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The newest magazine is the result of a year-long project, coordinated by two English teachers, Margot Shave and Noel Peinke. The project invited First Nations students at the school to seek out a story from their Elders and share this in the form of an interview, profile, artwork, or feature article. Over the course of the year, the students were invited to participate in an art workshop with Sunshine Coast artist Nikita Newley and become part of the Queensland Museum’s Torres Strait Island exhibition – Island Futures. After the students had gathered their interviews and submissions, they had the opportunity to work with two First Nations writers, Rhianna Patrick and Ellen van Neerven, to finalise their submissions.

The name Mulu Maguydan (pronounced moo-loo moog-eye-dun) means story stone in the Jandai language of Quandamooka Country. It is spoken by the Nunukul, Goenpul and Ngugi people.

To launch the magazine, we will hold a special assembly and invite interested parents to join us. The assembly will be held on Thursday 14 July at 9:40am for a 9:50am start in the Philip Harris Gym. If you would like to attend, please contact Lisa Beeney to rsvp via email lbeeney@stmargarets.qld.edu.au.

Last week, I farewelled, in print, a few members of staff. This week, I also farewell Mr Chris Forster who, for family reasons, has resigned. Chris has made many contributions over his 25 years at St Margaret’s, and we thank him for his longstanding commitment. Susan Uhlmann, our core sports coordinator, is leaving us to take up a position with QGSSSA as Content Producer. We wish both Chris and Susan well in the next phases of their professional journeys.

It has been an incredibly busy semester, with significant illness amongst staff and students. Congratulations to all for keeping the St Margaret's ship steady. I hope you all enjoy a well deserved break.

Ros Curtis

With more engagement in the school, I thought it was timely to remind parents about our volunteering application processes. We acknowledge the important work that volunteers carry out within our school environment. Assistance, whether it is as a volunteer in the classroom, tuckshop, excursions, P&F activities or sporting carnivals, enhances the quality of your child’s teaching and learning experience.

If any parent is volunteering in the school, they must fill out the Volunteer Application form, found at the following link: /discover-st-margarets/student-protection/volunteering-at-st-margarets/volunteering-at-st-margarets. This link will give you all the information about volunteering, as well as the volunteer register link. Please note that each volunteer must fill out a new form each year, as the application is only valid for one calendar year.

I hope everyone can have a restful break, and we look forward to welcoming you back in Term 3. Perhaps it can be a time that all (parents and students) can catch up on some reading. Not only is reading enjoyable and informative, it can boost your brain power as it stimulates the mind and improves your memory function. Reading is also an important literacy skill to have. Students learn to read from an early age, often to begin with from their parents and then through robust reading programs such as those in our primary school. By the time students reach secondary school, reading becomes something they need to do to gather, interpret and form opinions about information in all the subjects they choose.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all students and their families a well-deserved rest. We look forward to seeing all our students back next term refreshed and ready for the semester ahead.

Karen Gorrie

Next Tuesday, we celebrate the winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year. It is also a day that reminds us that as we enter winter hibernation, summer will eventually return, the buds of spring will break through, and light will overwhelm the darkness of winter once again, that winter is not forever. This is a time of hope!

Our first semester at St Margaret’s has offered many gifts and celebrations, and I give thanks for our community: staff, students, families, and friends. Together, we have also faced a few challenges, with COVID, floods, storms and illness. As we approach the school holidays, may these three weeks be a time of hibernation, refreshment, and renewal - ready to emerge, like spring from winter, into Semester 2.

Enjoy your break.

Rev'd Jazz

“May the sun, moon and stars glow on you like a great fire. May you rest and hibernate in the exquisite darkness. May you and the whole of the planet be yoked to new life through God’s holy light and holy darkness.”
(A blessing from: )

Understanding cultural differences is paramount for both boarding staff and students. Engaging both staff and students in accepting diversity is the first step in ensuring that all students are seen as an integral part of the boarding community. Teaching students to recognise, analyse, and articulate diverse perspectives, including those with whom they personally disagree, gives them the skills they need to understand a range of issues. The activities conducted across the closed weekend will help the girls understand that culture shapes a person’s sense of who they are and where they fit into their family, community and society. The girls will be encouraged to develop cultural sensitivity and competence that can be both a challenging and an exciting opportunity for them to expand their knowledge, skills and beliefs. Drawing on cultural diversity to explore underlying attitudes to broaden student views will better prepare them for life in a more culturally, linguistically and religiously diverse society. The aim of the weekend is to create a foundation for safety and respect so that relationships among diverse groups of individuals can flourish.

