BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL Annual Review · GENERAL REPORTS / 6 ... 37 STAFF 2016 / 42 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL Annual Review 2016. ... very successful year with Girls Grammar

IN EXCEPTIONAL SCHOLARSHIPTO BE A

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOLAnnual Review

2016

ISSN:1837–9168

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL 2016 Annual Review

CHAIR’S WELCOME / 2

PRINCIPAL’S INTRODUCTION / 3

BOARD OF TRUSTEES / 4

GENERAL REPORTS / 6

HIGHLIGHTS / 22

SPEECH DAY ADRESSES / 28

VALEDICTORY ADDRESS / 37

STAFF 2016 / 42

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOLAnnual Review

2016


CHAIR’S WELCOME

2016 was a ‘quieter’ year after the excitement of our 140 Year celebrations and the introduction of Year 7 in 2015, yet it was a very important year of consolidation with a keen focus on the future.

Academically, 2016 was another very successful year with Girls Grammar ranked by the Australian National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) as the top-performing school in Queensland. The entire Year 12 was OP eligible with 17.03 per cent receiving an OP 1-2 and 42.98 per cent an OP 1-5. These are excellent results and a wonderful reflection of the vibrant learning environment of our School and the exceptional scholarship that it fosters.

The Brisbane Girls Grammar School Parent Survey conducted out earlier this year provided the Board of Trustees with valuable insights. Many positives were highlighted and some constructive feedback will direct opportunities for improvement.

For the first time, representatives of the School’s support groups attended our Board Strategy Day in March and joined us at an informal dinner later in the year. These interactions enabled a deeper understanding of the views, insights and ideas of important and generous members of our School community and we look forward to continuing this approach in the future.

Furthering our purposeful community engagement aspirations for the year, discussions between the School and the Old Girls Association focused on developing an even stronger relationship under a shared Grammar Women banner.

Within the School’s enduring spirit of philanthropy, we were delighted to announce the establishment of the Brisbane Girls Grammar School Bursary. Just as the Maria Sulima Bursary has over the past twenty years provided a Girls Grammar education for twenty girls, this new bursary will

MS ELIZABETH JAMESON CHAIR OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

enable us to educate even more girls who meet the criteria for a Grammar girl — one who is curious, principled, adventurous, balanced and a leader — but whose family does not have the means to enable her to attend this School.

I pay tribute to the generosity of many past and present parents, past students, and friends of the School who enthusiastically embraced the initiative. I am very proud to extend my thanks to the School’s own dedicated staff who so willingly contributed to the fund; a great demonstration of their belief in the power and life-changing potential of a Girls Grammar education. We look forward to awarding the first of the new bursaries at Speech Day in 2017 for commencement at the School in Year 7 2018.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow Board members for their commitment to the traditions of Girls Grammar and the vision they have brought to the table this year as we embark upon the creation of our 25 Year Master Plan. The Plan will identify what is required to sustain and strengthen our magnificent School well into the future and we look forward to inviting input from the School community during the planning phase of this project.

I thank and congratulate School Principal, Ms Jacinda Euler on her superb leadership of a team of talented teaching and professional staff who are united in their commitment to creating an environment in which the Grammar girl is thriving.

Finally, I congratulate and thank all students and parents for their efforts during 2016 that have again delivered remarkable outcomes for our School community and helped fulfil the aspirations the Board has for every Grammar girl in their academic, sporting, creative and service pursuits.

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PRINCIPAL’S INTRODUCTIONMS JACINDA EULER PRINCIPAL

In 2016 the staff and girls of Brisbane Girls Grammar School lived up to our Aspiration — To be a leader in exceptional scholarship — across all spheres of life at the School. While our concept of a broad-based, liberal education continues to evolve, it remains firmly centred on a foundation that enlivens curiosity, nurtures a love of learning and inspires all girls to achieve their personal best.

In many ways, the year represented a productive phase of consolidation, planning and alignment. Proceeding from the 140-year anniversary in 2015, 2016 granted a little more ‘head space’ to focus deeply on learning excellence and pedagogical acuity, and to train our sights even more keenly on the future. All of our teachers spent time interrogating what it means to educate ‘The Expert Learner’ and contemplating the importance of formative assessment as part a new cycle of professional review. Teachers embedded these learnings in their classroom practice and prepared for the new system of senior assessment being introduced to Queensland in 2019.

The school motto Blue Unity is Opportunity was embraced wholeheartedly by the girls, inspiring them to achieve great things both individually and collectively. The exceptional achievements of the girls are highlighted in the pages

of this publication; it is testament to a well-rounded and balanced approach to education at Girls Grammar that these achievements span academia, music, the arts and sport, as well as a generous contribution to service, which seems to be ever-growing. Supported by professional and extraordinarily dedicated staff, our girls are encouraged to think deeply, while maintaining an open-minded approach to life that will instil in them the aptitudes and attitudes to contribute to their world with wisdom, imagination and integrity.

In this year of thoughtful planning and preparation for the future, the wise stewardship of the Board of Trustees, the expertise and professionalism of our teaching and professional staff, and the generous support of the broader community will help us to build on our sterling past and move confidently in to the future — Nil Sine Labore.

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BOARD OF TRUSTEESBRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

MR ANDREW KING

Trustee since 2014

Trustee since 2014 Mr King has more than thirty years’ experience in the Australian corporate real estate market and has specialist skills in negotiating, building high performance teams and businesses, funds management and development. Mr King is presently on the Boards of Urban Futures Brisbane and Queensland Investment Corporation and is a current parent.

MS ANN HARRAP (Head Girl, 1984) BA/LLB (2B Hons), Grad Dip Foreign Affairs and Trade

Trustee since 2014

Ms Harrap was the first female Australian High Commissioner to South Africa and was previously Deputy High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea. She served as a diplomat for twenty years and has extensive executive management experience with large, culturally diverse teams, including in Africa and Papua New Guinea.

MR TONY YOUNG BBus(Acct), FCA, CPA, FTIA, GAICD

CHAIR OF THE FINANCE, AUDIT, RISK AND RESOURCE COMMITTEE

Trustee since 2006

Mr Young is a partner with BDO, one of the largest professional services firms in Queensland, specialising in providing expert business, taxation and accountancy advice. He has more than thirty years’ experience as a Chartered Accountant providing assistance to a diverse selection of clients with a focus on significant family owned enterprises across a range of industries.

MS ELIZABETH JAMESON (Head Girl, 1982) BA/LLB (Hons1), LSDA, FAICD

CHAIR

CHAIR OF DEVELOPMENT AND PHILANTHROPY COMMITTEE

Trustee since 1994

Chair since 2006

Ms Jameson brings her background as a corporate/ commercial lawyer to her role as Managing Director of Board Matters, the specialist governance consultancy she founded. She sits on a number of boards including RACQ, Queensland Theatre Company, the University of the Sunshine Coast and Independent Schools Queensland.

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EMERITUS PROFESSOR DR MARY MAHONEY AO MBBS, GDipClinEd, HonMDQld, FRACGP, MRACMA, FAIM, FAMA, MAICD

DEPUTY CHAIR

Trustee since 2006

Professor Mahoney is a General Practitioner and was the first female Deputy Chancellor of The University of Queensland. She served for twenty-five years as State Director of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Training and has had a long involvement in educational and advisory bodies and boards.

PROFESSOR ADAM SHOEMAKER BA Hons, PHD

Trustee since 2014

Professor Shoemaker is Academic Provost at Griffith University. Professor Shoemaker is a former Director of Open Universities Australia (OUA) and is a member of the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) which oversees the State’s OP system, its involvement in NAPLAN and the development of the National Curriculum.

MS DIANA LOHRISCH (Head Girl, 1989) LLB, BComm, FCIS, FGIA

Trustee from 2013 until resignation 30 April 2016

Ms Lohrisch is a partner at law firm McCullough Robertson with over fifteen years’ experience advising boards and senior management. She was a teacher of Applied Corporate Law for the Governance Institute of Australia and is a former member of the Queensland Council of the Governance Institute of Australia and its National Legislation subcommittee.

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FINANCE REPORTMS RACHEL FRASER CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER AND SECRETARY TO THE BOARD

KEY FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

• In 2016 the School built on its already strong financial position and in doing so continued its commitment to a sustainable and confident future.

• Fee increases in 2016 were the lowest in many years for the second year in a row. The Board of Trustees has been working to bring annual tuition fees to a more sustainable level for the School whilst still being at an acceptable level for our families. Pleasingly, fee increases are now able to be kept more closely in line with general cost of living increases, whilst still making allowance for our annual agreed wage increases for our staff under our Enterprise Agreement.

• Close review of the political environment continued throughout the year, specifically in relation to national and state education policy announcements and private school funding.

• The School’s year-end results were achieved within the Board of Trustees’ approved budget for 2016. Surpluses are used to fund future investments such as payments on long-term capital loans, capital expenses, future capital projects and prudent savings for uncertain events.

• The School continues to grow its asset base, with the School’s infrastructure assets appreciating in value as a result of an independent valuation being carried out late in 2016.

• New initiatives were implemented throughout the year in relation to the School’s performance measurement and reporting systems, enhancing the monitoring of financial and operational performance.

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INCOME AND EXPENDITURE TRENDS 2012-2016

YEAR-END FINANCIAL RESULTS

The year-end financial results for 2016 were favourable and were in line with the Board-approved annual budget for income and expenditure. The graph below compares the School’s financial results over the past five years.

The additional income in 2015 related to the state-wide introduction of Year 7 and the consequential increase in recurrent State and Commonwealth Grants and tuition fees. This was also reflected by corresponding increase in expenses.

Tuition fees and government grants rely heavily on enrolment numbers for the School and the increase in both sources of income in 2016 is reflective of strong enrolments and a minimal increase in tuition fees.

