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huddle DECEMBER I 2010 St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School

Huddle - Dec 2010

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Page 1: Huddle - Dec 2010

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St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School

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Outstanding Teacher RecognisedRita Felder has been recognised for her outstanding teaching by being named as one of eight Brisbane Finalists in the Queensland College of Teachers Excellence in Teaching Awards. She was presented with her award on World Teachers’ Day in October by the Governor of Queensland, Penelope Wensley. Queensland College of Teachers director John Ryan said ‘Queensland teachers do a world-class job that is making a real difference to our young people, and these awards take outstanding achievements from the classroom into the community’.

Nominees were judged on teaching achievements, innovation, creativity and professional relationships within the school community.

Ros Curtis

The last six months of 2010 was an interesting time in the life of St Aidan’s. Karen Spiller was seconded to assist the Sisters and became the Acting Principal at St Margaret’s and I had the privilege of stepping into the role as Acting Principal of St Aidan’s. A number of students indicated to me during this time that the assistance St Aidan’s was able to offer St Margaret’s was powerful role modelling for them. They appreciated that there needs to be leadership depth and that people need to work together to achieve the desired outcomes. It came at an interesting time; third term saw our Year 11 students pursuing their leadership aspirations for their Senior year. Nominations were made, applications were written, voting occurred and, for those students wishing to be considered for either the role of School Captain or Vice Captain, interviews were held. In all, 44 students were interviewed by the school’s leadership team. We were all impressed with the calibre of the students; they were articulate, gracious and had vision. It was clear that they understood the benefits of team work and were committed to working collaboratively. Many also indicated that they appreciated the servant leadership that Karen Spiller was modelling by assisting our Sister School.

For year 11s, the opportunity for positional leadership comes after a leadership development program that extends throughout the Junior and Senior Schools. St Aidan’s also has a nationally recognised leadership development programs for staff. Recently, the school was named the Leading Organisation for the

Advancement of Women at the EOWA Business Achievement Awards. This is also the second year Principal, Karen Spiller, was recognised as a finalist inthe ‘Leading CEO for the Advancement of Women’ award category. Therefore, St Aidan’s has a strong history of role modelling female leadership. This can only assist the girls when they are taking their place in the wider world, with confidence and success.

I hope you enjoy this second edition of the Huddle for 2010. My best wishes to all members of the St Aidan’s community for the 2011 year and particularly, to the the Seniors of 2011, for a wonderful year of leadership ahead.

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Student Leaders 2011

SCHOOL CAPTAIN: Eve Pinkerton

VICE CAPTAIN: Isabella Prowse

PREFECTS: Grace BaileyHayley ChanguionSarah CloustonAdrienne DayLaurel EnglishJane HutchinsonTiffany JoosteRose LeonforteImogen McCluskeyMiranda Murray-DouglassBridie NagleSarah PhelpsEve PinkertonIsabella ProwseKatie Wheatley

SACRISTANS:Katherine ThomasFelicity Upham

SPORTS CAPTAINS:Elizabeth DelaneyKate Whelan

DEBATING CAPTAINS:Bronte FordNomakhwezi Nkwanyana

MUSIC CAPTAINS: Emily HowardKatie Wheatley

HOUSE CO-CAPTAINS:Austen Rachael Grant Emma McGarrigle Barrett Georgia McLeod Jane SmithBronte Amelia Dunn Billie ParkinsonCavell Imogen Andrews Jodie ReesHartland Suzannah O’Brien Rebecca StaceyNightingale Samantha Dobson

Phoebe Webb

The first of its kind in Australia, the pilot project aims to engage and educate young people about the processes of voting.

The AEC estimates approximately 82% of young Australians (17-25 years of age) were enrolled (compared with 95% of other Australians). The under-registration of eligible young people raises questions about their political interest and commitment to their civic responsibility.

The AEC study found an important precursor to voting and participating in democracy is the personal preparedness of people to vote in elections. Studies by the AEC show only half of students feel prepared to vote. Students feel they lack the knowledge to understand the issues and the political parties, to make a decision about voting, and the voting system. Interestingly, female students feel less prepared to vote, in terms of knowledge, than the males.

AEC Education Manager, Beatrice Barnett, said “through this pilot, the AEC aims to engage young people in the electoral process in a meaningful way.”

“This project will give students a sense of familiarity with the electoral process and confronts students with real candidates, people who can have a real impact.”

After her address to the students, each took their turn to fill in the ballot papers and decide who they think should represent the Moreton electorate in the House of Representatives.

St Aidan’s students regularly vote for student representatives. However, this

was their first opportunity to cast a vote for a real electoral candidate.

Dean of Students, Wendy Lauman, said “schools have a role to play in assisting students to be active in contributing to and shaping the world around them.”

“Understanding the electoral process enables them to consider how they can contribute to the policies that influence the way we live.”

As AEC Acting Director of Community Engagement, Pieta Horgan said, this pilot project aims to “unlock the mystery of voting.”

“For a lot of young people, when they first get to vote it is their first real experience” of an election.

The strength of this pilot project lies in its practicality, which AEC First Assistant Commissioner, Kevin Kitson, said makes it relevant to the students.“This authentic election, which allows students to cast a vote, surpasses any theoretical approach taken before.”

According to statistics gathered by the AEC, 1.4 million people in Australia are not registered to vote and 70% of this group are aged between 18 and 39.

This project, if it is permanently implemented by the AEC, will continue to encourage young people to take an interest in their electoral responsibilities.References:

Year 12 students cast vote in mock election, Sophie

Barrington, Sub-Tropic, August 2010

Youth Electoral Study (YES) Report, Dr Kathy

Edwards, Dr. Larry Saha, and A/Professor Murray

Print, Australian Electoral Commission, November

2006

Preparing citizens of the futureIn a pilot project run by the Australian Electoral Commission, more than 80 Year 12 students took part in a mock election to cast their votes.

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The $7.8 million redevelopment of the Christine Hartland Centre and $2.5 million Charma Place was officially opened on Tuesday 24 August.

The celebrations involved more than 300 performers and was led by the Primate of Australia and Archbishop of Brisbane, The Most Reverend Dr Phillip Aspinall.

Christine Hartland Centre

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Member for Moreton, Mr Graham Perrett MP also visited St Aidan’s to see Charma Place, a result of the Federal Government’s Building the Education Revolution (BER) projects.

St Aidan’s received $200,000 under National School Pride (NSP) program for an Outdoor Learning Area, and $2.5 million under Primary Schools for the 21st Century (P21) for a new Library.

The long awaited redevelopment of the existing Performing Arts Centre (PAC), known now as the Christine Hartland Centre, was opened in August by Mother Eunice in a gala celebration featuring more than 300 students.

The Centre is the new hub of St Aidan’s spiritual, physical and creative activity. Renovations also included full air-conditioning of all areas –representing the completion of the air conditioning of the entire school; and additional sound proofing.

Charma PlaceMember for Moreton, Mr Graham Perrett MP, officially opened Charma Place at the same Opening and Dedication Ceremony.Charma Place is the name given to the $2,500,000 Junior School Library funded through the Federal Government’s Building the Education Revolution - Primary School for the 21st Century program. The Library forms part of the Junior School Precinct and is housed on the top level of the new building at Charma Place. It incorporates features of great benefit to students, staff and parents of the Junior School. The Library more than doubles the size of the current space.

