The girls enjoyed our recent International Day of the Girl celebrations held last week. The events of the Day centered around three underlying themes:

• Girl empowerment
• Protection of girls and their loved ones
• The varying education and literacy levels of girls worldwide depend on which country they live in.

Girl empowerment is a concept that we at St Catherine’s strongly advocate for. On this Day, the power of girls’ voices was key to several activities. All girls from Prep to Year 6 heard and read stories about how girls are strong. They also read and discussed how girls from many different countries are working to bring about change for:

• Improved living conditions
• Greater access to education
• Increased opportunities for employment and pursuits
• Girls realising that their voices have power

Our Prep to Year 3 girls learned the song We are Australian, uniting them all in their Australian identity and strengthening their sense of being together at Barbreck. The girls in Years 4 to 6 learned the song Sisters are doin’ it for themselves by the Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin – a powerful declaration of female confidence and strength.

Our girls used their voices to develop girls’ empowerment posters displayed in the lower level of Barbreck. They wrote inspirational messages on the wind spinners which now decorate Anne Smith Drive (from our Gate to the entrance to Barbreck). I encourage everyone to stop and read some of the flowers as they are sure to inspire and assure us that Barbreck girls are confident and see a positive future for girls.

Protection was another theme for the day with girls learning and participating in a range of activities to develop their ability to protect themselves and others.

Girls in Years 4 to 6 learned some self-defence moves with Howard Kimber from Fightback Self Defence, a company that teaches easy-to-learn and highly effective self-defence for women and girls in an enjoyable, non-threatening environment, with no minimum fitness or prior training required. Fight Back is about empowerment, not fear. Their aim is for girls and women to be confident in everything they do, everywhere they go and everyone they’re with.

Girls in Years 4 to 6 also participated in some basic Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) training and are now able to place people in the recovery position. They worked on mannequins to learn how to assist someone when their breathing or heartbeat has stopped. While we hope they never find themselves in the position of needing to apply their learning, it is good they know how they can help.

Our Prep to Year 3 classes learned about fire safety, with girls in Years 2 to 3 learning about the need to develop an escape plan for their home. The girls developed a rudimentary plan, but we encourage all parents to develop their family plan and revise it often.

Learning about the literacy levels of females around the world, helped our girls realise how very fortunate they are. For many of the developing countries in the world, the literacy rate for females above the age of 15 is under 20%, whereas for males in the same country it is over 35%. There is still much to do in these countries to raise the literacy levels for all children.

On the Day we made just over $600 which will go to purchasing 15 x Smith Family Primary School Packs valued at $40 each. These packs will provide an Australian child with the essentials such as a backpack, pencils, and stationery to fit in with their peers and keep up in class with their peers. This charity is in keeping with our theme for the Day and is a worthy cause for our girls to contribute.