In 2016, the increase in expenses related to the increase in employee, supplies and services expenditure in line with the agreed terms and conditions of employment of the School’s employees and the current cost of operations carried out within the school.

The graph below compares the School’s income and expenditure trends over the past five years.

ANNUAL OPERATING RESULTS 2012 TO 2016

5.0

0.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

40.0

35.0

45.0

INCOME

MIL

LIO

NS

EXPENSES SURPLUS

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

5.0

0.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

40.0

35.0

45.0

MIL

LIO

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20162015201420132012

EXPENDITURE INCOME

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FINANCE REORTMS RACHEL FRASER CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER AND SECRETARY TO THE BOARD

2016 INCOME BY TYPE

2016 EXPENDITURE BY TYPE

INCOME

As in previous years, the School continues to be reliant upon tuition fees which comprise 72 per cent of total revenue (2015: 71 per cent). State and Commonwealth Government Funding remained constant at 19 per cent. The graph below shows the key sources of income for the School.

EXPENDITURE

Funds are deployed to ensure the School is adequately resourced to provide a vibrant learning environment that fosters exceptional scholarship. Integral to this is the employment of high-calibre teaching staff who possess depth of knowledge in their discipline, pedagogical expertise and a true sense of the vocation of teaching.

The graph below shows the key sources of expenditure for the School.

Core operating expenses are highlighted as follows:

• Employee Expenditure — staff costs make up 62.5 per cent of the School’s total operating expenses and the annual increase in expenditure is consistent with agreed terms and conditions with the School’s employees as articulated in the School’s Enterprise Agreement 2015.

• Depreciation and Finance Costs — depreciation of the School’s assets and finance costs (through borrowings from Queensland Treasury Corporation, currently in place for previous year’s capital projects) made up 11.2 per cent of the total expenditure for the year.

• Supplies and Services — reflect tuition expenses (costs to fund day-to-day student activities), repairs and maintenance and administration expenses which — makes up 19.6 per cent of expenditure. The School places high importance on the maintenance of its three campuses, and has in place a rotational maintenance program for all infrastructure assets of the School.

Tuition Fees

72.0%

6.9%

11.9%

1.3%7.9%

State Government Grants

Commonwealth Government Grants

Donations & Contributions

Other Income

Employee Expenditure

62.5%

7.8%

3.4%

19.6%

6.7%

Depreciation & Amortisation

Finance Costs

Supplies & Services

Other Expenses

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ASSET BASE 2012-2016

CAPITAL EXPENSES AND GROWTH IN ASSETS

The capital expenses for 2016 focused on refurbishment of teaching spaces, security system and lighting upgrades, improvements to the School’s retaining walls and surrounding landscape and improvements to information technology infrastructure hardware.

In accordance with the School’s accounting policy property, plant and equipment increased in fair value due to an independent valuation of the School’s physical assets. Independent valuations are carried out every three years.

The graph below highlights the consistent growth in the School’s asset base and equity over the last five years with a reduction in liabilities.

GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE

The School acknowledges the contributions made by the State and Commonwealth Governments in the form of grant allocations. The grants received and approved in 2016 included:

• Recurrent State and Commonwealth Government Grants, including Indigenous assistance:

- Commonwealth Grants — $5 043 337

- State Government Grants — $2 712 041

20162015201420132012

$86m$92m $108m $113m $125m

$23m

$64m

$22m

$70m$35m

$73m

$32m

$81m

$29m

$96m

ASSETS LIABILITIES EQUITY

• Funding from the Queensland Government for VET Coordination, special education and students with a disability — $10 455

• Queensland State Endowment grant provided to Grammar Schools in Queensland to assist with the additional cost of complying with State Government legislation for Statutory Bodies — $21 500

• Queensland Government Great Teachers = Great Results Initiative (renamed Non-State School Teaching Capability 2015) — $162 987

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GENERAL REPORTMRS ANNA OWEN DEPUTY PRINCIPAL

Following the successful implementation of Year 7 at Brisbane Girls Grammar School in 2015, and the subsequent review of the implementation throughout 2016, we analysed the recommendations from the review when looking to the future model of instruction from Year 7 to Year 12 at Girls Grammar. Additionally, in 2016 we turned our attention to a new challenge in education in Queensland, the introduction of an External Assessment model in 2019. Our implementation is focused on best practice in a specialist secondary school for girls, within an academic environment including curriculum, student care and organisational matters appropriate for an external assessment model.

The staffing structure review was completed in 2016, assessing the roles and responsibilities and areas of focus for the academic Positions of Added Responsibility (PARs). In total, two new PAR 2s (Heads of Department) were created, and four existing PARs were reviewed and refined to fit the new subjects to be introduced under the External Assessment model. The addition of two new Deans: Dean of Academic Administration and Dean of Studies and Analytics — who work closely with the Heads of Department — and a staffing review of the administrative support for the Academic Administration hub of the school was also undertaken.

In 2016, we relocated Academic Administration to the heart of the school. The hub is surrounded by teaching faculties and an engagement zone where students and teachers meet for tutor groups and consultation. Creating an academic hub for senior staff, teachers and students is a most effective use of the space. The Dean of Curriculum and Scholarship, Dean of Studies and Learning Analytics, Dean of Academic Administration, Dean of Co-curriculum and Director of Post-Secondary Planning are housed in this building. Close connection between administrative, leadership and academic staff provides a vibrant staff community and tangible links have been and will continue to be strengthened by placing Deans and other administrative and leadership staff in closer contact with academic staff.

In 2016, the Research Learning Centre (opened in 2015) has an expanded use with the top floor becoming available as a teaching and learning space for the Humanities Faculty through the addition of four operable walls that provide the same flexibility experienced throughout the building. Extended Library hours have activated the use of this building beyond the normal school day and allowed increased student teacher access is encouraged, and parents are welcomed.

The Learning Analytics review and implementation provided staff with an overview of our students and cohorts’ longitudinal data in a timely manner that includes students’ pre-enrolment, enrolment, Years 7-12 internal and external, and their tertiary and destinations data. The Learning Analytics programme views each student, tracking their past, present and future pathways, manages their learning, forecasts effectively, and builds objective data points into educational planning documents. By analysing and making educationally sound judgements about existing data sets, we have combined data analysis with student and school performance to create a more integrated and customised learning experience for all students.

In order to achieve the strategic goal to create a vibrant learning environment that fosters exceptional scholarship and a culture of deep learning that stretches the boundaries between and within quality teaching, learning and thinking, reporting will become a continual process at Brisbane Girls Grammar School. Nearer to the end of 2016, we finalised preparations for the launch of continual reporting in Term I, 2017. Semester reporting has been phased out in favour of a process where technology is used to provide parents with their daughter’s individual grades continually. Results will be made available for parents once all staff have completed marking and moderation of a piece of assessment. Such an approach will provide parents with more ‘in time’ feedback. This approach is reflective of contemporary research relating to relevant and timely feedback as we decouple the assessment schedules from the Semester Reporting timelines and free up subjects to assess at different times of the term and support the Assessment for Learning culture.

FOSTERING EXCEPTIONAL SCHOLARSHIP

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Academic results

TERTIARY PLACEMENTS

KEY AREAS DETAILS OF MEASUREMENT PERFORMANCE

Year 12 results Year 12 results exceed state averages and majority of students receive their first, second or third preference tertiary placements

• The Year 12 cohort outperformed all state averages for OP and Queensland Core Skills (QCS) Test results

• 99.1 per cent of the Year 12 cohort received a tertiary placement offer in line with their preferences.

• 99.6 percent of the Year 12 cohort who applied for tertiary studies received a placement offer

OP RESULTPER CENT OF GIRLS GRAMMAR COHORT

PER CENT OF STATE COHORT

1 8.94 2.77

1-2 17.03 6.83

1-5 42.98 21.06

1-15 96.17 81.35

1-20 100 98.26

2016 Overall Position (OP) Results:

GRADEPER CENT OF

BGGS COHORT

PER CENT OF STATE COHORT

A 46.6 17.5B 28.9 27.5C 21.1 34.3

D 3.5 20.6

E 0 0.1

2016 QCS Test Results:

* State OP 1–25 = 100%

2016 Australian National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN)

Brisbane Girls Grammar School ranked as the top-performing school in Queensland, overall, in NAPLAN for 2016. The Year 7 cohort was ranked second overall in the State and, for the third consecutive year, the Year 9 cohort were the top performers in Queensland.

2016 READING WRITING SPELLINGGRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION

NUMERACY

BGGS 100 97.8 100 99.5 100

Percentage of Students at or above the national Minimum Standard:


NUMERACY

BGGS 656 597 641 662 670State 576 534 574 569 582National 581 548 580 570 589

Year 9 2016 overall NAPLAN results (average):


NUMERACY

BGGS 100 100 99.6 99.6 100

Percentage of Students at or above the national Minimum Standard:


NUMERACY

BGGS 615 571 601 633 630State 539 502 540 538 546National 541 515 543 540 550

Year 7 2016 Overall NAPLAN Results (average):

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GENERAL REPORTMRS ANNE INGRAM DEPUTY PRINCIPAL (STUDENTS)

In the final week of every Girls Grammar school year, with assessment finalised and the Christmas holidays beckoning, the Year 11 cohort takes part in their annual Senior Leadership Conference. This is a two-day event planned and run by the School’s Student Care staff, with the aim to prepare our upcoming Year 12 leaders for the challenge of leading the School into and throughout the next year. It is at this time following a long and careful process of nominations, speeches, voting and interviews, the Year 12 leadership positions are finalised. It is always with a rising sense of excitement and anticipation that the Year 11 students — soon to be Year 12s and facing their final year — gather together to consider their leadership vision for the School. Through a series of presentations, animated discussions, role-playing and teamwork challenges, the girls distil their thoughts, ideals and aspirations into a collective future vision for each of their Houses.

