Welcome to Term 3 – my favourite term in the school calendar for it moves us into longer, brighter days with the promise of spring at its conclusion. I hope you have had the chance to spend time together as a family over the last three weeks and that you are keeping warm and well. With August fast approaching and with it, 100 Days of Prep, the Gala Concert and Interschools Snowsports Championships, there is certainly much to get excited about. There is a real sense of momentum building at Heyington Place and the girls have most definitely returned to a campus that heralds a School on the Move!

The Wintergarden demolition is progressing well with well over 50% dug out to the proposed slab level and the removal of walls to the East and West. The white pitched roof that was such a feature for so long, has been cut down and a small piece of that material has been retained and given to archives. Perhaps most strikingly, the bitumen in the main driveway has been pulled up in readiness for the arrival of bluestone, which will be laid by the end of next month. You will note that temporary garden beds and edging have been installed to help with pedestrian safety, but there is also a renewed sense of space, curving beautifully from Heyington Gates to the Fountain.

We had no less than thirteen new girls join us this term, from Prep to Year 10, each with their own stories of how they came to be here, and I’ve been thrilled to see the speed with which they’re settling in. It takes courage to change schools, especially mid-year, but with each passing day, they’re finding their feet and taking more confident steps in their new community. Raising children who are kind and empathetic doesn’t happen by chance – it’s intentional and I thank you most sincerely for helping to create a community that’s so genuinely inclusive of others.

Speaking of which, on Tuesday morning, I visited the Year 12 Common Room where in conversation with one of our Year 12s (who was studying for her HHD SAC on Wednesday!), we talked about the exceptional relationships between teachers and students that are such a unique feature of St Catherine’s. And it is true. There is deep respect, affection, warmth and delight that sits at the heart of the student/teacher relationship here and to this end, I would like to welcome the following staff on your behalf:

• Lewis Gray steps into the role of Director of Sport, joining us from Pymble Ladies’ College where he had responsibility for Rowing, Snow Sports and Swimming. Lewis brings extensive experience in Sport, including having served as Head Coach at RAF Marham Rowing Club within the Royal Air Force and UK Armed Forces.
• Henrich Galam joins us as an English teacher for Semester 2, coming from Siena College.
• Natalie Mathews joins us from New Zealand as our Head Coach of Netball and brings a wealth of experience both as a professional player and coach. Natalie is currently the National Head Coach of Tifamoana and also serves as Assistant Head Coach of the Samoa U21 squad.
• Chris Ellison will be teaching English here this semester, having relocated from Tasmania where he taught at Launceston Grammar. Prior to this, he held teaching roles at both St Kevin’s College and Melbourne Grammar School.

Part of Monday’s Staff Day was spent with Dr Nathaniel Swain courtesy of our Head of Professional Practice, Kristy Forrest, engaging with the science of learning and its practical application in a classroom. We spent much of the morning exploring Cognitive Load Theory which is built around the key idea that instruction is enhanced by reducing extraneous load and optimising intrinsic load. Said another way, when we reduce the distractions that students face, we free up working memory capacity which can then be directed to productive learning. Now this might seem terribly simple but at a time when distractions are everywhere and, (whether they are self-imposed or coming from our environment), it can be hard to focus, the catalysts and causes of our rapidly shrinking attention spans, cannot be ignored. You can read the paper prepared for the Senior girls, here, as well as a reflection on the session from Kristy and Barbreck’s Head of Professional Practice, Taleah Pacchiar, here.

The Pilot for our Year 9 Ethical Leadership Retreat in partnership with Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership concluded last term and in doing so, exceeded all expectations. This program will be a key feature of the Year 9 experience from 2026 onwards and you can hear our girls speak about it in the video below.

A dear friend shared with me an essay by John Carroll, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at La Trobe University over the holidays and I’d like to share parts of it with you today for it gives expression to much of how I’ve come to understand the role and place of schools in the contribution to a good society. His central thesis concerns the alarming move toward online learning in universities and the way it is at risk of compounding individual isolation, but it was his remarks on teachers and teaching that I found most compelling.

Plato held the most important social institution to be the one that teaches the teachers. Indeed, a key indicator of the health of any society is how it prepares every new generation to enter adulthood, with the character, education, and confidence to work effectively for the collective good. Implied also is that these teachers were adults to admire and to want to be like. It is less the particulars of what was taught that is recalled –this skill, or that body of knowledge –and more an ideal of how to be human, and how to move and act in the world.  Above all, schools are servants of the truth, dedicated to passing it on. Their role illustrates the centrality to the good life of coming into harmony with the deep truths of human existence; and believing in the possibility of so doing.

Here’s to a great term and to everything we can achieve, together!

Nil Magnum Nisi Bonum