Welcome New Foundation Members – Fleur and Ronnie Calvert
The St Catherine’s School Foundation is a society of donors providing financial support to change the course of student lives.
Each year, since 1996, we welcome new members to join us in the pursuit of the best possible facilities, opportunities, equipment and programs for St Catherine’s girls in whose hands lies our future.
The Foundation is proud and delighted to welcome two new members this year – Fleur and Ronnie Calvert.
We invite you to read their responses to our Q & A below.
We also encourage you to view the Foundation Prospectus, which outlines what the Foundation expects to deliver in 2021, supported by the generosity of our members.
New Foundation Members, Fleur and Ronnie Calvert
Firstly, why St Catherine’s School?
As fourth generation St Catherine’s girls, our three girls had a lot of second-hand uniforms that would have gone to waste if they had gone to another school! More seriously, for Fleur, walking in the driveway of both Barbreck and the Senior School feels like home. The sense of community, caring teachers and friendly students has not changed.
When we moved our girls from a small school in Western Victoria, we wanted them to feel comfortable and settle quickly, while also offering them wider opportunities and a high-quality education. St Catherine’s ticked all those boxes for us.
Thank you for contributing so generously to the St Catherine’s Rural Scholarship Fund. What was your motivation?
We think the Boarding House and the influence of the rural community is vital to a school.
Ronnie grew up in the country and was fortunate enough to be a boarder at Caulfield Grammar which had a huge influence on his life and is an opportunity for which he is very grateful.
We spent five years as a family in western Victoria and recognised the growing divide between the city and country. We are keen to help reduce this divide, albeit on a very small scale, by assisting some country girls to experience city life and receive a quality education like that offered by St Catherine’s.
Some of Fleur’s closest friends at St Catherine’s were boarders (and these friendships remain as strong 25+years on). Fleur witnessed first-hand the value that students from regional areas bring to a city school – in outlook, perspective and all-round contribution.
What does being members of the St Catherine’s School Foundation mean to you?
During the 2020 lockdown we were blown away by the support given to the inaugural Giving Day. It was quite amazing how quickly and generously the School community responded and wanted to support other families. It also confirmed for us what a supportive community we are part of and we wanted to play a role in that.
We also feel strongly about supporting other families, particularly from rural communities, who can add diversity to both the student and parent cohort and we recognised that joining the Foundation was the best way to enable this.