Lesa Fowler

1. Practice Gratitude – focus on the little things that make you happy, not the big things. A sunset, a delicious hot chocolate or the feel of sand on your bare feet.
2. Take deep breaths. Throughout the day, make a point of taking even just one deep breath at different times. Notice how it resets your posture and wakes you up.
3. Exercise your mind and your body. Go for a walk, do a HIIT workout or some yoga and meditation. It’s important to exercise and stretch both mind and body. Setting up healthy habits in the holidays makes it easier to fit them in once the term starts.
4. Practice good sleep hygiene. While it might be tempting to watch Gossip Girl until 1am and then sleep until 11am, this makes it much harder to adjust to a school time routine next term. Try for a more reasonable, regular bedtime and don’t sleep in too late. Put your phone and screens away from your bed and dim your lights 30 minutes before bed to allow your body’s natural melatonin production.

Caitlin McCluskey

As we proceed into a well-earned winter break, I encourage students to reflect on two more tasks:   

1. What academic achievement are you most proud of from the past semester? And, most importantly, why did this make you proud?
2. What academic challenges did you face in this past semester? And, most importantly, how do you think you have changed as a result of facing them?

As the great American philosopher and educational reformer John Dewey once said, “We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience.”

I wish all St Margaret’s families a happy and safe holiday and look forward to seeing many of you at Secondary Parent Teacher Interviews on Monday 11 July.

End of Semester Reports

A reminder that End of Semester 1 Reports will be available on the Parent Lounge from 4:00pm on Friday 24 June.

Chris Dunn

At school, staff share stories and experiences of themselves and others, stressing the importance that the girls should learn not give up on their dreams when they have setbacks and to find a way forward. It is humbling for the girls to hear such stories of someone not having a ‘dream run’ towards their goals, but determination and perseverance assisted them in keeping on track for their vision.

Over the holidays, girls will receive their Semester 1 reports. I encourage you to sit down with your daughter and go through the report in detail. Goal setting in academics is no different to goal setting in other areas of life. Setting goals is proven to be effective in achieving stronger results. I hope you take the opportunity to have some worthy conversations with your daughter about her plans and processes to reach her academic targets. I hope you have a wonderful winter holiday with your daughter.

Nikki Townsend

While the Year 5 girls were away, students in Pre-Prep to Year 2 celebrated being Under 8. Each day, the students participated in a special activity relating to the theme ‘Playing in a Changing World’. The week culminated with a market day of activities at Windsor Park where many items were created thanks to the planning of the classroom teachers. Thank you to teachers in these year levels and to the parents who attended. By all accounts, they loved the train as much as the children! The week’s success lies with the hours of planning and organisation undertaken by Georgi Eadie and Camille Poupardin. I appreciate their dedication and the support of the other teachers in making the week a great experience for all involved.

Sport has also been a feature of the week with girls heading to Toowoomba for soccer and cross country. Congratulations to Junior A and A Grade for each being awarded first place and B Grade for placing third in soccer. They were close games, and I know the girls appreciated Deputy Principal Karen Gorrie and Dean of Students Nikki Townsend coming along to cheer them on from the sidelines. 

The cross country team had a big day, competing in the afternoon and heading back to Brisbane at sunset. It didn’t affect their effort and results. Congratulations to all our runners who placed second overall in the aggregate cup, with the following outstanding age group results: 8 and 9 years (4th); 10 and 11 years (1st); 12 years (2nd). St Margaret's also won the Noel McBride Relay Cup (which is not for points) -  runners Georgiana, Estella, and Lucy are pictured below with Andrew Cup Cross Country Captain Lucinda holding the cup. 

Congratulations to our Noel McBride Cup runners who also made the Met North cross country team.

Lucy Page: 1^st place

Georgiana Richardson: 2^nd Place

Estella Uhlmann: 3^rd place

Good luck to these girls when they head off to the Queensland state cross country championships. 

These sporting achievements were a great way to finish the term.

Term 2 has been a huge term with each of the students growing cognitively, physically, and spiritually. I thank all the teachers whose planning and encouragement have helped the students to achieve this growth, and I thank you, parents, for your support. Please see the POD for learning holiday ideas, so gains made this term are not lost.

I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday.

The Countdown to MAYO is on!

Please see the MAYO section in the eNews. The important information is to get your tickets for the cocktail party on Friday 29 July. This is a great night to socialise and have first dibs on the beautiful 3D art pieces.

Saturday will be a wonderful day of workshops, rides, market stalls and food trucks. Don’t forget to book yourself and/or your child into a workshop as they fill fast. Thank you to the class parent representatives for the planning and preparation undertaken for the year level stalls. Please check the list of donations requested as you may like to purchase these items during the holidays.