The ground floor of the new building incorporates a Computer Laboratory. This laboratory has been designed as a flexible space and will contain laptops for Junior School students to utilise. The ground floor also includes a large meeting room (another flexible space) and kitchen facilities. As part of the landscaping at Charma Place, a Kitchen Garden has been created, where students will be involved in learning about sustainable gardening methods.

SuperlabThe former Junior School Library space has also been redeveloped, and in its place there are two general learning spaces and a “superlab” for science and art curriculum. This area also houses a class set of laptops for Junior School student use.

The two general learning spaces include a quiet learning area and moveable wall. The superlab features low set benches and chairs (suitable for little bodies) a moveable demonstration bench and a mobile interactive whiteboard. There are also lowset benches with sinks around the outside of the lab, perfect for washing up lab equipment or paint-filled brushes.

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The students performed so well, the Year 9 cohort was at the top of the state in writing, with both Junior and Senior Schools highly ranked across five areas of reading; writing; spelling; numeracy and; grammar and punctuation.

St Aidan’s is proud of their students’ results and feel they reflect earnest young people committed to achieving their potential according to Acting Principal, Ros Curtis.

“The strong performance of St Aidan’s students highlights the excellent work of teachers and students,” said Ms Curtis.

“We take seriously our students’ academic performance and their learning progress.

“We use all data available to ensure St Aidan’s offers a proactive and, where required, interventionist learning program for our students.

“NAPLAN is designed to be a diagnostic tool for teachers to assist with individual student achievement and this is the way the School uses the data,” Ms Curtis said.

Independent Schools Queensland Executive Director David Robertson said parents and schools should be proud of their overall outcomes.

“However, we stand by the belief that less attention needs to be given to comparisons between states and more to the individual needs of the child,” Mr Robertson said.

Mr Robertson said the public reporting of NAPLAN results has inappropriately equated school performance with student achievement at a point in time.

“Test results will never paint a complete picture of the standard of education and the quality of outcomes being achieved by children in independent schools across the entire state,” he said.

“Simplistic reporting of NAPLAN results does not take into account the many variables that exist between states and as such it does not provide a truly accurate reflection of education standards in Queensland.

St Aidan’s students also consistently outperform other female students in the Queensland Core Skills Test. In 2009, more than 30% of our students achieved an A against 13.9% of female students in the state. Between 95-100% of Year 12 students applying for university places receive offers from tertiary institutions. Each year, our students complete university subjects and gain early entry and/or scholarships to the courses of their choice.

exceptional results for St Aidan’s studentsSt Aidan’s students’ performance on 2010 National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) has again been well above the national average in all areas and across all year levels.

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St Aidan’s continues to support the principle of transparency, which is the idea behind publishing NAPLAN and other academic results and measures.

The School has always been open and transparent in relation to student results and achievements providing details about student’s results on the school’s website.

“We are continually seeking new ways to ensure our students are provided with excellent education opportunities,” Ms Curtis said. “St Aidan’s is a strong community and we know our parents are very aware of the extensive curriculum offered and the support and encouragement provided for our girls. “We know our students and families feel confident about their achievement and success as we know our graduates are university and work ready and successful in those contexts,” Ms Curtis said. As a non-selective school, St Aidan’s provides opportunities for extension and learning support for students and works tirelessly to encourage all girls to reach above and beyond their learning potential.

The School is committed to academic endeavours, but is also focused on the development of the whole child by providing a range of opportunities and experiences in a nurturing and supportive environment.

Each year, students from Years 4 to 7 take part in the Reach for the Stars activity in National Literacy and Numeracy Week.

This year’s activity was based on distance and resulted in Australian students running approximately 38,200 km which is almost around the world or the same distance Jessica Watson sailed in her solo round the world adventure.

To conduct the activity, classes were divided into four teams with each team member running 20 metres to place a shuttle in a container and then ran back to the team. The shuttle runs were over increasing periods of time.

The results were submitted to the Reach for the Stars website along with the rest of Australia’s. Thousands of schools, from all around Australia, were collecting, sharing and investigating data as part of the celebration of National Literacy and Numeracy Week.

The exercise covers a number of key areas in mathematics including investigating concepts, estimates and predictions, developing real-life investigation contexts for data collection, collecting and recording data, displaying the data and investigating the results.

The Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers has been conducting Reach for the Stars as part of National Literacy and Numeracy Week since 2003.

The common theme involves classes collecting data locally, submitting their results to a national data collection via the Internet, and exploring their own findings as well as a summary of the data collected by participants from across Australia.

Students run around the world for mathematics!

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ABOVE: Blowing bubbles at Nuwalela

St Aidan’s plan was always to extend the program to include Year 8 in 2011 due to the success. The introduction of laptops this year, and embedding the benefits of technology into the curriculum through all Senior School year levels.

Two issues identified by students with the laptop chosen this year, weight and durability, are also being addressed with a new model Dell E4310 laptop to be rolled out to all Senior School students.

The Dell E4310 has been thoroughly tested and compared with other models and has a number of outstanding benefits. It is smaller and lighter than the model used by Senior School students this year, with a highly rigid chassis and other features suitable for a more challenging environment.

A laptop case has also been selected offering more protection to the laptop while still being lightweight, and small enough to fit into the students’ current bag. Students will keep these laptops for three years.

The rollout of these new model laptops in the Senior School has enabled the extension of the program all the way through to Prep.

“Students in Junior School can now become part of the e-generation with access to laptops in each year level from Prep to Year 7”, said Director of Information and Communication Technology, Dean Downes.

“All Junior School students will have their own laptop marked with their name and available to access in the classroom.

“Students from Prep to Year 2 will have a Dell NetBook device which is small and light for use and Years 3 to 7 will have the Dell E5400 device with a larger screen, higher processing power and many other features.

“The girls will not be expected to carry the laptops home and back.

“All machines will have Windows 7 with Office 2010 (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook), additional specialist languages software, mathematics applications, music software plus there will be desktop video conferencing capability, DVD readers and video editing software.

“Students will be able to stream video from ClickView educational content and content from Free to Air channels.

“All students will also have their own MySite on the SharePoint system to create work portfolio stores and to make content available for parents to see.

The staff at St Aidan’s are committed to the use of technology and are familiar with the effective use of laptops.

This follows on from a rollout of tablets to teachers in late 2009 and continuing professional development of staff in this area.

St Aidan’s 1:1 Laptop Program is set to be extended throughout the entire school, from Prep to Year 12 in 2011.

This follows on from the successful implementation a 1:1 program across Year 9 to 12 this year, with assistance from the Federal Government’s Digital Education Revolution

1:1 LaptopProgram extended

throughout St Aidan’s

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rich opportunities for talented students

High achieving students are tackling new challenges as part of St Aidan’s Enrichment Program and are soaring to new heights of success.

Students who have demonstratedparticular talents are provided the opportunity for ‘acceleration’ and ‘enrichment’ as part of the Program which is offered within and in addition to the academic curriculum.

High achieving students have theopportunity to complete university study while still in their Senior years at school in everything from Languages to Accounting, Chemistry, Philosophy, English and Mathematics.

