Brisbane. It’s much colder and the houses and buildings in general are very different styles. Everybody is so nice, both at school and our families. The uniforms at school are very nice and the timetables are very different as well. We have had an amazing trip to New York from the 18-21 April. We saw all the sights including Times Square, 5th Avenue, Top of the Rock, Central Park, Broadway, Natural History Museum and The Met (plus more). Yesterday, we did a day trip to Julianne’s (exchange host) Maple cottage and tried fresh Maple syrup which was a very Canadian experience. Some photos attached from both New York and Montreal.

 

Rosie Turnbull, Shawnigan Lakes, Canada
I have arrived in Canada! The school is absolutely amazing, and everyone is so nice and welcoming. The first afternoon I arrived I was invited to row with a crew that I will be rowing with in the Brentwood Regatta this Friday, which a great way to start. They have given me uniforms and I will sort my timetable out tomorrow. The entire school is so open and green, and it will definitely take a while to learn where to go. Thank you so much for allowing me to experience Shawnigan, I am so excited to make the most of my time here.

Rosie participated in the Rowing program last weekend where her crew came 1st at the Brentwood Regatta – congratulations Rosie!

Angelin Achari 

Initiated in 2015, the St Margaret's Past Student Awards were established to recognise and celebrate the many and diverse achievements of St Margaret's past students and to honour their legacy.

Two awards will be presented on the night; the Distinguished Past Student Award (for alumnae who have passed their 20th reunion) and the Young Past Student of Distinction Award (for alumnae in their 20th reunion year or younger).

When: Friday 10 May 2019
Time: 6:30pm–9:00pm
Venue: Arts Centre Foyer, St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School
Tickets: $75 adults, $55 students

Tickets are on sale via Flexischools. Please click here to purchase your ticket.

Professional Women’s Networking Breakfast
Our special guest speakers, Penny (’92) and Peter Wolff, owners of Wolff Coffee, will share their 30 years of expertise in the industry with a coffee tasting experience for all our guests.

Penny Wolff (’92), the creative and educative mastermind behind the Wolff Coffee brand, and her husband Peter, a Master Roaster and a coffee connoisseur instrumental in the evolution of coffee drinking in Brisbane, have crafted a niche in the realm of Specialty Coffee in Brisbane. Join us as Penny and Peter share their love of coffee and how entrepreneurship has become their way of life!

Date: Wednesday 15 May 2019
Time: 7:00am arrival for a 7:15am start, 8:45am finish
Venue: Arts Centre Foyer, St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School
Tickets: Corporate tables $800 for 10, $80 adult and $40 students (Years 10-12/tertiary)

Please click here (PDF 562KB) for more information.

Tickets are now on sale via Flexischools. Please click here to purchase your ticket.

We sincerely thank our corporate sponsors for their generous support of the Series:

Associate Sponsors: Pitcher Partners and McCullough Robertson
Supporting Partners: Downer, NAB, Programmed Property Services and Clear Insurance

 

The P&F invites the school community to attend our first General Meeting of 2019. This is an opportunity to share your views and ideas, so please join us.

Date: Monday 13 May 2019
Time: 6:30pm start
Venue: Arts Centre Foyer, St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School

Lara Pickering

UK/USA Study
Crimson Education are offering two free information sessions dedicated to students and parents who want to know more about the US/UK tertiary application process.

8 May - Hamilton, Brisbane
Brisbane to the Ivy Leagues and Beyond, featuring 2019 Brisbane UPenn Admit Khushi Shelat: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/brisbane-to-the-ivy-leagues-beyond-feat-2019-brisbane-upenn-admit-tickets-58402474373?discount=FREE

9 May - Brisbane CBD
Brisbane to the Ivy Leagues and Beyond, featuring 2019 Brisbane UPenn Admit Khushi Shelat: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/brisbane-to-the-ivy-leagues-beyond-feat-2019-brisbane-upenn-admit-tickets-60556265420?discount=FREE

UCAT
The UCAT ANZ test has replaced the UMAT (Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admission Test) for 2019. Students who are planning to apply to Medicine, Dentistry and Health Science courses commencing in 2020 at our Consortium universities in Australia and New Zealand must sit the UCAT ANZ 2019 test in the month of July 2019.

Registration and Booking are open at the UCAT ANZ website and will close on 17 May 2019 at 11:59pm AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time). The UCAT ANZ is offered on a choice of dates throughout the month of July, rather than on one single date.

Students who will be sitting the test in 2019 for entry to university in 2020, should visit the UCAT ANZ website to register an account and book their test by 11:59am AEST on 17 May 2019. Late registrations or bookings will not be accepted after this deadline. More Information is available from the UCAT website here.

Preparing for UCAT
You can find the official preparation materials at: https://www.ucat.edu.au/ucat-anz/practice-tests.

Torrens University Open Day 11 May 2019
Join us at Open Day to learn more about our courses in Natural therapies, Counselling and Community Services, Beauty and Aesthetics, Sport Development, Public Health and Wellbeing. Register for Open Day

UNE
Year 12 students are invited to participate in our Early Entry Program for admission in 2020. UNE's Early Entry application process is fully online, it’s free to apply and you can submit their Early Entry applications now.

ANU
Ready to begin your undergraduate studies at ANU in 2020? You can start your application now by applying directly to ANU and receive an early conditional offer. Applications opened 4 March 2019 and close 31 May 2019. For more information, go to Apply Now.

QUT
START QUT gives you the best chance of finding a course you'll enjoy by trying out university subjects while you're in Year 12 OR Semester 2 of Year 11. Applications for Semester 2 for the START QUT program are now open. High achieving (averaging at least ‘B’ grade) students have until 16 May to apply. More information is available here.

Griffith University
Griffith University has developed a website to assist you to decide on a study pathway: https://www.griffith.edu.au/study.

UQ: Experience Science is a free event open to students in Years 10 -12. Programs will be held on 12 July (last week of the holidays) and in the first week of Term 3 (16-18 July. Discover more here.

Scholarships in Australia
No matter what you are intending to study and where, you will be sure to find some financial assistance on offer to help you pay for it.
https://www.gooduniversitiesguide.com.au/scholarships

QTAC Year 12 Tertiary Applications
The Educational Access Scheme (EAS) https://www.qtac.edu.au/applying/educational-access-scheme can help you if you have experienced circumstances that negatively affected your most recent studies. If you are eligible for EAS, you may get OP or rank adjustments that improve your chances of getting an offer. Apply when you complete your QTAC application in August.

QUT Match My Skills
Looking for some inspiration on what to study? https://match-my-skills.qut.edu.au/

Tertiary Open Days
More information is available on the POD (Careers page).

QUT Parent Information Seminar
Come along and hear about the options available at QUT at the Gardens Point Campus.

Date: Wednesday 8 May 2019
Time: Campus tour 5:15pm–5:45pm, Seminar 6:00pm–7:30pm

KEY DATES: 2019
17 May, 11:59pm: UCAT Registrations close

Friday 24 May, 9am–3pm and Saturday 25 May, 10am-4pm: Brisbane Careers and Employment Expo - Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre

Elizabeth Johnston