Angela Drysdale

Academic Reports for students in Prep to Year 6 will share course content, marks for the criteria assessed, a table showing the distribution of achievement levels (Years 3-6), and an assessment of attitude to learning. The academic ratings are based on the assessment completed throughout the semester. Students in Prep to Year 4 will also receive a comment regarding their development in Mathematics and English. Students in Years 5 and 6 should refer back to the comments from each assessment in the curricular activities section in Parent Lounge on each Continuous Reporting assessment.

Please note that if a No Result (NR) is recorded, then there is insufficient evidence to make a judgement.

Kate Frewin

Classics in the Cathedral Photos 

Photos from Classics in the Cathedral are now available for viewing on the St Margaret’s Music POD page. Thank you again to all students and staff who were involved in this special event.

Anglican Schools Music Festival 

This year once again, Anglican schools from SE Qld will combine musical forces to present the Anglican Schools Music Festival at QPAC on 12 August. In its fourth biennial, this festival is a wonderful celebration of music in the Anglican sector and will see the coming together of like-minded students and music educators from fourteen Anglican schools culminating in a Gala Concert at the QPAC Concert Hall. Four ensembles will be formed for the festival, including a Symphonic Band, String Orchestra, Choir and massed 300 strong Symphony Orchestra/Choir. This year, a work has been specially commissioned by renowned Australian composer Paul Jarman to be presented as the finale at the event’s concert. A number of St Margaret’s music students will have recently received Letters of Offer. To accept the offer, students are required to register as per the instructions provided in the letter by Friday 8 July. Please note that all students who participate are invited to attend a pre-event rehearsal on 17 July. Tickets to attend the Gala Concert may be purchased soon via QPAC Ticketing with further details to be provided soon. We look forward to this being a very special musical experience for our students!

Music Support Group 

Thank you to all those who attended the last Music Support Group meeting. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 2 August at 5.00pm in M’s Cafe. Parents from both the primary and secondary Schools are welcome to attend.

Brad King

A big congratulations to our Year 9A touch football team who won the QGSSSA premiership.

Team: Millie Campbell, Tilly Charlton, Mily Coleman, Ruby East, Lilly Halliday, Lily Hicks, Phoebe Kibble, Emily MacDowell, Priya Madders, Ebony Okonkwo, Katie Steven, Emma Walley, Milli Watson, Issy Johnson (Reserve)

For a full list of results for all sports, please check out the .

Thank you to our autumn sport captains, coaches, teachers, and coordinators for all their work across the season.  Well done to all players on a fantastic season!

Chess Club

In Semester 2, St Margaret’s will be establishing a social chess club within the secondary school. All clubs start from humble beginnings, with the aim of forming a social group that embodies our Maggies spirit towards chess.  

The club will be coordinated by Ms Siddans in the Library, with activities taking place Tuesday morning 7:30-8:15am and Thursday lunch 1:05-1.50pm.

Student expressions of interest are essential and can be completed on the

Sporting Achievement

It’s with great pleasure that we can recognise the outstanding sport performances and representation of St Margaret’s students at a national and international level. I would like to highlight and congratulate the following students on their recent achievements:

Milli Watson (Year 9) has had an outstanding term of sport. After her recent success at the national softball championships, Milli was selected as part of the U14 Australian softball squad. In addition, Milli has also been selected in the U15 Queensland touch football shadow team.

Bless Daly (Year 8), Cosette Cooke (Year 9) and Lucy Stuart (Year 8) lit up the pool at the Delfina Interstate Challenge winning gold as part of the Queensland representative team. Congratulation girls and well done to Bless who was awarded the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

We would like to continue to recognise the outstanding achievements and representation of students’ participating a national level, outside of the school sport pathway. I look forward to continuing to hear from our community regarding such outstanding achievements. Please directly contact Mr Knight via lknight@stmargarets.qld.edu.au  

GO MAGGIES!

Lloyd Knight

Tickets: $70pp, includes drink on arrival and canape menu. Cash bar will be available.

Download the event invitation. (PDF 5.1MB)

Purchase online:

Stall Donations - We need your support

We need your help to make the MAYO Arts Festival stalls a huge success. If you are out and about shopping over the holidays, you might like to add an item or two to contribute to the MAYO Arts Festival stalls.

Over the coming weeks we would appreciate donations of the following items:

Week 1 (8 July) – prizes for lucky dips

Week 2 (15 July) – cans of softdrinks, bottled water and bags of lollies (Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Solo, Water and Nudie Juice (orange/tropical) preferred)

Week 3 (22 July) – bottles of wine, anything and all things wine and chocolate

Week 4 (29 July) – cakes and baked goods

Download and print the stall donations list. (PDF 2.4MB)

Thank you for your support.