A number of students have undertakenuniversity study while still at school and have had significant success. Year 12 student, Elizabeth Bazeley, recently completed university level Chemistry and achieved a high distinction in The University of Queensland subject.

Acting Principal, Ros Curtis, explains the program challenges students in areas where they have strength.

“St Aidan’s offers a variety ofacceleration and enrichment activities across a diverse range of subjects demonstrating a commitment to enrichment and to the needs of academically able students,” Ms Curtis said.

“Acceleration is only oneelement of what we do.

“In our enrichment program students havethe chance to experience aspects of the curriculum in greater depth and to challenge or add to their learning

“In History and Geography for instance,students are given significant scope to work on topics of interest allowing for higher level of engagement and more critical thinking.

“In other enrichment activities, we also include involvement in a variety of competitions, such as the Australian Space Design Compeition, Opti-minds and Days of Excellence as part of our rich extra curricular program.

“The feedback we receive from withinthe school but also from our partner universities, and competition organisers is overwhelmingly positive and very reaffirming about the standards of our students’ work” Ms Curtis said.

accelerationSt Aidan’s uses acceleration in theSenior School as one of its strategies to assist students with particular talents and abilities to move through the academic curriculum. This form of acceleration moves students out of learning groups composed of their age-peers, placing them with students who are older. The strength of this form of acceleration is that it is subject-based, allowing students to maintain ties with same age peers while forging ahead in particular academic areas.

Subject based acceleration facilitateslearning for highly able students and provides a higher level of academic challenge.

Acceleration occurs in a variety of subject areas, but mainly in the areas of Languages (Chinese, French, German, and Japanese), Graphics, Music, Mathematics, and the Sciences.

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rich opportunities for talented students

Maths wiz shinesYear 8 student, Chelsea Ho, has scored in the 100th percentile in the Junior Division of 2010 Australian Mathematics Competition.

Almost one million students around Australia and the Pacific competed in the Competition in August.

The St Aidan’s student sat the challenging 75 minute test; the paper consisted of 25 multiple choice problems and a further five problems where the answer could be a three digit number.

Junior (Years 7 and 8), Intermediate (Years 9 and 10) and Senior (Years 11 and 12) papers had a variety of problems involving computation skills, geometry, measurement, algebra and logic.

enrichment St Aidan’s has also developed its ownEnrichment Program for students in Years 4 to 9. The program involves students withdrawn from classes to work with a teacher facilitator on a special program designed to further develop students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

The aim of this targeted Enrichment Program is to provide specifically for the needs of academically able students, by offering an enrichment experience, which challenges the students to think critically, solve problems and further develop their abilities and interests.

The driving force of the Enrichment Program is the idea of negotiation, self-management,

and evaluation. In some subjects, such as Years 8 and 9 English, and Years 8 and 9 Science, students develop their own individual and group projects in consultation with their designated mentor.

In Mathematics in Years 6 to 9,students in the top 10% of the cohort in Mathematics are invited to participate in a range of activities and competitions. These activities involve challenging problem solving and an introduction to Senior Mathematics concepts. In Year 9, the students have a weekly lesson with the Enrichment Support teacher who acts as a facilitator.

Real-life experiences through theeffective use of excursions, field trips, guest speakers, workshop participation, university visits, tours, participation in community action and fundraising ventures, and artist-in-residence programs add to the variety of the Enrichment Program at St Aidan’s.

Moving into the digital ageStudents have embraced the digital age commencing work on the new History curriculum in Year 4.

Teacher, Deb Koh, said “I saw this as an opportunity to use the technology available to find engaging ways to inspire the students to learn about History with all lessons computer based.

Students worked on a specially developed ‘WebQuest’, tailored to suit individual abilities and learning styles.

The Quest involved a series of web-based activities including reading, providing opinions, research, listening to Dreaming Stories, interpreting maps, visiting museum sites to look at artefacts, listening to music on YouTube and, finally, participating in an interactive game involving visiting an Aboriginal community in Australia.

The Quest was a classroom success with students embracing the project.“I loved being able to use thecomputers and work at my own pace” – Year 4 student

Ms Koh said the laptops throughout theJunior School allows for individualised learning that is age and ability-level appropriate.

“Laptops facilitate an environmentwhere students can work at their own pace and, to some degree, according to their own interests.

“So much teaching is now digitallydriven, so the laptops will allow teaching digital literacy in a deep way,” she said.

Ready or not...The world is differentKids are different...Learning is different...And teaching must be different too (ISTE,2000)

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National recognition for advancement of women

St Aidan’s has again been recognised at the forefront of creating an equitable workplace by being named as a winner in the category of ‘Leading Organisation for the Advancement of Women’, at the EOWA Business Achievement Awards. St Aidan’s was the only school and one of six Queensland companies recognised in these national awards. Principal, Karen Spiller, said the award win recognises the School’s success in developing policies and practices to provide all employees with equitable opportunities.

“We have programs supporting and encouraging women, in both academic and administrative areas, and these have positive benefits for our staff, students and the School as a whole.”

“One of our greatest achievements is not only our high percentage of women in senior leadership roles but also our support of other women in the education sector through the Aspiring Women Leaders Conference held annually by the school,” Mrs Spiller said.

St Aidan’s established an initiative to promote the leadership experiences and support the leadership aspirations of female teachers in independent schools around Australia. This has been achieved by: the development of the Aspiring Women Leaders Conference which provides middle managers the information, skills and experience to move into senior leadership roles; a formalised Senior Leadership shadowing program for aspiring women teachers including leadership mentoring, coaching and shadowing; succession planning, networking, multi-skilling and role modelling for all staff and the First Steps in Leadership Conference introduced in 2010 – for both male and female teachers. 14 female members of the St Aidan’s teaching staff have participated in the leadership mentoring/shadowing program and three promoted to the position of Principal in other schools in the last seven years. This is St Aidan’s second year as a finalist in these awards after winning the category of ‘Outstanding Initiative and /or Result for the Advancement of Women’ last year. This is also the second year Principal, Karen Spiller, was recognised as a finalist in the ‘Leading CEO for the Advancement of Women’ award category.

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Deputy Principal, Ros Curtis has been appointed as the Principal of our sister school, St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School and will assume this role in 2011. Although we are all very delighted for Ros on her appointment, we will miss her at St Aidan’s.

Ros has been the Deputy Principal at St Aidan’s since 2004 and has given St Aidan’s the very best of her professional knowledge and expertise.

She has led significant change in our school, particularly in the area of curriculum, the building of a professional learning community among our staff, leadership development and our building program.

More significantly, Ros has committed her enthusiasm, energy and passion to our school. She is an outstanding teacher, an inspirational school leader and a professional, dedicated and creative colleague.

This appointment is richly deserved and is testimony to Ros’s great ability and exceptional leadership capacity.

Ros is the fifth Deputy or member of the leadership team from our school to be appointed to a Principal position since 1999. We believe that this reflects the strength of our leadership team here and our positive school culture. In all we do, we endeavour to ensure that students and staff are provided with every opportunity to take the lead and to be the best they can be.