SUPPORTING YOUNGER STUDENTS THROUGH STUDENT MENTORING

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REFERENCES

Hanewald, R. (2013). Transition between primary and secondary school: why it is important and how it can be supported. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 38(1).

Study buddies. (2014). Grammar Gazette. (Spring), p. 7.

When asked to reflect upon the Conference, the girls’ responses are many and varied:

’It was a wonderful opportunity to work with my co-captain for next year and to start planning activities for our House.’

’I loved the Motto activity. It helped our group to consider our leadership plan for 2017.’

’Peer Power were great. They were really enthusiastic and helped to motivate everyone.’

Always, the most positivity and enthusiasm is generated by the Year 7 Buddy Programme. At this time, the Year 11 students receive information about their Year 7 buddy and the nurturing of these connections begins. Communication is made between buddy pairs long before the commencement of the school year. Phone numbers and email addresses are shared and from there, the relationships start to blossom.

For well over three decades, the Brisbane Girls Grammar School Buddy Programme has been in place, supporting new students as they enter the School and make the adjustment to secondary school. The transition period from primary school to secondary school is seen as an important crossroad as young people move from a small, self-contained primary school classroom to a larger, more heterogeneous secondary school. An important aspect in the adjustment to a new school is the students’ sense of belonging and their level of wellbeing. A high sense of belonging and the feeling of social connection promote success in the secondary school environment and this can be fostered with a carefully designed transition programme. Transition from primary school to secondary school comes at a time when students are experiencing changes associated with their movement from childhood to adolescence. Understanding the nature and characteristics of young adolescent development can focus effort in meeting the needs of these students. Research is clear that successful transition from primary to secondary schooling is significantly linked with understanding and addressing the developmental issues facing young adolescents.

The strength and ultimate success of our Buddy programme lies in the careful and considered pairing of girls, based on mutual connections. Girls paired by common co-curricular interests, such as sport and music, result in more meaningful connections and the development of a more positive and longer lasting rapport. Many a nervous Year 7 student has quickly developed confidence in navigating the Brisbane public transport system, supported by their Year 12 buddy who catches the same bus or train.

Through the course of the year, Year 12 buddies provide support and wise counsel, celebrate milestones, and encourage academic growth along with a strong sense of School spirit and pride. Year 12 buddies assist their younger charges to successfully and confidently navigate the Girls Grammar community and to develop an understanding and appreciation of the rich cultures and traditions of the School.

The House Prefect role is a highly sought-after senior leadership position in the School. Assigned to House Groups in Years 7, 8 and 9, House Prefects become an integral part of each House Group, developing connections with all of the students and working in close collaboration with each other and the House Group Teacher. Throughout the year, the House Prefects are instrumental in developing and nurturing the social cohesion of the House Group, while upholding the standards and expectations of the School. With the assistance of the House Prefects, House Group Teachers can build connected classrooms that celebrate diversity and encourage each girl to be their best selves.

The School’s voluntary Study Buddy Programme sees Year 8 students partnered with a Year 11 mentor. Acting as a role model for good study habits, the older students assist the younger girls with their organisation and time management skills throughout the course of the year, in addition to helping them to develop confidence in planning effective study routines.

’The best thing about having a study buddy is she is somebody to go to if I need help for a subject or any other advice about school. I would definitely recommend this programme to other students because it has been very helpful knowing a Year 11 girl who is always there to help.’ (Georgia Peterson, 2014).

‘I believe it is a truly rewarding programme to be a part of. It helps break down the barriers between grades and it helps a younger girl who has just come to Girls Grammar “find her footing”, which I think is the most important thing.’ (Caitlin Williamson, 2014).

In all areas of the School, younger students are supported and mentored by the older students, and these relationships reap rich rewards for all involved. Year 12 Buddies, House Prefects and Study Buddies are examples of the exceptional role that senior students play in nurturing the younger girls to enable them to feel an integral part of the Brisbane Girls Grammar School community, and to develop a strong sense of unity and belonging that is essential for their emotional wellbeing.

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GENERAL REPORTDR BRUCE ADDISON DEAN OF CURRICULUM AND SCHOLARSHIP

CURRICULUM STEWARDSHIP IN AN ERA OF RADICAL CHANGE

Queenslanders are different! Journalist, the late Peter Charlton, wrote an interesting book in the 1980’s mapping the reasons for this1. At the time, Queensland had had successive Coalition governments, supported by the now infamous system of rural vote weightage, a mechanism for electoral success that had had its genesis well before the Coalition victory in 1957. Given this history there is a sense that everything that occurred during this period was tainted. Viewed through a different lens, this contention cannot be supported. Radical reform and curriculum innovation emerged, somewhat surprisingly, during this era (Clark, 1987). Education in Queensland became unique with the birth of internal school-based assessment and its eventual partner, criteria-based assessment. In many respects, aspects of this system became the envy of educational jurisdictions around the world.

The decision to abolish external examinations is an example of ground-breaking reform. The impetus arose, in part, by the desire to strengthen the professional standing of the teaching profession. Teachers were seen to be the best arbiters of student learning. It was a system based on trust. Panels of peers were to review student work to ensure comparability and standardised tests were to be used to scale school-based assessment (Clark, 1987). This radicalism is in stark contrast to the current era where in some circles, there appears to be a complete distrust of the teaching profession.

As with all systems, time reveals a number of expected and unexpected pressures. The need for systemic change beyond the incremental becomes inevitable (Matters & Masters, 2014). The revision that has occurred has again been radical. It has managed to capture many of the idiosyncrasies unique to Queensland’s approach to secondary education. It is in this environment that the School’s approach to curriculum development evolved during 2016. The Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) has been charged with implementing this new model. As with other eras of significant curriculum reform, Brisbane Girls Grammar School staff have been at the vanguard of this change. Our teachers have embraced the challenge as members of: Expert Writing Teams, Learning Area Reference Groups, Critical Friends as well as writers and markers of trial external examinations. The commitment of our staff when embracing this change has been exemplary.

The essence of our system of criteria-based assessment has been reconceptualised. Queensland’s deeply embedded Common Curriculum Elements (CCE’s), founded ostensibly on Benjamin Bloom’s (1956) well-known Taxonomy, have been replaced by a series of imperatives based on Mazarno and Kendall’s (2007) six learning domains. Given this, much work needs to be done to rearticulate our approaches to learning so that they coalesce closely with the non-linear architecture of Mazarno and Kendall’s work. This has been one of our priorities during 2016 and will remain so over the next few years. In order to commence this process, significant professional development time has been devoted to auditing our approach to assessment. Cross-Faculty teams were

devised to enable such a scan. It was important that this was conducted through a variety of lenses. Guest presenters, Ms Jacqui Wilton, Director of Curriculum Services (QCAA) and Mrs Chris Gilmore, author of the bestselling book, QCS Success, provided staff with a variety of perspectives through which to base their deliberations.

Curriculum is nothing without learning. This is the basis on which we are approaching the velocity of change informing our professional space. The concept of ‘noticing learning’ (Willis and Adie, 2014) in the context of formative assessment practice (DeLuca, Chapman and Klinger, 2016) is being used as a way in which to broaden our teaching practice, especially at Year 7. Our strategy is based firmly on the ideal that Year 7 is foundational to the six-year Girls Grammar experience. It is during this critical period that good learning practice develops. Irrespective of pressures emanating from systemic change or the strictures placed on our curriculum by standardised testing (e.g. NAPLAN), attention must be focused unashamedly on building learning power and resilience. To this end, the work of Professors Dylan Wiliam, Gordon Stobart, Guy Claxton and Carol Dweck has informed and will continue to inform our practice. A partnership has been created with Australian Catholic University’s Learning Science Research Institute that will help to embed the idea of ‘noticing’ learning further. As with the educational reforms of the late 1960s, this approach is founded firmly on the premise that teachers are in the best position to gauge the progress of their students. If the foundations for effective learning is established in the early years of secondary school, there will much on which to base the more complex learning required in Years 10 -12.

Our staff have embraced this model wholeheartedly. To this end, a diverse group of staff presented a Symposium at the recent international assessment conference hosted by the Learning Science Research Institute. The Symposium was called Fight or Flight: Risking self in formative assessment for shaping learning agency. Assessment scholars from around the world supported enthusiastically our holistic approach to learning and assessment, particularly the way in which academic care is foundational to our approach to curriculum development.

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Curriculum is the conduit through which learning occurs. Those who devise curriculum need to be both Captains Cook and Kirk. Deliberations must be founded on the tried and true; concepts that once may have been considered radical. At the same time there must be courage to go where no one has gone before in an attempt to forge learner agency that

is vibrant, engaging and relevant. The twenty-first century demands nothing less from us. We stand on the shoulders of giants, those men and women who executed radical curriculum change in the late 1960s. We are ever mindful of this as we construct our concept of a broad-based liberal education in an era of radical change.

REFERENCES

Bloom, B., Englehart, M. Furst, E., Hill, W., & Krathwohl, D. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals. Handbook I: Cognitive domain. New York, Toronto: Longmans

Clark, E. (1987). Assessment in Queensland Secondary Schools: Two Decades of Change, Historical Perspectives on Contemporary Issues in Queensland Education No 4. Department of Education Queensland. 1-14.

DeLuca, C., Chapman, A., & Klinger, D.A. (2016). Implementing assessment for learning: A continuum for teacher professional learning. Paper presented at the American Educational Association Annual Conference, Washington, DC, USA, April, 2016.

Matters, G. and Masters, G. (2014). Redesigning the Secondary — Tertiary Interface: Queensland Review of Secondary and Tertiary Interface, Australian Council for Educational Research, 1-260.

Mazarno, R. and Kendall, J. (2007). The New Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Thousand Oaks: Corwin.

