The much-anticipated Head of the Schoolgirls (HOSG) Rowing Regatta, commencing today in Geelong, always breathes a burst of excitement and energy into the Senior School. With months of early morning training sessions complete, the annual event cannot come soon enough after the months of training, commencing online in Term 3 of last year.

HOSG is the pinnacle event on the Schoolgirls Rowing calendar. The girls will be racing today, Saturday and Sunday, with the heats and repechages taking place on the Saturday, and the semi-finals and finals on Sunday. With over 1,800 competitors entered in the Regatta this weekend, the Victorian HOSG remains one of the largest Schoolgirl Regattas in Australia.

The St Catherine’s rowers have enjoyed a very successful season to date, under the guidance and expertise of our Director of Rowing, Miss Brigette Carlile. We are greatly anticipating this weekend. The Senior VIIIs have been quietly building momentum across the season.

This is always a highly regarded weekend for our Rowing parent community and I offer my thanks to the President of Heyington Club, Mrs Felicity Bongiorno and the Heyington Club Committee for their enduring support of all School crews over the many months.

Congratulations must go to our Rowing Captains, Zara Bongiorno and Bronte Cullen, and all of the Senior rowers whose leadership, commitment and role modelling to our younger students has been outstanding all season. The exceptional team work, unity and spirit visibly present in the Mercantile Rowing Shed this year is a credit to our Seniors. On behalf of St Catherine’s School, I wish all girls an enjoyable and successful Regatta. To watch the Regatta live follow this link.

The countless references to role models in contemporary culture invoke inspiration for young girls and boys around the world, who aspire to leave a mark no matter where they go. ‘If they can see it, they can be it’ is a quote often associated with the power of role models for young women. The visibility of strong, positive role models drives young girls to dream big and aspire to greater achievements. This is so true for our most recent graduates, who rowed at St Catherine’s and now frequently lay the path for our current students.

Over recent weeks, we have celebrated the achievement of St Catherine’s Old Girl, Georgie Gleeson (‘16) who was selected in the 2022 Senior Australian Rowing Team. This is the first St Catherine’s School rower to make a senior Australian team – an extraordinary achievement. Georgie will represent the Australian Rowing Team at the World Cups in Belgrade, Poznan and Lucerne throughout the year. Georgie was named in the Victorian crew to race in the Queens Cup at Nationals at Nagambie at the end of this month.

We also look forward to watching, Romy Cantwell (’20) and Ella Carton (’20) at Rowing Nationals, who were selected in the 2022 Victorian Youth (U21) Eight as Stroke Seat and Cox.

With this in mind, I encourage our rowers to be inspired by past students in recent years who have utilised their schoolgirl rowing as a vehicle to access some of the Ivy League universities, a clear demonstration of their capacity to dare to dream.

Our 2016 Rowing Captain, Annie Anezakis, received a well-deserved rowing scholarship after stroking the St Catherine’s First VIII to a national title in 2016. Annie commenced a Liberal Arts degree at Princeton University and has enjoyed a stellar career rowing for Princeton. She now attends Oxford University in the UK undertaking her Master of Science (Pharmacology). Annie continues to row in the Stroke Seat and is currently looking forward to racing in the 76^Th Women’s Boat Race at the famous Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race on 3^rd April.

Our 2018, School Captain, Stephanie Ferrali, has recently utilised school rowing to access a place at the University of Miami. 2019 Rowing Captain, Emily Sutherland received an outstanding rowing scholarship at UCLA whilst studying bio-psychology and 2021 Rowing Captain, Chloe Cooper has accepted an offer to row and study at University of Texas, commencing later this year.

We look forward to following the progress of our St Catherine’s Old Girls who commenced their extraordinary post-school journeys as Year 9 rowers, enjoying the Head of Schoolgirls Regatta, much like many this weekend.

Staff News

It with sadness that we farewell our Head of Music, Mr Tim Collins today. Tim has accepted a position at The Knox School as Head of Music.

Firstly, as Deputy Head of Music and then taking up the mantle of Head of Music at St Catherine’s, Tim has been responsible for planning, coordinating, and directing musical rehearsals and performances since 2010. Under Tim’s direction he has conducted and led Choral and Vocal Ensembles, Orchestras and Bands.

Tim has cultivated an ambitious Music program at St Catherine’s, encouraging our girls to perform at a high level, challenging our most able musicians and creating musical enjoyment for all.

One need only attend a Gala Performance to witness the remarkable range of our student musicians, which is a manifestation of Tim’s hard work, culminating in the extraordinary showcase of our talented students. Tim is an outstanding teacher, and it is evident that he places the needs of the students at the heart of his teaching. Tim’s mantra is ‘Does it Sparkle?’ to ensure constant questioning to ascertain ‘clarity, artistry and mastery’.

Tim is warm and kind-hearted and supports and encourages musicians of all abilities. His congenial nature is one of his many attributes that we shall miss.

We wish Tim all the best as he transitions to The Knox School. He will be greatly missed by our staff and students.