I am sure that you will join with me in wishing Ros and the St Margaret’s community all the very best for the future.Karen Spiller

St Aidan’s welcomes Mrs Kim Kiepe as our new Deputy Principal for 2011. Mrs Kiepe comes from St Hilda’s School, Southport as the Head of Boarding, a position she has held for seven years. In this role, she has had responsibility for the management of 140 boarders (across Years 6 - 12) together with 25 teaching, support and nursing staff. This role necessitated significant liaison with parents and academic staff. Prior to her appointment as Head of Boarding, Mrs Kiepe held the positions of Year 12 and Senior Years’ Co-ordinator. Mrs Kiepe has also taught in Education Queensland schools and the TAFE sector prior to her employment at St Hilda’s. Mrs Kiepe’s strengths lie in the innovative use of technology in the curriculum, in organisational management, and student pastoral care. As a teacher, Mrs Kiepe has been a recognised leader in the implementation of technology in the classroom and will provide strong leadership in this area. As a Business and English teacher, Mrs Kiepe has taught across all year levels from Years 8 – 12. As a Senior Accounting teacher she is well versed in the procedures of the Queensland Studies Authority and the curriculum developments in Queensland. Mrs Kiepe has demonstrated a thorough knowledge of girls’ learning and development and I look forward to her sharing her experience and expertise with the St Aidan’s community. I am sure all at St Aidan’s will welcome Mrs Kiepe to our school family in 2011.

farewell to Helen Phillips Term Three saw the School farewell Chaplain Helen Phillips. As part of the farewell Eucharist, Chaplain Helen prepared a special service for the students imparting some important messages. She was determined to make farewell a celebration and chose some of her favourite hymns. Junior and Senior school students presented Chaplain Helen with a number of mementos including a specially created candle, carefully crafted books but her favourite was a beautiful teddy bear in a St Aidan’s uniform. It has been a blessing for the St Aidan’s community to have Helen here as our Senior Chaplain over the last 9.5 years. Chaplain Helen has made a huge impact on the spiritual life of the school and her ministry will be missed hugely. We wish her well in her new parish as the Victor of St Dunstan’s.

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Education on Show is a traditional competition devoted to acknowledging and showcasing the work done by school students throughout Queensland. Entry into the competition is on a school basis, allowing schools to highlight their combined attitudes to issues under a topic and this year there was more than 600 entries.

The competition was designed to encourage students to compete with quality exhibits that have been selected

at a school level and to showcase education as a vital part of Queensland life to all who visit the Ekka. The Education on Show competition is aligned with the principle of primary school students adopting the role of stewardship for the environment and a sustainable future.

The theme for this year’s Education on Show was “Sustainability” - prompting students to realise that the answer for living abundantly on a finite planet lies

literally at their feet and all around them. St Aidan’s was also named as one of the four sectional winners in the area of Sustainability.

a first for Sister SpiritIn what may be a first for St Aidan’s, St Margaret’s and Cathedral School, these rowing rivals and schools all started by the Sisters of the Sacred Advent, joined together at the recent Queensland Schools’ State Championships to form a Mixed Eight.

St Aidan’s declared Best in ShowSt Aidan’s was declared ‘The Champion School of Show’ in the Education on Show competition at this year’s Royal Queensland Show, otherwise known as the Ekka.

The crew comprising of four St Aidan’s girls, four Cathedral boys, and a St Margaret’s cox raced the 500 metre Mixed Eight event in a St Aidan’s boat using St Margaret’s oars.

Notionally called, the SSA Mixed VIII, this crew came third, and in doing so became probably the first crew with all three of the schools the Society founded represented in the one team.

It seems quite appropriate the boat the crew rowed in was St Aidan’s new eight, the ‘Sister Spirit’.

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FROM TH

E CHAPLAIN

New appointment

Touch team undefeated yet again

The team amassed some impressive statistics throughout the season scoring the most number of tries in their age group (83) and the second most number of tries in the QGSSSA competition.

This group of touch football players has been one of the most successful teams in the history of the school with a premiership last year and winning 22 from 25 games played since coming together in Year 8. Well done to team members Gabrielle Blake,

Jessie Chandler, Lucy Earle, Zoe Edwards, Meredith Elliott, Lara Gill, Tanne Marais, Sarah R Macpherson, Sarah L MacPherson, Georgia Lainchbury, Teagan Scrimgeour, Megan Sherington, Olivia Smith and Kate Woodhouse.

The Open Rhythmic Gymnastics Team placed 1st in this year’s QGSSSA Open Group competition entering the team into the history books with the school’s first team to win the Open Group pennant for the school. Congratulations to Aimee Hanson, Erin Hanson, Christina Wijeratne, Nikeisha Plumridge and Natasha McBride.

a year of firsts for the Open Rhythmic Gymnastics team

The Year 10A touch team has emerged from the 2010 season as undefeated premiers winning all nine games in the QGSSSA competition.

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Teachers were asked to submit up to six works per school which demonstrated rigorous investigation of the theme and this year St Aidan’s had all six works submitted and accepted into the exhibition. The only school in Australia with 6 selected.

700 portraits were submitted from every state and territory with only 100 works selected for the national exhibition.

The selection panel included Amanda Andlee Poland, Headspace 10 Curator and Education Manager, Michael Desmond,

Senior Curator and external panel member Waratah Lahy, a Canberra based artist and tertiary educator. The exhibition reflected a range of issues and concerns of students from Year 7 to Year 12. The works explore notions of identity and portraiture in the broadest sense using a variety of media, approaches and scale.

Headspace 10 was a national secondary student exhibition exploring the possibilities of portraiture through painting, drawing, photography, sculpture and film.

Comprised of 100 works, the exhibition offered the opportunity to reflect and perhaps reconnect with the lives and experiences of secondary school students from diverse backgrounds and regions.

This is the tenth year of the Headspace project at the National Portrait Gallery.

The students’ was viewed by a large visitation of the wider public at the National Portrait Gallery – on-site and can continue to be viewed on-line.

Six students portraits select for National Gallery

The work of Chelsea Ho, Katie-Rose Tutty, Claire Murray, Gabrielle Brett, Laura Sharpe and Jennifer Leonforte was selected for exhibition in Headspace 10: Self/reflections at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra

Laura Sharpe Year 12

Claire Murray Year 126 portraits selected for National Gallery

Jennifer Leonforte Year 8 Gabrielle Brett Year 11

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Emalyn Gooding Year 12Nikki Seaton Year 12

6 portraits selected for National Gallery

Claire Murray Year 12

Chelsea Ho Year 8

Katie-Rose Tutty Year 12

Claire Murray Year 12

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Rachel King Year 12

Imogen Gartside Year 12

Mollie Tait Year 12

Mia Temperly Year 9

QUEENSLAND YOUTH ART AWARDS Imogen Gartside Award of Excellence Mia Temperly Award of Excellence Rebekah Yeo Award of Excellence

QIEU AWARDS FOR ART Lucy Crawford Highly commended Emily Evans Award for Excellence Rebekah Yeo Award for Excellence

HEADSPACE 10: SELF/REFLECTIONS DISPLAY – NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY – CANBERRA Work selected to be hung Gabrielle Brett Chelsea Ho Jennifer Leonforte Claire Murray Laura Sharpe Katie-Rose Tutty

CREATIVE GENERATION EXCELLENCE AWARDS IN VISUAL ART AND DESIGN Imogen Gartside Excellence Award Rachel King Commendation Award Claire Murray Excellence Award Mollie Tait Commendation Award

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Congratulations to The Glam Sisters, St Aidan’s Theatresports team who came third in their semi final. The team of Rose Leonforte, Laurel English, Amelia Dunn, Katie Wheatley and Imogen McCluskey were unable to translate last year’s success to another win; however, they had a great time trying.