Willis, J., & Adie, L. (2014). Teachers using annotations to engage students in assessment conversations: Recontextualising knowledge. The Curriculum Journal, 25(4), 495-515.

FOOTNOTE

1Charlton, P. State of Mind: Why Queenslander’s Are Different. North Ryde: Methuen Haynes.

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GENERAL REPORTMS MAGGI GUNN DEAN OF CO-CURRICULUM

The Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto (2006) states that ’every young person should experience the world beyond the classroom as an essential part of learning and personal development, whatever their age, ability or circumstance‘ and at Brisbane Girls Grammar School a vast array of life-wide opportunities exist for students to participate and learn beyond the classroom. Co-curricular activities are viewed and supported as an extension to the formal curriculum and provide an avenue for students to blend, extend and enrich aspects of their academic learning into personal actions as well as to explore and gain real-life lessons about the importance of teamwork, commitment, responsibility, independence, resilience and leadership.

Throughout 2016, the Instrumental Music Programme offered students the opportunity to include music as part of their daily routine and engage and explore beyond the usual academic routine. Students involved in the Co-curricular Music Programme participated in workshops, festivals and camps and performed in concerts, competitions and official functions. Workshops throughout the year offered students the opportunity to rehearse and perform with students involved in music programmes at Brisbane Grammar School, Brisbane Boys College, Mary McKillop College, Somerville House, Villanova College and Canterbury College. The major musical events of the year — the Cathedral Concert in April, Gala Concert in October, and Speech Day at the end of School year in November — each provided opportunity for senior ensembles to demonstrate their outstanding level of musicianship and technical expertise. We welcomed Dr Mark Laycock as our first international musician in residence in 2016 and students also benefitted from visiting clinicians; three from the United States of America (USA) Mr Jason Noble (New York), Mr Richard Saucedo (Indiana), and Dr Rob McWilliams (Winsconsin) and Dr Ralph Hultgren joined us from Brisbane.

2016 was again a big year for sport at Brisbane Girls Grammar School, with 147 teams representing the School in various sporting competitions and twenty-nine teams wining pennants. The Open Cricket Team won the premiership for the first time since 2008 and the Open Water Polo Team won the U16 BWPI Premiership for the first time since 2002. Badminton continues to show growth in participation numbers and strength — winning four pennants across two days of competition. With global research supporting the correlation between participation in competitive sport and the development of resilience, perseverance, confidence, discipline, a strong work ethic and the ability to see projects through to completion (Ernst & Young, 2015), it is reassuring that approximately 75 per cent of students participated in competitive sport throughout the year. 2016 saw five Girls Grammar students being selected to represent Australia and we welcomed Alumna Olympian, Ms Fiona Albert (2007) to speak at the 2016 Sportswomen of Excellence celebration, which began with the boat naming of recently purchased Quad 5, Fiona Albert — Almeda in her honour.

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

Co-curricular drama opportunities continue to provide Girls Grammar students with a creative, social and performance-based outlet. The Senior Drama cast performed Michael Futcher and Helen Howard’s adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s classic play The Caucasian Chalk Circle to tell the powerful story of courage, morality and justice. The Year 9 and 10 Drama Production, Headspace, was written and directed by Brisbane Girls Grammar School Drama teacher, Mr Brad Jennings with original music composed specifically for the production by our very talented Curriculum Music Teacher, Ms Adele Cummings. Packed audiences delighted in the first Year 7 and 8 Drama Production of Grimms Tales which journeyed through numerous folk tales with imagination, creativity and humour. Additionally, participants in Grammar Dance and the Drama Studio performed for enthusiastic audiences at the end of each semester.

Throughout the year, the phrase ‘for better unity support your community’ was heard from the Service Captains of 2016 at each School assembly and the sale of #blunity stickers supported the 2016 School Charity, Kids Helpline. As each year, Brisbane Girls Grammar School students have supported each other and the wider community (both within and beyond Girls Grammar) through numerous charity and awareness clubs and ventures. In 2016 more than $68 000 was raised by Girls Grammar students and was donated to various external charity groups. Various areas of the School embraced the vision of the Student Council to unite the School through participation in Service with Year 7 demonstrating exceptional participation and fundraising in Jump Rope for Heart. The Brisbane Girls Grammar School Cricket Teams held Pink Stumps Day (McGrath Foundation), Water Polo players purchased Brisbane Girls Grammar School thongs with proceeds donated to Sport Matters and the Libellum Society fundraising for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

Empathy and compassion were combined with intentional planning, preparation and action to raise awareness and support many worthwhile causes. The Uralla Club, Time for Change, BGGS Ambassadors and Pay it Forward do not involve fundraising activities. Rather, members of these groups considered how best to raise awareness and create

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change to assist others. Also, this year, the Brisbane Girls Grammar School commitment to the Ecumenical Coffee Brigade saw staff supporting the commitment to making sandwiches for those in need in the Brisbane community on two occasions when senior students were unavailable due to Stand Down.

2016 was also another successful year of debating with our largest cohort of Year 7, 8 and 9 debaters participating in the tri-schools competition and approximately 220 students debating in one or more of the six competitions offered throughout the year. Girls Grammar is fortunate to have many Old Girls return to coach debating; our coaching team comprises approximately 80 per cent past students. Thirteen Brisbane Girls Grammar School Debating Teams were invited to compete in the Finals Series with three teams reaching quarter finals and the Senior A team being unfortunately narrowly defeated in the semi-final. The successful Year 11 debaters won the Queensland Debating Union (QDU) State Final and the Brisbane Girls Debating Association (BGDA) Queensland University of Technology Business School

REFERENCES

Bustead, B. (2014). Higher education’s six sigma. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/170576/higher-education-six-sigma.aspx

Department for Education and Skills. (2006). Learning outside the classroom manifesto. Retrieved from http://www.lotc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/G1.-LOtC-Manifesto.pdf

Ernst & Young. (2015). Where will you find your next leader. Retrieved from http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY-where-will-you-find-your-next-leader/$FILE/where-will-you-find-your-next-leader-report-from-EY-and-espnw.pdf

Championship, with a combined Year 11 and 12 Team winning the QDU Women’s Championship. Testament to the opportunities available in debating a Year 12 student represented Australia in the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Competition held in Pittsburgh (USA) in 2016 and a Year 11 student represented Queensland in the National Schools Debating Championships held in Sydney.

Participation in activities of interest provide a focus beyond tests, assignments and academic results and a space to breathe, learn and flourish. A 2014 study of more than 30 000 college graduates suggests that students involved in deep experiential learning opportunities, such as co-curricular activities, experienced increased satisfaction and engagement in their work and were more likely to be thriving in all areas of life well-being (Bustead, 2014). For students at Brisbane Girls Grammar School, 2016 was a busy and productive year both within and beyond the classroom and we continue to appreciate and value the contribution and generosity of staff in contributing to the co-curricular life of the School.

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GENERAL REPORTMRS PAULINE HARVEY-SHORT DEAN OF SCHOOL

Led by 2016 Head Girls, Sarah Miller and Lili Wackwitz the 2016 Student Council began the year with the annual Student Council Conference and, in one session, analysed their strengths as a group with School Psychologist, Mrs Jody Forbes. This analysis listed their dominant attributes as: humour, leadership, kindness, fairness, zest, and curiosity. In true Girls Grammar style, the Council then set about determining goals for the year and, finally, the motto emerging from these goals. Their desire for the year was captured in a quotation found in the Student Council agenda for 28 January 2016.

‘We want to be remembered for unity; getting stuff done; being zesty; achieving goals; being involved; creating a sense of belonging; fun; and embracing achievements’ (2016 Student Council).

With these aspirations firmly in the heart and mind of the Council as a whole, the group complied with Ibarra’s concept of the ’Outsight Principle’ where ’…people become leaders by doing leadership work’. Ibarra believes that doing leadership work results in ’two important, inter-related processes, one external and one internal. The external process is about developing a reputation for leadership potential or competency. The internal process concerns the evolution of our own internal motivations and self-definition; it doesn’t happen in a vacuum but rather in our relationships with others’ (Ibarra, 4). The more frequently a student accepts roles, introduces new ideas, and connects with people, the more they are confirmed as leaders. This confirmation reinforces each student’s view of self and thus she internalises a leadership identity. Therefore, by acting like a leader, the student begins to think like a leader.

Student Council members discovered many opportunities to act like leaders, and subsequently, think like leaders. The goals established in January created an effective framework which cleverly morphed into the acronym, ISASN which stood for: involvement, support, acknowledgement, spirit, and networks. These goals underpinned the motto of ‘Blue unity is opportunity’ which was abbreviated to #blunity. #blunity resonated with the techno-savvy student community and promoted the Student Council’s overarching goal.

INVOLVEMENT: the Student Council was totally committed to inspiring each student and enhancing the Girls Grammar experience for all. Leading by example, members of the Student Council competed, volunteered, and facilitated activities (such as Valentine’s Day with the innovative love letters delivered by a squad of cupids — aka, the Student Council); were seen setting the tone on the ‘dfloor’; invited the Junior Executive Force to meetings; created videos to promote events; and regularly dressed in all shades of blue.

In the words of the girls from the Year 12 Exit Survey:

‘I have enjoyed the sense of unity and ’teamwork’ of not only the Year 12 cohort, but the whole School. I have also enjoyed the opportunity of being a leader and becoming a role model for the younger girls.’

THE NEXT GENERATION OF GRAMMAR WOMEN — THE 2016 YEAR 12 LEADERSHIP JOURNEY

‘What I have enjoyed the most is being a leader in the School, organising a lot of events and being involved in so many experiences.’

