While working in the Nicholas Library last week, I noted the synchronicity of the girls using the space. As the Year 12 students sat quietly studying for their final VCE exams, a group of excited Year 6 Barbreck girls arrived to borrow books from the Senior School young adult fiction selection. It struck me that each of these groups is about to make an important transition; as the Year 12s prepare to leave, the Year 6 students will embark on the next phase of their journey through St Catherine’s School.

These two groups of girls, each on the cusp of their next life phase, reminded me of Ms Sarah Bethune’s words in her recent Blue Ribbon article about ‘Managing Transitions’. As Head of the Early Learning Centre (ELC), Sarah remarked that this is ‘the time of year when the children are beginning to prepare for the next step in their educational journeys’. Her advice to parents rings true of every stage of a child, adolescent, or indeed young adult’s educational or career transition. Sarah advises, ‘Be prepared that it may take some time for your child to adapt to the change. It is important to maintain consistent routines at home and provide your child with the time and emotional support that they need.’

Parents of current Year 6 or Year 12 girls could take heed of Sarah’s advice offered to our parents of 2019 Prep students. The uncertainty prior to undertaking the change can be more significant than undergoing change itself, but change, nevertheless means adjustment. Irrespective of age, it remains important to provide consistency and support to offset the uncertainty of new experiences and unknown territory. However, with that parental support and guidance must come the confidence in your child or teenager to manage that transition. Parents of new Year 7 girls and Year 12 leavers alike, will need to encourage their daughters from the sidelines; to take those steps that may lead to a trip, or even a fall, which teaches them first-hand how to negotiate the potholes that challenges will inevitably present on their path.

The time seems short now and we will see our Year 12s embrace those challenges, in their case as young adults. Over the past weeks, the Valedictory Dinner, the Leavers’ Service and the final Senior School Assembly provided the School community with an opportunity to formally celebrate and honour the Class of 2018. There have been moments of joy and a few tears shed by students, parents and staff alike, as their journey through school has been remembered and celebrated.

On their final school day, the Year 12 girls walked together to St John’s Anglican Church to attend their Leavers’ Service. As the girls sat in the church pews they reflected on their journey at St Catherine’s; whether it be from ELC to Year 12, or having arrived somewhere in between, they sat as a cohesive group of young women ready to take the next step. At the conclusion of the service, each girl was presented with a long stemmed yellow rose to signify the way they too have grown and matured since they received a yellow rose bud in their Year 7 Induction Service.

The Year 12 girls can be proud that they leave St Catherine’s as confident young women. They have been fortunate to have been part of a caring community that has encouraged their independence and empowerment, and they leave St Catherine’s with the legacy of what it is to be a ‘fearless girl’. I urge the Class of 2018 to face their future with optimism and to see change as opportunity.