In the first weeks of the School term we have honoured and celebrated past and present St Catherine’s students. The 125 Foundation Day Service offered a wonderful spectacle of the respect and reverence which the whole School community holds for that ‘thread of gold and blue that binds us all’. Students ranging from four to 18 years of age shared in their celebration of that tie to past, present and future. The sea of pale blue caps and gold badges on blazer lapels served as a poignant symbol of their pride in being a St Catherine’s student, an integral part of the enduring fabric of history, leadership and learning.

In addition to this significant marking of our 125^th year, we have also celebrated three key milestones in the lives of St Catherine’s students, as they embark on a new phase of their educational journey. We honoured the Class of 2021 leaders in the first Senior School Assembly as they begin their final year of School. We look forward to their leadership of the School as a cohort.

Marking another new beginning, we farewelled with pride the Class of 2020 in the Leavers’ Assembly this week. The Student led assembly included a panel interview of three students, Romy Cantwell (Dux, House Co-Captain 2020), Penelope Drummond (Community Service Captain 2020) and Emma Robertson (House Co-Captain 2020). The Leavers’ Assembly not only provides an opportunity for the students to honour the Class of 2020, but hearing the hopes, dreams and plans of our leavers, provides a glimpse of what opportunities lie ahead for all. The panel members reflected on their St Catherine’s education and their plans beyond St Catherine’s; each with a different path laid out for the year ahead. A key message was their encouragement to the girls to strive to pursue their goals and to make the most of every opportunity at School.

It was fitting that on the very same day, the 2021 Year 7 cohort were officially welcomed at the Year 7 Induction Service at Toorak Uniting Church. The Year 7 students proudly wore a yellow rose bud on their blazer lapel, tied with a blue ribbon, and received a certificate to signify their transition to Senior School. During this important service, Principal, Mrs Michelle Carroll, asked each student to pledge that they accept both the privileges and responsibilities of membership of the School; to treat others fairly and to earn their trust, to participate fully in academic and Co-curricular activities, to aim for their personal best at all times and to uphold the good name of St Catherine’s School.

As we honour our current and past student leaders, and the leaders of tomorrow just beginning their Year 7 journey, we echo the same standards of honour that have endured through St Catherine’s history. The Stories from the Archives on the St Catherine’s website include an article written in the 1927 St Catherine’s Magazine entitled ‘The Girl and the School’.

An unknown author wrote the following:

“How can a girl, an ordinary girl, help to make her school honoured and honourable? In the first place, she must be “keen.” She may not be brilliant at anything, but she can do her utmost for her form and for her House. She may never play for the school, but she can go to matches and clap those who do. She can remember that, when she goes out, wear­ing the school’s uniform, she carries with her the school’s reputation. By her it will be judged, whether justly or unjustly. Even a little thing like a pair of gloves may have a share in influencing that judgment. For her own sake, and for her school’s, she can keep a high standard of honour. She can be truthful in word and deed, and help other girls to be the same. She can be considerate of other girls, too, and do what is in her power for them, if only because they belong to the same school. She can respect the laws under which she lives, and remember that rules, even when they are irksome, are made for the good of the school. She can take a pride in the achievements of her more brilliant or more fortunate schoolfellows and feel that their success is also hers. Finally. she can make up her mind to get as much as possible out of her school days-knowledge, friendship, fun, new ideas, wider interests. In getting them, she will also give, and the school will be richer because she has passed through it. Then, when she leaves, she will not forget; and an enthusiastic Old Girl is a possession to be valued by any school.”

Whilst students no longer wear gloves, these same sentiments apply to this very day and encapsulate the values of Empathy, Integrity, Curiosity, Perseverance and Gratitude.