SUPPORT: Lizzio et al state that ‘peer encouragement and participation has been found to predict adolescents’ motivation to engage in community or civic activities (e.g. volunteering) (da Silva et al. 2004), and students who report higher levels of support from their peers also report a stronger sense of school membership’ (Lizzio et al, 1987). This translated for the Girls Grammar Class of 2016 into greater attendance at the Queensland Girls Secondary Schools Sports Association (QGSSSA) Swimming and Cross Country with ’buddies’ attending together to support their ‘sisters’; successful busking across the year; TEDx involvement; and Slam poetry deliveries to appreciative audiences.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: this goal was achieved on a regular basis on School assemblies celebrating outstanding performances; in Year 12 assemblies with birthday celebrations; the Year 12 Passion Series learning about the diverse interests of the cohort; and on a personal basis where girls were encouraged to congratulate their peers on a job well done.

SPIRIT: the School celebrated Olympic Day, the brainchild of the School Sports Captains, where Year 12 tables became a mini-world with a range of countries represented and the dance-floor celebrating the Australian team. Throughout the year, various events that were preludes to a School activity or occasion engaged students and enhanced the culture of the School. Year 12s once again captured the essence of a special school spirit.

‘I have loved the spirit and culture of this School.’

‘What I have enjoyed most — the community formed (#blunity) and the joyful spirit.’

‘The spirit of our year level has been particularly lovely. We are extremely supportive of each other, our backgrounds, passions and range of interests. It makes it a lot easier to be yourself and follow your passion when your peers accept you …’

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REFERENCES

Brisbane Girls Grammar School. (2016). Year 12 Exit Survey. n.p.

Hines, G. (2013). Student leadership experiences: a case study. Leading and managing, 19(1), 32-50.

Ibarra, H. (2015). Act like a leader, think like a leader. Boston, Massachusetts, USA: Harvard Business Review Press.

Lizzio, A., Dempster, N., & Neumann, R. (1987). Pathways to formal and informal student leadership: the influence of peer and teacher-student relationships and level of school identification on students. International journal of leadership in education, 14(1), 85-102.

NETWORKS: the Student Council worked hard to involve networks in their daily organisation and ideas. Learning to share the hard work and excitement of an event developed each leader and created a rich and successful experience for all. By sharing the organisation, students developed a sense of belonging and, hence, a willingness to invest and engage in a range of activities across the year. The achievement of the 2016 cohort has been in ’maintaining the rage’ and delivering consistently successful events. These events contributed significantly to unifying the Year 12 cohort and ultimately, the School.

‘ I have enjoyed the fact that our year has been extremely united (#blunity) and the ability of each and every one to make each other feel encouraged and stand out whether it is in music, arts, sports, service or academics.’

‘I have enjoyed the sense of community within the grade and the School. The inclusiveness and the school spirit have never ceased to amaze me …’

‘I have enjoyed my role as a House Prefect the most. Forming friendships with the younger girls and building trust with them has been the most rewarding. I have loved the school spirit and it shows just how a united group of girls can come together and achieve great goals.’

The leadership experience of the class of 2016 has been a positive journey of mainly successes. They created a united School through their activities, inclusiveness, and commitment to common goals. This Year 12 cohort certainly acted like leaders, and now think like leaders.

‘This year, our cohort has really grown together to create an open-minded, collegial cohort. I think this has played a really significant part in regard to the successes of all theme days, new initiatives and the School’s reputation in events such as QGSSSA. We placed emphasis on spirit, teamwork, support and involvement in the daily school life of BGGS students because we understand what it is like to have the ’lasts‘. Overall, I think we, the 2016 seniors, have made a strong positive impact on BGGS and inspired the future seniors to start strongly in their leadership positions.’

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In total, the School received $549 851 in gifts from 269 donors.

The names of current and former students, parents, staff and Board of Trustee members are included in this list. Whether directed towards the building, library or bursary fund, or granted through the Australian Independent Schools USA Foundation or the Australian Sports Foundation, every gift makes a difference in the lives of Grammar girls now and in the future.

The tradition of philanthropy at Brisbane Girls Grammar School continued throughout 2016, as evidenced by each and every name listed below and by others who chose to remain anonymous.

DEVELOPMENT REPORT

DONORS

D & S Abernethy

M Allan

R & L Allen

S & K Amos

Angliss Family

Mr M & Mrs G Anthonisz

A & C Avenia

D & N Barlow

Dr L & Dr M Basnayake

Mr F Beckey & Dr C McIvor

A Bell

BGGS Music Support Group

BGGS Parents & Friends Association

BGGS Rowing Support Group

A & E Boden

Mr J & Mrs S Boulton

Mr A.J & C.B Bowden

P Boyce

I & P Brusasco

J Bryant

Mr C & Mrs L Bui

B Burge

Dr P and Mrs J Burke

Mr J & Mrs S Callie

Dr P & Dr C Campbell

N & M Carter

A & K Cavdarski

Centaur Memorial Fund

L Chakravorty

Mr Yuan Chen

Mr Y Chen & Ms X Wang

M Cilento & W Crowther-Cilento

F Clark

Mr B & Mrs M Clark

C Cominos

Comiskey Family

Mr P & Mrs K Conway

K Cooke

Mr TG & Mrs TC Cory

A Dale

Mrs X Darveniza

L Davies

B Dawson

Mrs M Dearlove

Mrs Joy Dempsey

Mr M & Mrs M Denovan

B Devereaux & A Bensted

L & S Di Clemente

S Dias-Jayasinha

Dr & Mrs Donnelly

Mr R & Mrs K Douglas

D Dunk & S Buckley

S Edwards

J Euler

Cecily Fearnley

K Fitzgerald

Mr D & Mrs L Fogden

K & M Fry

Fu Family

Mrs J Fukushima

Mr W Fung & Ms Y Gu

Professor M Gandhi & Dr C Duffy

F & M Ganendran

Mr J & Mrs S George

J & D Gibson

M & E Giles

S & M Girdis

Dr J Godfrey OBE

M Goss & S Duffy

M Grassie

J Grassle

Green Options P/L

IN THE PHILANTHROPIC SPIRIT

The School and the Board of Trustees are exceptionally proud of the heritage, tradition and values of the Girls Grammar and very grateful for the School community’s generous support to continue to provide an exemplary broad liberal education for girls.

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D & P Greig

Mr P Griffin & Ms S Schleicher

B & A Gulbransen

Mr V & Mrs K Hadzivukovic

Mr P Haley & Ms M Daly

Mr A & Mrs S Harper

A Harrap

Mrs A Harris

P Harvey-Short

J & K Heilig

J Hennessey

L & K Hinckfuss

C Hirst

J & M Hockings

Kim and Michael Hodge

Mrs J Hopkins

Mr L Hopsick & Ms K Palm

S & T Horton

X Huang

Mr Youzhi Huang

B & H Hunter

Lt Col G & Mrs J Hurcum

W & A Hurnall

A Ingram

Kevin & Kim Jaffar

E Jameson

R Jans

Mr M & Mrs H Jeremy

Mr N and Mrs H Johnson

C Johnston & J Wells

Dr A & Mrs A Jones

J & M Jorgensen

Jordan & Charli Kahler

Mr S & Mrs A Keyser

The Stan and Maureen Duke Foundation

Prof G King & Dr S Rowland

Mr Hitesh Kumar

J Lawrence

M & J Lindsay

D Lohrisch

P & L Lui

Ms A Laque

Dr S Ma

The Hua Family

J & C MacDonald

E Mackenzie

A & C MacMillan

K Swindon

M Mahoney

Mr J & Mrs M Mangos

Rebecca S Kugelmas

Dr Rothwell & Dr McBride

Mr S McCullough & Ms T Davern

Mr G & Mrs B McEntee

S McGarry

Ms J McKay

M McMurdo

P & M Mitchell

C Mittelheuser

Mr S & Mrs L Morton

J Nevard

J & S Newton

Nicklin Medical Services

A & J Nicol

Dr C Neilsen

P Nyssen & L Armstrong

A Obermair

O’Meara Family

Mr S & Mrs K Onoda

Dr K Ooi & Dr P Choo

C & H Orr

Mr M & Mrs J Pafumi

M Palm

M & S Panizza

M Peel

Mr Paul Pettigrew

Mr JA & Mrs D Phillips

E Phua & F Phua-Wu

Poole Family

R Powell

G Powell

Prof Cheryl Praeger

J & S Prins

A & C Rankin

M & L Redmond

G & S Rolls

Drs A & S Ryan

J Schmidt

A Schultz

Mr G & Mrs B Shaplan

I & K Shaw

Professor A Shoemaker

Mrs Jasjeet Sihota

Mr H & Mrs S Smerdon

N Smith & A Walters

Dr Carol Sorensen

Mr C & Mrs P Stacey

Kay Stewart

Mr J & Mrs L Stock

Mr S Sullivan

Mr T & Mrs M Tavoularis

P & G Telford

L Thornquist

M Tobin & F Reilly

R Truesdale

D & J Vann

T Varghese & L Kurian

P & M Vujovic

L Walker

K Walker

Mrs Y Xiao

A & S Ward

Mrs Margaret Ward

Mr A & Mrs D Weeden

Mrs R Williams

E Wilson

WA & A Wright

J & S Wyer

J & S Yates

Dr J Young & Mr M Curtis

Zambelli Family

S Zhang & C Shi

In addition to the above list, seventy-one 2016 donors chose to remain anonymous. All care is taken in compiling the above list, which represents donors during 2016. However, if there is an error, please advise [email protected]

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HIGHLIGHTS

SCHOOL

• The School’s 2016 academic results reflect its longstanding reputation reputation as Queensland’s leading girls’ school

• In 2016 the School was ranked as the top performing school in Queensland, overall, by the Australian National Assessment Program — Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN); for the third year in a row, the Year 9 cohort were the top performers in the State for NAPLAN; and the Year 7 cohort was ranked second in Queensland

• One hundred per cent of Year 12 students were OP eligible and 99.6 per cent of the cohort who applied for tertiary studies received a placement offer