Emily Evans Year 4 and Rebekah Yeo Year 10

Mia Temperly Year 9

Theatresports Success

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20 huddle I december 2010

cele

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Students and book authors gathered at Customs House, Brisbane for the announcement of the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s (CBCA) Book of the Year Awards and St Aidan’s Year 7 Library Leaders were also fortunate to attend. As Patron of the CBCA, the Governor-General, Ms Quentin Bryce AC, presented awards to the winners in the Book of the Year categories for older readers, younger readers, early childhood, picture book of the year, and the Eve Pownall Award for Information Books.

Book Week

Book Week, the annual, Australia - wide celebration of children’s literature, was held again this year across St Aidan’s.

The theme for Book Week 2010 ‘Across the Story Bridge’, focused the celebrations on the way stories bridge people, cultures and religions from all around the world.

Students from Prep to Year 10 joined in sessions with award winning authors from around the country including Randa Abdel Fattah, Maureen McCarthy, Barry Jonsberg, Rebecca Johnson, Jenni Cagill, Kim Wolley, Tristan Bancks, Richard Newsome and Leonie Norrington.

Celebrations took on extra excitement in the Junior School with the event being held in the recently opened Charma Place.

Much time in the library in younger years is devoted to the teaching of research skills; however, during Term Three each year, the main aim turns to students enjoying and celebrating literature and reading, developing their visual literacy skills through investigating illustrated texts, responding to books through art, writing and discussion, and encouraging regular borrowing habits.

As part of Book Week, many staff and students took part in The Indigenous Literacy Project - The Great Book Swap. This is a national fundraising initiative that helps to raise funds to improve literacy levels and opportunities of Indigenous Australians living in remote and isolated communities. Held across the school, more then $250 was raised.

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LANG

UAGES

Entering a film into the Goethe-Insitut German Short-Film Festival has become an annual tradition for St Aidan’s German students and this year students upped the ante to script, film and edit seven four-minute short-films to enter into the festival. .All seven films were based around this year’s theme ‘Alles Im Grünen Bereich’ (Everything is in the green!). Only 20 films were short-listed from hundreds entered from across Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory with five of the finalist films from St Aidan’s.

Rita Felder, returned from the Awards held at the Chauvel Cinema in Paddington, Sydney with the trophies: third place in the primary school category was awarded to Year 2; second prize in the secondary school category to Year 11 class; and the youngest group of students to enter this year’s competition, Year 1 winning first prize in the primary category.

The quality and creativity of the films was highly praised by the judges. Rita Felder, German teacher and key driver of

the competition said, “we strongly believe creative media such as film-making, are a wonderful way for students to apply their grasp of another language.”

“The students thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this creative process and should be commended for their dedication and enthusiasm. Each year there are hundreds of films entered so to have all five short listed is amazing,” she said.

Also congratulations to the 2009 German students and Frau Felder in the production of our winning German short film from 2009 which has gone on to win the “Best German” category when screened at the National German School Film Awards 2010 in Adelaide.

St Aidan’s win Goethe-Insitut German Short-Film Festival

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Year 1 students descend on Parliament House Parliament House was overrun by children on 10 October, including 22 Year 1 St Aidan’s students, as they celebrated Universal Children’s Day with their parents, teachers and Members of Parliament.

Education and Training Minister Geoff Wilson said students from local State, Independent and Catholic schools attended the lunchtime event and participated in array of craft activities and storytelling.

“We wanted to help make their day extra special and what better way to do that than invite them to the very special place that is the Parliament of Queensland,” he said.

Mr Wilson said Universal Children’s Day was initiated by the United Nations in 1954 as a day of worldwide friendship and understanding between children.

“It was also intended that Universal Children’s Day be a day of activity to promote the welfare of children around the world,” Mr Wilson said.

Lois Brett celebrated 20 years as a School Crossing Supervisor at St Aidan’s on 11 July 2010 having helped thousands of St Aidan’s girls cross safely across Ruthven Street for many years.

This milestone was recognised with a presentation at assembly by Junior School students and representatives from the Department of Transport and Main Roads.

celebrating 20 Years

Year 3 students discover hidden family historyStudents have embarked on a voyage of discovery into their own family histories with an inquiry-based unit this year in Year 3.

Laura Verdasco, Alexis Hogan, Mary Nicholas

The students investigated their own place in generational family levels and explored different experiences of families over time.

Through historical research of areas familiar to them and investigating primary sources such as birth certificates, the students represented their findings on a family tree, wrote narratives and made their own photographic family history scrapbook.By posing questions to her family, Mary Nicholas, found some links to St Aidan’s own family history discovering her great-grandmother was Marie Potts, one of

the school’s first science teachers and advocate for women in education.

Laura Verdasco also discovered she was a third generation student at St Aidan’s on her mother’s side of the family.

Julia and Mary Nicholas, grand-daughter and great grand-daughter of Marie Potts a much loved and respected Science Teacher at St Aidan’s from 1955 – 1987

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1

vale Joyce Barrett

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Born in Brisbane, the second daughter of Rev William and Hilda Barrett, Joyce lived at Corinda in early childhood. Her father was involved in establishing St Aidan’s and all three children were enrolled there in the Foundation year of 1929. Joyce was the seventh enrolled student; Helen was sixth and their brother Tim, 25th.

Joyce attended St Aidan’s for her Primary and Secondary education and made many firm friends. She continued meeting some of these friends each month over the last 40 years under the pretext of sorting stamps for a Rotary fundraising program.

Joyce was a diligent student and Captain of a number of school sporting teams. Her sister Helen recalls that Joyce was the instigator of a change to the School’s sports uniform – she represented to the Headmistress that they would perform much better if they were able to dispense with their school tie, stockings and have short sleeve shirts.

In 1932, the family moved to the Deanery of St John’s Cathedral. While their home was too far away to allow for after-school playtime with other children; the compensation for Joyce was being able to use the side of the Cathedral to practice her tennis shots and playing cricket with the choirboys between the front of the Cathedral and Ann Street. Unfortunately, this last game did result in a number of broken windows to nearby buildings.

When the Physiotherapy course was first offered at University of Queensland Joyce formed part of the first intake and graduated in 1943. While at University, Joyce also played Hockey, and was Captain of the UQ side in 1943.

Trained as a physiotherapist she joined the Army during WW11 to fulfill her desire to serve. She was posted to Melbourne. After the war she stayed in Melbourne and worked extensively with patients affected by the polio epidemic.

Later she moved to Redcliffe and established her own physiotherpay practice – the only physio in the area. Also living in the area and caring for her parents at the time.

In 1984 she retired from full time practice and moved to Coorparoo. She continued to do locum work, always ready to provide advice and assistance to others.