All donations can be delivered to the Primary Office or School Support.

Thank you to our stall sponsors including Golf Central, Angelo’s Fresh Pasta, Applied Air Services, Scriptrite Pharmacy Albion and Clear Insurance for their support of our year level stalls.

Workshops

Workshops will run at the festival on Saturday 30 July for both children and adults to learn a new skill and create a unique piece to take home.

Book in here:

Hurry, places are limited so be sure to make your booking soon so as not to miss out.

Please refer to the attached Information Guide for full booking terms and conditions. We are unable to accept bookings via email or text message. The OSHC registration and Debitsuccess form must be completed, signed and sent back to us to finalise your booking. Please read the information guide carefully as some information has changed. OSHC Registration and Debitsuccess can be completed via the My Family Lounge.

PLEASE COMPLETE YOUR VACATION CARE BOOKING FORM VIA THE MY FAMILY LOUNGE APP

We are very excited to inform you that St Margaret’s OSHC has subscribed to a fantastic online Booking and Waitlist management program called QK Enrol. This program will give you access to manage your own account information, where you will have the ability to make bookings requests and allows you to complete and submit an online enrolment form for your child. You can do this and much, much more all within a parent portal called ’My Family Lounge’.

How do I log in?

Please navigate to the link below and either sign in with your existing My Family Lounge account or Register for an account if you do not already have one. Please note all families who have previously submitted an enrolment form will have an account already set up; all you will need to do is click ‘forgotten password’ and use the email address you used to receive this form.

When making a Vacation Care booking please select Casual bookings, not Permanent.

What is the cost?*

Fees: $66 per day*

Bookings close: 13 June 2022

*Incursions and excursions incur additional costs. These are compulsory for all students and therefore you are able to claim CCS.

What are the hours of operation?

The service is open from 7:00am until 6:00pm.

How can I obtain more information?

If you would like further information regarding our OSHC Program or if you would like to make a booking, feel free to contact me on 0423 547 653 or email: oshc@stmargarets.qld.edu.au.

Palu Ingram

Reunion Weekend 2022

St Margaret’s warmly invites graduate students from 2012, 2002, 1992, 1982, 1972, 1962 and VIP graduates from the years 1961 and prior to return to the school for their Reunion Weekend in July.

The reunions will be held at various locations at St Margaret’s over the weekend of Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 July. 

The Old Girls’ Day Chapel Service and morning tea will be held from 10.30am on Sunday 24 July, and is always a wonderful opportunity to reconnect, remember and share personal histories with one another. For more details and to purchase tickets, please visit the Reunion Weekend event page.

PWN 3 with Heidi Cooper, CEO of Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland (CCIQ)

Join us for our third PWN Breakfast on Thursday 18 August, with guest speaker Heidi Cooper, CEO of Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland (CCIQ).

This is a wonderful opportunity for you to attend with your daughter or to take a corporate table and host your colleagues or clients.

Heidi Cooper is the CEO of CCIQ and is passionate about driving Queensland’s strategic growth. Throughout her career, Heidi has worked extensively for the advancement of business in Queensland. With over 20 years’ experience in law, corporate affairs and policy making, Heidi has successfully driven strategies for major ASX companies. She has specialised in leading sustainable business initiatives with a key focus on economic growth, job creation, education, sustainability and community engagement. Heidi is currently a member of the Jobs Queensland Board and Brisbane Festival Giving Committee. She also has a longstanding commitment to community and not-for-profit initiatives and is a member of the St Margaret’s Foundation Board and the St Joseph’s College Gregory Terrace School Advisory Council. 

Date: Thursday 18 August 2022

Time: 6.45am arrival for 7.00am - 8.45am

Location: Arts Centre Foyer, St Margaret's Anglican Girls' School, 11 Petrie Street, Ascot

Format: Sit down breakfast 

We also invite you to enjoy Barista Coffee from the Wolff Coffee Roasters cart, before and after the event!

Tickets: $85 Adult, $40 Student (Years 10-12/Tertiary).

Corporate tables: $850 (10 seats), includes company logo displayed on table and acknowledgement during event.

Book now via the Try Booking link:      

We thank our series sponsors for their support. Major Sponsor: Pitcher Partners, Associate Sponsors: Programmed Property Services and Wolff Coffee Roasters, and Supporting Sponsors: Downer, Clear Insurance, Westpac, O’Reilly Shaw Lawyers and Uniform Link.

Lara Pickering