• The 2016 Year 12 cohort exceeded all Queensland state averages for Queensland Core Skills Test results and OP scores: 75.5 per cent received an A or B grade in the QCS Test; 17.03 per cent received an OP 1-2; 42.98 per cent received an OP 1-5; and 96.17 per cent of Year 12 students achieved an OP 1-15

• In 2016 a major priority was to prepare the School for the introduction of a new senior assessment system for Queensland in 2019

• The School trialled ‘continual reporting’ ready for introduction of a new system of reporting in 2017

• The School’s Strategic Design 2016-2019 was released to the School community in early 2016; this document clearly and concisely articulates the School’s strategic direction (and is publicly available at www.bggs.qld.edu.au/publications)

• The School commissioned a 25 Year Master Plan to identify the facilities required across its three campuses to provide an excellent education in to the future, ensuring that the School’s reputation as a leader in exceptional scholarship is maintained and strengthened

• In a first for a girls’ school in Australia, the School announced it would construct a remotely operated robotic telescope and observatory at the School’s campus in the Mary Valley, the Marrapatta Memorial Outdoor Education Centre

• The School actively promoted philanthropic contributions to the Brisbane Girls Grammar School Bursary; a means-tested bursary will be awarded to a girl who demonstrates the qualities of a Grammar girl — curious, principled, adventurous, balanced and a leader — to commence in Year 7 in 2018

• The School commissioned an independent, confidential survey for all staff, students and parents in 2016 to directly inform and improve strategic planning and operational delivery; the survey provided the School with comprehensive feedback from its key stakeholder groups with high-level results showing that 93 per cent of staff, 93 per cent of parents, and 89 per cent students had their expectations of the School met or exceeded

STUDENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS

ACADEMIC

• Aprajita Bhasin (10L) and Natalie DiMichele (10E), Caitlin McGrath (10R), Jordan Lee (10W), achieved perfect scores on their National Computer Science School (NCSS) exams run by the School of Information Technology at the University of Sydney

• International Young Physicists’ Tournament (Australia) 3rd Place — Adete Bhasin (12L) and Kathryn Bird (12H)

• Kathryn Bird (12H) (member of the Australian Team) participated in the International Young Physicists’ Tournament (Russia)

• Thirty-two 2016 Year 12 graduates were awarded Certificates of Academic Commendation by QCAA, including: Linnea Cain (12W), Alexandria DiMichele (12E), Michaela George (12E), Harriet King (12E), Isabelle McGrath (12R), Alisha Tang (12W), Samantha Wilson (12B) and Maye Zheng (12O); at the time of publishing this Annual Review, QCAA was undertaking to seek permission to publish the names of the remaining twenty-four Girls Grammar recipients; a full list of 2016 recipients, can be viewed on the QCAA website, https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/senior/certificates-qualifications/qce/qce-achievement-awards/certificate-academic-commendation/2016#omega

• Gabrielle Callander (12M), Adeline Chan (11L), Aleesha Ganendran (11W), Xuan-Nghi Pham (11O) (Bronze Medal), Brooke Tran (11G), participated in the International Junior Science Olympiad (South Korea)

• Fenella Counsell (8L), Sophie Finch (8H), Tiarne Graves (8L) and Lauren Mackay (8H) placed in the top ten students for the Queensland RACQ Technology Challenge for their CO2 dragster-style cars

• Lauren Fidler’s (12R) German response for Writing Task was selected for publishing in QCAA 2016 Assessment Highlights

• Yuwen Guo (9M) was awarded a Distinction in the Australian Intermediate Maths Olympiad and Adhiti Gobindnarain (9E) received a prize in the competition

• Isabella Lyons (9H) was awarded Highly Commended in the Schools division of the Queensland Music Awards, for her original composition 100 Barricades

• Isabelle McGrath (12R) and Samantha Wilson (12B) participated in the International Youth Science Forum (Singapore)

• Jessica McLeod (9M), Alexandra Nash (9R) and Reema Rachakonda (9M) participated in Year 9 STEM Horizon High Achievers

• Isabel Peters (11M) and Xuan-Nghi Pham (11O) were selected to attend the 2017 Australian Science Olympiad Summer School residential program held at Australian National University

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• Fiona Qiu (11R) and Adeline Wong (11B) were accepted into the Queensland University of Technology Vice-Chancellor’s STEM Camp held in September, the girls were chosen for their outstanding academic achievement and passion in the fields of science, technology, engineering or mathematics

• Isabella Shue (11E) and Helen Yesberg (11G) participated in Year 11 STEM Horizon High Achievers

• Abirami Somasundaram (11M) was selected for the 2016 Wesley Hospital School Internship Program

• Isabel Peters (11M) received a Gold Medal and an invitation to Summer School at the Biology Olympiad

• Xuan-Nghi Pham (11O) received a Gold Medal and an invitation to Summer School at the Earth and Environmental Science Olympiad

• Helen Yesberg (11G) received Gold Medal at the Earth and Environmental Science Olympiad

SCHOLARSHIPS

• Emma Bills (12W) received an All-round Merit Scholarship at St Andrew’s College, University of Sydney, commencing February 2017

• Elizabeth Chai (12E) received a Scholarship to study in the Faculty of Engineering at Monash University

• Lydia Gandhi (12O) was offered an Excellence Scholarship at The University of Queensland

• Isabel Gerber (12R) received a Rowing Scholarship at North Eastern University, commencing September 2017

• Emma Gibbon (12R) received a Soccer Scholarship at Case Western Reserve University in the USA, commencing September 2017

• Sarah Miller (12E) received an Excellence Scholarship at The University of Queensland, commencing February 2017

• Emily Powell (12E) received a Water Polo Scholarship at Indiana University, commencing January 2017

• Chanelle Ren (12O) received an Excellence Scholarship at The University of Queensland, commencing February 2017

• Anna Ruddell (12O) was offered an Excellence Scholarship at The University of Queensland

• Alisha Tang (12W) was offered an Excellence Scholarship at The University of Queensland and an Academic Scholarship at University of Sydney; Alisha accepted The University of Queensland scholarship, commencing in February 2017

• Abirami Thangavel (12G) received a Dream Big Scholarship for young women studying engineering (sponsored by Calibre Consulting)

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SPORT

• A record number of teams (147) entered into sporting competitions comprising approximately 75 per cent of the student population

• The School’s Open Cricket Team won the premiership for the first time since 2008 and the Open Water Polo Team won the U16 BWPI Premiership for the first time since 2002

• Milan Agnew (12L) competed in the OTU Sprint Triathlon Oceania Championships at the Sydney International Regatta Centre; the event was significant as it doubled as a selection race for the 2016 Age Group World Triathlon Championships in Mexico and her results qualified her for selection to the Australian Age Group Triathlon Team for Mexico

• Abby Andrews (11W) and Lydia Pascoe (12O) were selected into the Australian Schools Water Polo Team to tour internationally to play in a test series against New Zealand and South Africa in December 2016

• Abby Andrews (11W), Lydia Pascoe (12O) and Emily Powell (12E) and were selected for Training Access in the Queensland Academic of Sport Water Polo Program and were selected to play in the Queensland Schoolgirls team in Canberra

• Minna Atherton (11B) broke the Junior World Record for 100-metre backstroke at the Rio Farewell Swimming Meet in Brisbane in June 2016 and broke the U16 50-metre backstroke record by 2.5 seconds at the QGSSSA swimming carnival; Minna was named joint winner of the ACHPER QLD Shining Star Award for 2016 for her achievements in Swimming and selected to the Australian Dolphins (senior) team

• Emma Bills (12W) represented Australia on the Schoolgirls U17 Hockey team; she completed a tour of South Africa, winning the test series against the hosts and was nominated by the School for the prestigious Pierre De Coubertin award

• Josephine Dooley’s (11G) wicket-keeping skills have attracted the attention of selectors; Josie was included on the National U18 Development Squad and was offered a rookie contract with the Queensland Fire to join the best cricketers in the State

• Claire Fidler (9R), Georgia De Stefani (8W) and Chelsea Warat (8R) were selected to play in the U14 Maroon Water Polo Team

• Sally Finch (10H) represented Queensland at the National Indoor Netball Championships where Queensland won silver and was selected in the Australian U16 Team to play in the Tri-nations Championships to be held in Johannesburg , South Africa in July 2017

• Rebecca Haley (10M) high jumped a record-breaking and personal best of 1.74 metres at the Metropolitan North Track and Field Championships in 2016; she is the reigning National Champion U16 High Jumper having won the title at the National Club championships in March and has defended this title for three years

HIGHLIGHTS

• Eliza King (10E) was selected in the Australian Junior Swim team to compete at the 2016 Junior Pan Pacific Championships, held in Hawaii in August

• Jessica Lakeman (12E) was selected by Netball Australia as one of twenty umpires to travel to Perth to umpire the U17/U19 National Championships in 2016 opening access to the national high-performance pathway towards international level umpiring; Jessica has been working as an umpire in the Queensland Firebirds camp and holds her own as an umpire at the highest level

• High jumper, Elizabeth Moss’ (9E) personal best of 1.76 metres at the Australian Junior Athletics Championships in March resulted in her breaking the record by 1 centimetre; earlier in the year, she also broke the Metropolitan North Track and Field U15 High Jump record by 7 centimetres with a jump of 1.70 metres

• Water Polo Captain Lydia Pascoe (12O) was named in the Born ’99 National Squad to attend a training camp at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra in January 2017

• Lucy Raynor-Toy (9M) participated in the 2016 National Club Futsal Championships and was selected to represent Australian Futsal team tour to the United Kingdom in October

• Amelia Takken (9R) Amelia led her U15 beach volleyball team to win the National Championships in Adelaide

• Chloe Williams (11R) competed in the French Cup competition in Europe with ice skating team NOVA, placing an overall eighth in the competition and the Trophy D’Ecosse in Scotland where they placed overall third; some of the best results Australia has achieved at these competitions