We often hear of people wanting work-life balance and Joyce had that down to perfection. She worked hard professionally. She allowed time for her leisure pursuits of sport, particularly golf and the Arts. She travelled extensively, sometimes with work as an excuse.

A very large part of Joyce’s life and energy has gone to providing service to the community – not in a grandiose way but in a quiet, almost shy self affacing way.

She has been a member of Zonta, the global service organisation, for nearly 30 years.

She worked, with Helen, with Meals on Wheels, for many years, only ceasing involvement in late 2009. I believe many of the people they were assisting were a lot younger than they.

Joyce also provided quite a lot of assistance to her sister Helen with her work with the Mothers Union – sending parcels all around the world.

For about 17 years she gave assistance at hydrotherapy for the Southside Stroke Group.And, of course, she has been a tireless worker with her involvement in the St John’s Cathedral community.

This life of service was recognised when she received an Australia Day Award for Griffith.

Joyce leaves a legacy of care, consideration and involvement.

Tim, Helen and Joyce Barrett 1931

It is with sadness we marked the passing of one of our original Day One (1929) students – Joyce Barrett.

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St Aidan’s council

1

Janette Gibson and Rob Morphet attend the CHC Opening

2010 has seen substantial progress on a number of important aspects in the development of St Aidan’s and in the positioning of the school for the future. It was always going to a busy time with the redevelopment of the Christine Hartland Centre, but adding in the very welcome $2.5 million grant from the Federal Government’s Building Education Revolution initiative just added to the challenges. I am sure that all who have visited Charma Place will agree we achieved great value with the funds we were allocated. Charma Place includes the wonderful new library, two other teaching areas, storage and a meeting room and kitchen. The refurbishment of the former Junior School Library has provided a Science laboratory and two additional teaching areas. These new and upgraded facilities have been by far the largest developments that we have undertaken. The completion of both of these projects has also enabled us to put in place most of the facilities that will be needed for the proposed changes to the age of school entry and the move of Year 7 to the Senior School in 2014. One of the key functions of a School Council is the provision of facilities. I am very proud of what we, the broader school community, our alumni, Foundation and donors, Parents and Friends and staff, parents and students, have achieved. The School Council is very appreciative of the generosity of supporters of the school and their support of what we are striving to deliver.The Building and Grounds and Strategic Planning Sub-Committees (Chaired by Mr Stephen Green and Mrs Jan Mohr, respectively) have had a very busy year. We were given very tight time frames, challenging zoning issues and it is testament to their great professionalism and skill that we were able to work very cohesively with the School Senior Leadership Team to make all these opportunities a reality. Considerable time was also spent on factors associated with the Sherwood Graceville Neighbourhood Plan.

Most of what a School Council does is “behind the scenes”, through the chairing and inputting into the various committees along with the Council meetings. At times the role as Chair of Council can be somewhat onerous and comes with substantial challenges. The substantial and broad skills base that our Council does possess also provides me as Chair with great support and confidence in the decisions that we are charged to make. The input, guidance and wisdom of the Council members are greatly valued. During 2010 the Council membership has been very stable. At the end of 2010 I will be retiring from Council, with my maximum term of nine years having been reached. I have felt very privileged to have served for eight and a half years as Chair. Current Council member Mr Mark Dillman has been appointed as the new Chair and I am sure that he will do a great job in the role. The current Deputy Chair Mrs Jan Mohr will continue in that position. The Sisters Trust (Mother Eunice, The Right Reverend Bishop Jonathan Holland, Mr David Thomas, Mr Joe Gibson and myself) has had some significant challenges during 2010 that we invested significant time in addressing. Thank you for your collegiality and support over the past eight years that the Trust has been in operation.l would like to congratulate Ms Ros Curtis on her appointment as Principal of St Margaret’s Anglican Girls’ School. Ros is the fifth St Aidan’s staff member in the last 14 years to be promoted to a Principalship, a reflection of the calibre of our staff and

also the importance we place on continuing education and the development of the skills of our staff.One of the keys to our success is that the broader communities have been cohesive and strong as we worked together to provide the best we can offer to every student, only possible due to the support of our dedicated teachers and support staff, who regularly go well beyond the call of duty to provide a place of educational excellence, provide pastoral and emotional support and develop the potential of each of our students. The Old Girls’ Association, the St Aidan’s Foundation, ably led by Mrs Mary-Anne Pidgeon and the St Aidan’s Parents and Friends, under President Mr Martin Prowse, have continued to provide great support and financial assistance to the School. Thank you all for your contributions.For those students leaving us this year you have been provided with the educational and life skills to enable you all to achieve your future goals. Continue to devote time to your education, seek out people to mentor, inspire and encourage you and have the confidence to take on the challenges that your future will test you with. We wish you all a safe and successful future. As I have said in the past, take care, provide a space for God in your life and have the confidence and success to chase and achieve your goals and remember and be proud that you will always be a St Aidan’s girl.

Mr Robert MorphetChair of Council

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1

St Aidan’s foundationIn yet another major milestone of St Aidan’s proud history, on Tuesday 24 August, the Christine Hartland Centre and Charma Place (a Federal Government funded BER project), were dedicated and officially opened before an audience of over 1,000 current and past students, parents and other members of the school’s community.

The $10 million of new facilities, were dedicated in a service led by the Most Reverend Dr Phillip Aspinall, Primate of Australia, Archbishop of Brisbane.

St Aidan’s received $310,000 in capital assistance from the State Government towards the Christine Hartland Centre and $2.5 million from the Federal Government towards the construction of Charma Place under the BER programme.

The opening of the school’s latest two facilities underscored the critical role the St Aidan’s Foundation, backed by the generous financial support of the wider school community, continued to play in the school’s ongoing development and master-planning.

During just the past 10 years, the St Aidan’s campus has been dramatically transformed, with state-of-the-art educational and cultural facilities now in place throughout both the Junior and Senior Schools.

On behalf of the Foundation I extend a heartfelt vote of thanks to all members of the school community who, through supporting our Capital Appeal and voluntary building fund over recent years, helped us raise over $1.3 million in vital funding which helped construct the Christine Hartland Centre.

The generosity of the numerous individuals and families who contributed to the realisation of the Christine Hartland Centre by donating $1,000 or more to the voluntary building fund or Capital Appeal, has been

commemorated eternally through a Wall of Thanks which is prominently positioned immediately outside the centre.

The second half of this year has also seen a number of major events for the Foundation. The annual Father Daughter Breakfast in September was the special occasion selected by the Foundation to present a cheque for $150,000 to St Aidan’s with the proceeds allocated to the Christine Hartland Centre. A second payment of $350,000 by the Foundation, also to be directed to the new centre, is to occur early in Term One next year.

One of the Foundation’s yearly event highlights, the ever popular Father Daughter Disco for the Junior School, made a welcome return in October. It was sorely missed on the Junior School calendar in 2009 during renovations but has come back bigger and better than ever. The fun-filled night proved a resounding success, with a record breaking 144 proud dads and 173 glowing girls attending the circus themed event, and raising nearly $14,000 in the process.

