It was wonderful to see the girls commence School this week! There was much happiness in the air as girls caught up with friends, made new friends, shared holiday stories and made connections with their teachers.

I asked the Year 3 girls about their thoughts on what they were looking forward to. Here are some of their responses:

Samara: “Being able to learn new things”

Jemimah: “Seeing my new teacher”

Charlotte: “Seeing how the classroom was set up and where I would be sitting, having PE with Mr Crebbin”

Aimee: “Being free to run around in big spaces”

Lucy: “The playground, doing the subjects I love and STEM”

Evie: “Meeting the new girl, Zoe”

Mary Davis Café

Due to COVID concerns, the café is not taking cash. This is particularly relevant to girls training before School who want to purchase a hot chocolate and a bite to eat before class. The School will be providing further information via email for how Junior School girls can make purchases before School.

Expressions of Interest for Learning Mandarin

Our School has been contacted by a language school offering an after-school Mandarin program for our girls. If your daughter would be interested in this program please send an email to: barbreck@stcatherines.net.au, so we can ascertain interest. The program will only run if there are numbers to sustain it.

Apple Watches

With greater access to digital technologies, we are now seeing a growing number of girls with Apple/Smart watches. Although it is wonderful to see the girls embracing the use of these technologies, they do pose similar challenges to smartphones in terms of distractions to learning. With this mind, and in line with the School’s Electronic Devices Policy, girls will be asked to hand in their Smart Watches to the teacher at the start of each day and they can collect them before leaving at the end of Lesson 8. This will encourage the girls to focus solely on their learning during class time.

125 Birthday Celebrations

Everyone loves a birthday celebration and celebrating our School’s amazing 125 Years was no exception. To mark the day, the girls were presented with a gift of a beautiful 125 Years ice blue cap and 125 Years badge, both of which they wore proudly on the day.

The day was also marked by our Junior School Captains, Chloe Nash and Claudia Driver, sharing the history of Barbreck; our Junior School Music Captains, Tiffany Shen and Olivia Grass, singing The Ode; Camilla Thomas unveiling the gift of a bell; and our preppies, Henrietta Switowski, Lily Jamieson helping Mrs Carroll cut the birthday cake.

I wish all students and parents a wonderful start to the School year.