LEADERSHIP

• Tully Briggs (12B) represented the School at the Queen’s Wharf Brisbane Leadership Summit

• Christina Chan (10R) and Asha Varghese (10R) represented the School on the Student Environmental Leadership Network co-ordinated by the Brisbane City Council Green Heart Schools programme

• Lydia Gandhi (12O), Georgina Rankin (12H) and Lily Wackwitz (12H) received the Order of Australia Secondary School Citizenship Certificate

• Rebecca Haley (10M) received the Year 10 Long Tan Youth Leadership and Teamwork Award

• Ivy Lawrence (12E) was selected to participate in the Queensland Youth Parliament

• Caitlin O’Meara (12R) received the Year 12 Long Tan Youth Leadership and Teamwork Award

• Mia Sundin (10B) represented the School on the Lord Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council

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CO-CURRICULAR

• With the 2016 Service motto being ‘for better unity, support your community’ through Service activities $68 405 was raised by the students to support a wide range of selected charities and community groups

• Queensland Debating Union Champions and Queensland University of Technology Brisbane Girls Debating Association Champions — 11.1 Team: Lucinda Duke (11H), Charlotte Newton (11B), Isabel Nolan (11B), Abirami Somasundaram (11M) and Ellen Wilson (11L)

• Ailish Luke Martin (110) won the 2016 Friends of Girls Grammar Bursary for Outstanding Performance in the Creative Arts and attended a week-long ‘Acting 101 Grades 11-12’ course at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts

• Caitlin Trout (11B) and Eliza Woods (11O) were selected for the Mittelheuser Internship Program held by the State Library of Queensland in June/July 2016

• Isabel Nolan (11B) was selected in the Queensland State Debating Team

• Caitlin O’Meara (12R) (member of the Australian Team) participated in the World Debating and Public Speaking Championships

TEACHING EXCELLENCE

APPOINTMENTS

• Dr Bruce Addison was appointed to the Australian College of Education (ACE) Publications Working Group

• Dr Bruce Addison was again invited to teach and co-ordinate a Masters level subject in leadership within in the School of Education at The University of Queensland

• Six staff members were appointed to the QCAA Expert Writing Teams for the new syllabuses: Dr Bruce Addison, Ms Gay Barnett, Mrs Patricia Greenland, Mrs Phillipa Greig, Ms Julie Hennessey and Mr Stephen Woods

• Ms Gay Barnett and Ms Tracey Monteith were selected for involvement in the QCAA Assessors Trial; Mathematics B and Biology departments in the Endorsement Trial; as well as the English department trialling an External Assessment item

• Mrs Sally Callie was awarded a scholarship (as one of only fifteen women Australia-wide) by Rowing Australia to attend the two day Women Leaders in Rowing Course at the Australian Institute of Sport in November

• Mrs Pauline Harvey-Short was invited to be a panellist at the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (ACHPER) Women in Sport breakfast, reflecting on the past 25 years of women participating in sport

• Mrs Wanda Hayes was appointed Vice President of the Career Development Association of Australia (CDAA), and Chair of the Organising Committee for the CDAA’s National Conference in Brisbane in 2017.

• Mr James Keogh, Dean of Studies and Learning Analytics, was appointed to the QCAA Learning Area Reference Group: Science, the committee overseeing syllabus writing teams across the sciences and providing advice to QCAA Senior Review Steering Committee

• Mr James McIntosh, Director of Outdoor Education, was appointed as a member of the State Award Committee for the Duke of Edinburgh Award International Award and Bridge Award programmes

• Ms Lea Walker, Director of Development and Alumni was elected Vice President of the Queensland Chapter of Educate Plus and selected as ‘Schools — Fundraising Stream Co-ordinator’ on the organising committee for the 2016 Educate Plus International Conference held in September

AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS

• Ms Jacinda Euler was appointed an Honorary Fellow of Emmanuel College at The University of Queensland

• Mr Paul Holley, Choral Director, was awarded a Medal (OAM) within the Order of Australia in the General Division

• Ms Carolyn Lansdown was awarded a National Medal in recognition of her long service with Surf Life Saving, Rural Fire Service and Fire and Rescue Service and the State Emergency Services

CONFERENCES AND SYMPOSIA

• Dr Bruce Addison, Ms Ruth Jans, Dr Kay Kimber, Dr Alix Vann and Mr Stephen Woods co-presented a Symposium, Fight or Flight: Risking self in formative assessment for shaping learner agency at the Research and Innovation in Classroom Assessment (RICA) International Conference held in Brisbane in September

• Ms Rachael Christopherson presented a workshop titled ‘Creative Writing Rescue’ at the AATE/ALEA English Teachers’ National Conference in Adelaide and was invited to submit a follow up paper to be published in the national publication English in Australia

• Ms Jacinda Euler and Mrs Anna Owen co-presented Design Thinking in Leadership, Teaching and Learning — A Whole School Approach at the 2016 Global Forum on Girls’ Education

• Ms Jacinda Euler was a panellist at the Australian Institute of Management ‘The Essence of Leadership Talk’ in May discussing the theme of ‘Leadership in Education: The importance of mentoring Queensland’s educators’

• Ms Jacinda Euler was on the organising committee for, and took a leading role in hosting, at the Alliance of Girls’ Schools Conference in May

• Mrs Anne Ingram, Mrs Jody Forbes and Mr Donald Pincott presented at the Alliance of Girls’ Schools Conference in May on ‘Thriving girls: A proactive approach to student wellbeing’

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• Mr Tim Lehmann was invited to co-deliver a keynote lecture on ‘Students as Partners’ at Queensland University of Technology’s annual Student Success Symposium in November

• Mrs Anna Owen, Deputy Principal, was a panellist at the ISQ Teacher Performance and Development Symposium 2016: Leading Great Teachers in Independent Schools held in March

• Mr Andrew Pennay presented at the Kodaly Music Educators Institute of Australia ‘Nuts and Bolts’ Workshop Series in March and is presenting at the Kodaly National Conference 2016 to be held at All Hallows in September

• Ms Lea Walker presented the following topics at the Educate Plus Biennial International Conference held at Surfers Paradise in September: Show Us Your Dashboard — Tracking Qualitative and Quantitative Results; Gender Diversity & Women in Leadership; You Can’t Raise Funds in Girls’ Schools Like Boys’ Schools, Can You?

PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA

• Dr Bruce Addison’s article ‘Forget the Binary!’ was published as the feature ICT piece in the Term III edition of the Australian Educational Leader

• Ms Kristine Cooke’s article Introducing the Research Learning Centre at BGGS was published in the Queensland School Library Association Magazine (Vol 48) November 2015

RESEARCH

• Dr Keith Treschman was conferred with a doctor of philosophy from the University of Southern Queensland in astronomy in February 2016

• Mrs Pauline Harvey-Short was awarded her Master of Philosophy degree (her thesis was focused on material culture at BGGS) from The University of Queensland in March

• Dr Bruce Addison, Dr Ann Farley, Ms Emma Jones, Dr Kay Kimber, Ms Yonnie McDonnell and Mr Stephen Woods and a number of Year 7 and 8 students were involved in ongoing research on formative assessment practices with tertiary partners, Queensland University of Technology and Australian Catholic University

• History Department teachers, Julie Hennessey, Daniel Larkin, Paul Martineau and Rashna Taraporewalla were part of a Queensland University of Technology PhD research study into how teachers are implementing the Australian Curriculum: History

• History teachers, Julie Hennessey and Rashna Taraporewalla participated in another separate Queensland University of Technology pilot study into how and why teachers select and use texts in history classrooms in Years 7 to 10

ALUMNI

• Fiona Albert (2007) selected as a member of the Women’s Eight to represent Australia in Rowing at the 2016 Olympic Games

• Josephine Auer (2015) was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Scholar by The University of Queensland

• Laura Fenlon (2007) was named the first Australian winner of the prestigious Krieg Cortical Kudos Scholar Award for her outstanding contribution to neuroscience; Laura also won the Queensland Women in Technology PhD Career Start Award for her neuroscience research

• Madeleine Gandhi (2015) was awarded a Certificate of Merit in the T J Ryan Memorial Medal and Scholarships for 2016 from Department of Education and Training

• Five Year 12 2015 students were awarded a Queensland University of Technology Vice-Chancellor’s scholarship: Annie Gynther, Samantha Kitson, Giulia Marrama, Olivia McDonald and Katie Mitchell

• Isabelle Higgins (2015) was awarded a 2016 University of Queensland Merit Scholarship

• Ms Elizabeth Jameson (Head Girl, 1982) was commissioned, along with Helen Darch, by Independent Schools Queensland to produce a body of research which explores the importance of effective school governance in quality education provision

• Emeritus Professor Gwendolen Anne Jull (1965) has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the General Division for her distinguished service to medical education in the field of physiotherapy, as an academic, researcher and administrator, and to professional associations

• Imogen Low (2015) was the National Senior Students Winner in the Australia Information Industry Association’s iAwards for her indoor mapping project ‘Elevator’ and received a merit at the International Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards in Taipei, December 2016

• Olivia McDonald (2015), Gabriella Palm (2015), Ellodie Ruffin (2013) and Bridget Leeson Smith (2014) participated in the Towards Tokyo Camp for aspiring Olympians

• Julie McKay (2000) was awarded the 2016 ACT Award for Excellence in Women’s Leadership by Women and Leadership Australia

• Melinda Mo (2015) has been awarded a Hatch Scholarship for study at any university

• Alison O’Malley (Don, 1971) was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community of Bundaberg through music

• Gabriella Palm (2015) selected for the Australian Born ’98 team to tour Europe in July and World Championships in New Zealand in December

