Firstly, congratulations to all of our Year 8 girls on a fantastic start to the year.

In Term 1, we had a large number of girls committed to GSV sport and before school sports training programs and we look forward to this again in Semester 2.  As well as sport, we have a large group of girls participating in the Music program and it was pleasing to hear many of the Year 8 Sherren Singers perform at the Easter Service.

During the term, all of the girls participated in House Cross Country at Kevin Bartlett Oval, and many girls were part of the GSV swimming and diving teams who competed in the finals. We had girls participate in the GSV triathlon and also a number of students assist with the administration of these GSV events and we thank them for the efforts. A GSV junior tennis team comprised of Year 8 girls also reached the finals, who were unfortunately defeated by Star of the Sea in the Semi Final, by just one point!

We congratulate Elodie Ferrali on her selection in the Australian National Athletics Championships, held in Sydney on the second last day of term. We are proud of her achievement as she came 12th in the Under 14s 400m event out of a field of 24. During the term we have had Mayuri Muralidharan preparing for her upcoming fencing competitions and Lillian Lu in China training for forthcoming chess tournaments.

Term 1 saw the implementation of the EI Program across the Year level. This was delivered to the girls in their Form Groups by their Form Teachers and will continue in Term 2. We had 31 girls participate in the Mathematical Computational and Algorithmic Thinking Competition.

During Term 2, the Year 8 girls will participate in a 3-day OEG Camp to Whalhalla and the Thompson River, with preparations for the camp having commenced in the final week of Term 1.

This term, we welcome two new girls into Year 8 at St Catherine’s School, Chenru (Helen) Wang who comes to us from China and Zhuen (Enya) Zheng, also from China, who is boarding.

I encourage all girls in Term 2 to strive to do their best in all of their endeavours and pursuits, while focusing on their academic commitments.