Renowned raconteur, journalist and bestselling author, Peter FitzSimons delivered an outstanding and highly entertaining presentation to cap off a memorable night for the 100 guests attending the Foundation’s inaugural Celebrity Dinner at Tattersall’s Club in September and successfully raised $18,000 for St Aidan’s.

We have also had the great privilege of welcoming four new directors, all of whom bring significant areas of expertise, to the Foundation Board. The new directors are Kathryn Britt, Bede King, Tony Markwell and Jeff Dunn.2011 looks to be another exciting year with the launch of the Business Directory online and key events Foundation has already locked into the calendar.

This is my last year as Chair and I will be passing the reins to Tony Markwell. I wish Tony and the rest of the Foundation Board and St Aidan’s many years of future growth and prosperity

Mary Anne PidgeonChair, St Aidan’s Foundation

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Thank-you to the many staff and parents who turn up week after week to assist our students and families in the various P&F run events and activities.

Ambiwerra festival and Battle of the Bands provided both St Aidan’s and the surrounding neighbourhood community with a hugely entertaining event. Many thanks to Audi for becoming our major sponsor for these events.

School dances began again in Term Four and it was great to see huge numbers return despite the nearly one year absence due to the re-development of the Christine Hartland Centre. These dances provide a valuable regular income for the P&F. I would like to thank all the parent volunteers that make them possible.

In 2010 the P&F provided support to St Aidan’s by funding;• Crockery for the CHC ($14,258);• CHC Recording Studio ($14,265);• Two Kawai Upright Pianos

($13,636);• Solar Heating for the swimming

pool ($14,000);• Hockey Equipment; and• Subsidy for the Touch Football

Development Camp.

In November, a new Executive took over the P&F, led by Cathy Carnie (President), Andrew Howard (Vice-President), Mark Bell (Treasurer) and Pam McGarrigle (Secretary). They are enthusiastic and I encourage other parents to mirror their dedication to St Aidan’s.

Martin Prowse

St Aidan’s P&F

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thank youWe would like to thank the 2010 executive committee and P&F staff for their continued work to support St Aidans. Gratitude and thanks must be afforded to Martin Prowse (President), Andrew Howard (Vice President), Angus McCleod (Treasurer), Pam McGarrigle (Secretary/Liaison Officer) Nanette Marsdon (Liaison Officer), Judy Maynes & Bronwyn Fenton (Tuckshop), Andrea Oxley (Book keeper), Jane leonForte (Text Hire) and Anne Edwards & Diana McKellar (Uniform Shop).

The iconic Ambiwerra Festival added a Battle of the Bands competition to its line-up for the first time this year with goal to find Brisbane’s top 10 high school bands.

On offer was a prize pool of $1,800 and the opportunity to perform the following day, where the line up for this year’s Ambiwerra festival was Mental as Anything, Stylus and Daryl Braithwaite.

Finalists for the Ambiwerra Battle of the Bands revealed an amazingly diverse range of musical styles which wow audiences on Saturday 31 July, at Ambiwerra Fields.

Included in the final ten were our own In Theory (St Aidan’s) feature Mardi Wilson and Charlotte Pittaway.

Judging the emerging artists on the day were: Katie Noonan – five-time platinum recording artist and ARIA award winner; Mike Howlett - Grammy Award-winning music producer and musician and head of QUT’s music program; andSteve Newcomb - Lecturer at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.

The four young ‘old St Aidan’s girls’, Zoe Tulleners, Sascha Kelly, Elena Katahanas (students at the Conservatorium of Music) and Nicole Roughead (a Commerce student at UQ), along with a dedicated team from the St Aidan’s P&F were the driving force behind this event.

The winner on the day was Brisbane Boys College band, Stolen by Stones.

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Brisbane’s best food and music festival

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Alumni creating a living bridge

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From the Alumni OfficeThe recent months in the Alumni Office have been a flurry of activity with many special events and visitors to enjoy.

We have celebrated with the School the opening of the Christine Hartland Centre inviting many Old Girls from Mrs Hartland’s era to enjoy the occasion. Hanging in pride of place at the entrance was the reframed portrait of Mrs Hartland. She is worth a visit if you are in the school grounds. Attending the event were Day 1 girls and past Headmistresses. Tours of the school included a visit to the new Archives Room.

In the week prior to this event, we held our inaugural Old Boys’ Reunion. Tim and Tony Pixley were two brothers at the Old Boys gathering and may hold the record of the first twins to attend the School.

Old Girls’ Day followed quickly after this and it was a pleasant morning, celebrating together in the Chapel. Several Old Girls also brought donations for the Archives of uniform items including badges, hats, and in particular, a pair of 1949 swimmers from our first swimming team. The community choir sang for the service and some of our Old Girls are part of the choir.

Visitors to our new Archives include Jan Smiles (Griffith) bringing with her a second pair of 1949 swimmers and Janie Gibson also.

We continue our work with the Junior School girls with our Alumni club, and also have welcomed several girls doing their community service for Duke of Edinburgh in the Archives. This year we were awarded a Commendation for our work with “Engaging the Alumni of Tomorrow” in the ADAPE Awards for Excellence.

Patricia Evans, Marjorie Neil, Sister Julian and Karen Spiller -

Four Principals of St Aidan’s

Karen Spiller welcomes Jean Humphries to the Christine Hartland Centre Opening.

St Aidan’s Old Girls’ attend the opening of the Christine Hartland Centre.

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Donations to the Archives

We have had an overwhelming response to our call for donations to the Archives. Thank you to the following people for trusting their precious memorabilia into our care.

Melissa Carlisle (1977 Vice Captain) sent us a collection of items from her school days and also her mother, Carol Carlisle (nee Sullivan, School Captain 1953), sent two beautiful Prefect Pockets, badges (hat badge, prefect badge, seniors, and two red Austen badges), and a hat band all with CEGS.

Suzanne Mayo (1978 School Captain, nee Mowbray) has donated her school blazer with prefect and school captain pocket, her brown and white Speedo swimmers, Recorder Magazines, a St Aidan’s school badge watch charm with watch and school badges.

Jeanette Woolcock (nee Lindley 1947) gave us her three prize books: from Mrs Hartland for School Captain, for attendance (special prize awarded for perfect attendance on each day of school year) and an academic prize.

Sharon Keating (1973) gave us her CEGS wool beret and photographs from the 1970’s at school.

Where are they now?

Congratulations to Danni Prince (2009) who competed in the Commonwealth Games and team achieved gold.

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10 Year Reunion (2000)The stars may have dispersed a little over the past ten years but they were all back together and sparkling on the banks of the Brisbane River on Saturday 18 September. 55 girls - still girls, not women yet - started off with a tour of the school which although brought back many memories, certainly impressed us all with the new facilities that today’s girls are lucky enough to have. Joining Mr Murray in the bus, just not in sports uniform, we moved down to the Brisbane Maritime Museum at Southbank. One evening was not enough to catch up on the adventures. No one seemed to look very different, but so many stories and adventures to share and to tell. It was also fantastic to catch up with our lovely head of year, Mrs Forness as well as Ms Yanardasis, Frau Liebchen, Mrs Paige and Mrs Hannagan.

Once the party started there was no stopping us; a bemused ferry driver took us across to Friday’s at Riverside where the celebrations continued into the night.The next day about 20 girls came together at New Farm Park with their partners, children and pets to spend a relaxing day catching up some more with a BBQ and picnic. It had been many years between drinks for these shining stars, but it was like no time had passed. Many a comment was made that it shouldn’t be so long before the next one.

Congratulations to daughters of Old Girls announced as 2011 Student Leaders:Isabella Prowse - Vice School Captain daughter of Shaeleen Prowse (Kopitke 1987)

Sarah Clouston - Prefect daughter of Jane Clouston (MacGillivray 1976)

Sarah Phelps – Prefect daughter of Meg Phelps (Jefferies 1974)

Katherine Thomas – Sacristan daughter of Helen Thomas (Moses 1974)

Elizabeth Delaney – Sports Captain daughter of Linda Delany (Morgan 1971)

Amelia Dunn – Bronte House Captain daughter of Jennifer Dunn (Coates 1975)

Imogen Andrews – Cavell House Captain daughter of Pam Andrews (Broom 1979)

Alumni creating a living bridge

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Alumni reunions Donations to the Archives

Jenny Green (1978) gave us her school beret and also her navy velour winter hat.

Joclyn Dixon (1953) with great excitement we received Joclyn’s 1949 swimming suit with a lifesaving cloth badge merit award and a St Aidan’s printed name cloth badge on the back. (CEHS perhaps Church of England High School)These were from the very first St Aidan’s swimming team in 1949, also a collection of photos from the 40’s and 50’s and also the Recorder Magazines from 1945 – 1952.

Miss Marjorie Neil (Headmistress 1980 - 1991) her school badge, photographs of early building of CHC (multi purpose centre then) and newspaper clippings about the school.

Judith Morrison (1979) gave us athletic shorts and a white Bonds t-shirt with blue St Aidan’s crest on front, deer logo key ring and shirt and memorial tea towel from the Golden Jubilee celebrations.

Elizabeth Edmonstone donated her daughter Helen’s (1986) white t-shirt with St Aidan’s crest.

JanGriffith(1954, Smiles) visited our new Archives with her navy blue Speedos from 1952 – 54, name tags from House Suppers made in great detail by Rosslyn Stevenson, and finally a leather hand made rail ticket holder, possibly bought at a school fete.

Fiona Richardson (nee Gray-Buchanan) donated her badges in shining condition: a CEGS school badge, prefect’s badge and also her Bronte house badge and senior badge.

Ellen Grant (2008) donated her school swimsuit from pre 2002.

Lynda Hoyer (nee Burren, 1976) donated her school tracksuit, brown with a wide white strip down the side of the leg and arms. The first school tracksuit allowed as part of the sports uniform.

Linda Jones (nee Henry, 1987) sent in photos of her mother Anne Henry (1954-1955) and a 1958 Prospectus.

30 Year Reunion (1980)Sunday 10/10/10 was the auspicious date chosen for the 30-year reunion of the Class of 1980. 25 girls came from far and wide; pretty good considering there were only 47 of us in our senior year. We started at 11am (10.10 am would have been even more auspicious but, alas, it was inconvenient) with a tour of the school. Everyone was very impressed with St Aidan’s current facilities …such a contrast to our day! The tour was followed by lunch at Caffe Primavera over on Oxley Rd, where everyone shared conversation and photos of their past and current lives. When the restaurant tired of us, we migrated to Gabby McConnell’s (Moroney) house nearby and continued chin-wagging for many hours. For a bunch of girls who haven’t seen much of each other for 30 years, we still enjoy each other’s company and won’t wait five years for another reunion.Geraldine Moses

Melbourne ReunionEight Old Girls met with Karen Spiller and Ros Curtis in Melbourne on Sunday 23 October, for an afternoon of reminiscing about St Aidan’s. They covered the eras from 1940’s to the 1980’s and up to the current day. It was special to also have Helen Phillips, our past Chaplain join the afternoon gathering. Helen has recently moved to the Melbourne Diocese of St Dunstan’s in Camberwell.

London Reunion The very first St Aidan’s Reunion Abroad was held in London on 5 July, just a stone’s throw from the Australian High Commission. Karen Spiller and Ros Curtis were passing through London during the mid-year vacation and had been promoting the idea of a reunion with all Old Girls whose address on record was in the UK. Despite the competing demands of careers, families and train timetables, Old Girls from Bath to Buckinghamshire attended. The reunion brought together a wide variety of life stories and photo albums which made for a very interesting evening: with residence in the UK from two months to two decades; from one who left school just last year to those who felt like it had only been yesterday; and for a pair who had not seen each other since they finished Year 12 together a mere 20 years ago. Given the success of the event, another Reunion Abroad will surely be planned in the future so please keep the Alumni Office up-to-date with overseas addresses and email contacts.Caroline Moses

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Alumni reunions

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Reunions and Old Girl Events 2011Date Time Reunion Details

7May 12noon 40YearReunion ContactAlumniOffice33735961or [email protected] 21May 6pm 20YearReunion ContactAlumniOffice33735961 [email protected] 19July 10am 50YearReunion ContactAlumniOffice33735961 [email protected]

2August 12noon OldBoysReunion ContactKristyGoot0422978904 [email protected]

28August 10am OldGirlsDay StAidan’sAGS

12October 10am 60YearReunion Contact–GeraldineMoses0419627517 [email protected]

Marriages

Michelle Baird (1999) married Jordon Argles on 1 October 2010

Births

Karen Green and Marco Vidoretti had a baby daughter, Lucia Lila on 13 July 2010 - 7lb 1 1/2 oz at Sharoe Green Maternity Hospital in Preston, Lancashire, England.

Megan (Wells 1987) and Bill Farrington are happy to announce the safe arrival of Matilda Moana Farrington, born 20 July 2010. Little sister for Georgie and Pippa.

Jemma Picco (Petrie 1994) and Eddy welcomed Angelica Dorothy on 10 July 2010, sister for John.

Deaths

Joyce Barrett (1940) passed away suddenly, Friday 5 November 2010 and Dr Tim Barrett passed away in August this year. They are survived by their eldest sister Helen Barrett.

Judith Smith (Rigby) passed away 19 May 2010.

Sheila Eadie (Panton, 1937) passed away at Hopetown, Corinda 17 November 2010.

Old Boys’ ReunionSt Aidan’s inaugural Old Boys’ reunion was held on Thursday 19 August at the school. We had eleven men attend for a morning tea and swap fun stories of being boys in a girls’ school. They enjoyed looking at class rolls, early enrolment register details and photos from their days. Their memories were most precious particularly since most of them attended only for their kindy or prep years. We were delighted to see photos and a report card from John Drewe from his kindergarten year. Most excitingly, John Drewe also brought along some Super 8 film taken by his father of their years at St Aidan’s in the 1940s. The film shows Interhouse Ballgames events, with trophies being presented by Mrs Hartland, and fathers in the crowd dressed in uniform of the armed forces. There are also images of the children walking to the Yeronga railway station with their school ports on their backs, catching a steam train to school.

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11 Ruthven Street Corinda Qld 4075T: 61 7 3373 5999 F: 61 7 3379 9432

E: [email protected]

www.staidan.qld.edu.au

A School of the Society of the Sacred Advent

St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ Schoolconfidence and success