HIGHLIGHTS

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• Isabella Panettiere (2012) achieved First in Class, Year 4 2016 in the Doctor of Medicine Degree she is undertaking at Bond University

• Group Captain Sandra Patricia Riley (Fryer, 1983) has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the Military Division, for exceptional service to the Australian Defence Force through her contribution to the development and deployment of aeromedical evacuation capability in the Royal Australian Air Force

• Kirby Short (2003) named ACHPER Inspirational Teacher 2016

• Raynuha Sinnathamby (1987) named one of Queensland Business Monthly’s Top 25 Most Influential Queensland Business Leaders

• Shiye Su (2015) awarded a ‘Distinguished Academic Achievers’ award at the recent Queensland Certificate of Education Achievement Awards where 37 students from 27 different State, Catholic and Independent schools received awards in six categories

• Sarah Tisdall (2015) was offered and has accepted a place to study at Harvard University

• Caitlin Wilson (1986) was named winner of Queensland University of Technology Business School’s Outstanding Alumni Award for 2016

• Chloe Yap (Dux 2013) has been awarded a New Colombo Plan Scholarship by the Australian Government to support her study, internship and language training in Singapore

• Kate Zambelli (2012), a student of Architecture at Sydney University, was awarded the 2016 Lendlease Bradfield Urbanisation Scholarship

TRUSTEES

• Emeritus Professor Dr Mary Mahoney AO (Trustee) has been awarded 2016 Alumni Friends of The University of Queensland Alumnus of the Year

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I thank Maroochy Barambah, of the Turrbal-Gubbi Gubbi people, for the warm and generous welcome to country and on behalf of the Brisbane Girls Grammar School community pay my respects to the traditional custodians, past and present, of this place where we gather as I welcome you to Speech Day.

Today we celebrate what it is to be a ‘Grammar girl’. For our graduating Year 12s and for the many achievements of our prize winners recognised today in the academic and broader life of the school, I congratulate the girls and the families who supported them to success. I also congratulate the Principal, Ms Euler, on her superb leadership and her marvellous talented staff on their unfailing ability to create the environment in which the Grammar girl thrives — as you have also witnessed today with the extraordinary musical talents of our students and our teachers on display.

But what is this wondrous creature I call a ‘Grammar girl’? As Ms Euler defined it this year a Grammar girl is one who is curious, principled, adventurous, balanced and a leader. I love this definition. It is fascinating that, without ever defining it as such before, this has been the unspoken creed of the School for a very long time. And sometimes in an increasingly challenging world it is important to turn the unspoken creed into the spoken. This is a bit like the Creed of the Wolf — or the Law of the Jungle, right? But more about that later.

Grammar girls, I know you will be disappointed to hear that I have a fairly short annual report to deliver this year. I have decided to break with tradition and rather than speaking at length about what the Board has been doing over the past year I have decided to write to our families separately with a more detailed annual review of our past year’s focus.

Our annual review will include details of our activity in three main areas, namely our culture of philanthropy, the long term master planning for our School’s three campuses, and the board’s increased consultation and engagement with our broader school community — including our students, our parent support groups, the Old Girls’ Association, our brother school — Brisbane Grammar School — and the three levels of Government.

Nonetheless, there is just one important point I want to mention today. I am delighted to announce that the Board has recently approved the establishment of a new full means-tested student bursary. Starting at the beginning of 2018, this bursary will operate much like the Maria Sulima Bursary has done for the past 20 years, and still does today, thus enabling us to provide a Girls Grammar education to yet more girls who meet the criteria for a Grammar girl — namely one who is

SPEECH DAY 17 NOVEMBER 2016ADDRESS — CHAIR OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES MS ELIZABETH JAMESON

Special guest, Ms Sherene Hassan; Principal, Ms Jacinda Euler; Past Chair, Dr Cherrell Hirst; Past Principal, Dr Judith Hancock AM; Federal Member for Brisbane, The Honourable Trevor Evans MP; State Member for Brisbane Central (and Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations, Minister for Racing and Minister for Multicultural Affairs), The Honourable Grace Grace; Brisbane City Councillor for Central Ward, Cr Vicki Howard; President of the P&F Association, Dr Fiona Harden; President of the Old Girls Association, Ms Janine Schmidt; my fellow trustees, staff, parents, families, friends and students.

curious, principled, adventurous, balanced and a leader — but whose family does not have the means to enable her to attend this School.

I pay tribute to the generosity of the great many past and present parents, past students, and other friends who have so enthusiastically embraced the initiative. But even more so, because it says much for the ethos of this School, I acknowledge and thank the School’s own dedicated staff who have contributed most willingly to the fund.

Brisbane Girls Grammar School was founded on the spirit of giving, with our original benefactors donating sufficient funds for our formation as a Grammar School in 1875 to attract the matching funding of the Queensland Government. It is therefore particularly fitting that the Board has determined to provide a matching element for this bursary, committing a matching component using income earned from part of the School’s reserves. We will therefore be delighted at Speech Day next year to be able to award the first of these new bursaries for commencement in 2018.

So, in lieu of delivering my full annual board report today, girls, I would therefore like to focus on you, our students — each of whom, I hope, live by the creed of the Grammar girl.

When I earlier likened this to the Creed of the Wolf and the Law of the Jungle no doubt you — our curious and astute Grammar girls — immediately thought of the lovable Mowgli, Baloo and Bagheera — as well as the villains of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book — Kaa the snake and the most dastardly villain, Shere Khan the tiger. I remember as a child falling headlong into a love of the original 1967 Disney animated version of the Jungle Book — just like Mowgli himself falling into the soporifically hypnotic kaleidoscope eyes of Kaa — which I then watched at least a subsequent 400 times with the advent of Disney on video in time for every one of my beloved nieces and nephews to fall equally in love with it.

So I was a definite starter when Disney this year released the new and sumptuous animated Jungle Book. I was, however, a deep sceptic that, using CGI-animated realistic animals could ever do justice to the charming wiggle of Baloo’s ‘Bare Necessities’ or King Louie’s king of the swingers’ classic ‘Oo-be-doo’ number.

To my surprise, I fell headlong in love with Jungle Book all over. More so, I was delighted, having read Kipling’s book, to find the new film more heavily featuring Kipling’s creed of the wolf — from the ‘Law of the Jungle’ — by which Mowgli and the rest of the wolf pack are raised:

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As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back

For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

Our Brisbane Girls Grammar School creed is much the same; our hope for you, our girls, to grow into young women who are curious, principled, adventurous, balanced leaders depends on essentially the same Law of our Jungle.

For us too, the strength of the Pack is the Wolf — the greatest strength of Girls Grammar is the uniqueness that every single girl brings to the school community no matter what her interests and personal achievements run to — but without doubt also the strength of the Wolf is the Pack — the strength of every girl depends on that combined strength which the whole school community gives to her.

Year 12, you are about to leave behind your time as Grammar girls, but now as fully fledged young Grammar Women. I know the Old Girls Association, of which I am a proud member, will warmly welcome you into the fold of the Grammar Women

community. You are duly initiated as a Grammar Woman by virtue of having lived the creed of the Grammar girl and the Law of the Girls Grammar jungle.

I will spare you my personal rendition of Baloo’s wiggle and King Louie’s swingin’ ‘Oo be doo’ but I will not spare you my sincerest good wishes for a prosperous, contented and good life. I choose these words carefully, since I hope that you will prosper although it matters less to me whether you are ‘successful’ in a material sense than that you live the life of a whole and contented person, living a balanced and principled life. It matters less to me whether you achieve remarkable things than that you lead a good life, making a positive difference to those around you in your home, your work, your world. And it matters to me that, no matter how far you roam in the adventures of your curious life, you remain always a part of this family, this Girls Grammar community.

As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back —

For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.

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Imagine if long-term thinking was our primary thinking? If governments made laws and executed decisions based on what they really believed was best, not based on what positioned them best for the next election cycle.

What if the media slowed down its daily onslaught of minute-by-minute reporting of minutiae?

As Mrs Owen said to me as we were reflecting on the week late last Friday afternoon, ‘Do you think everyone needs to just shhhhhh ……. stop talking?’

If we thought more about the longer term, the bigger picture.

For the Year 12 Girls, this moment here is a springboard in to some imagined future. That’s why it’s exciting. You are anticipating OP scores, university offers and it’s the point at which a rich and hopefully rewarding twelve years of education steps in to and meets with the future.

We are probably always contemplating our own future, but end points sharpen our focus on where we’ve been and importantly, where we are going.

Speech Day marks the end of the academic year for us all, the end of schooling for Year 12 girls, and the end of the first year at Girls Grammar for Year 7.

For staff — we too are ready for 2017 and far beyond, proud of the foundations we have laid. There has been progress in so many areas this year as teachers have considered The Expert Learner, the importance of formative assessment, participated in a whole new cycle of professional review and prepared for a new system of senior assessment. An increasing sense of alignment has inspired purpose-infused energy and focused drive.

The attainment of personal best remains core to all that we do and stand for at Girls Grammar. Our culture of excellence continues to strengthen and deepen. We continue to build on our sterling past and a shimmering future beckons. Nil Sine Labore.

Lately it can sometimes feel like we’re living in a reality TV show — you know, where it’s not really real. But of course, it is. Fortunately, at this time of year, in here, right now, we are part of something that is real. And while the media and events in broader society often leaves us feeling as if we are floating in time, there is context. Here we are — at this fixed and very specific point in time.

But beyond university offers, our holiday destinations and resolutions in the new year, it seems that in recent times we

SPEECH DAY 17 NOVEMBER 2016PRINCIPAL’S ADDRESS MS JACINDA EULER

Ms Elizabeth Jameson, Chair of the Board; Trustees — past and present; Guest Speaker, Ms Sherene Hassan; The Honourable Trevor Evans MP; The Honourable Grace Grace MP; Cr Vicki Howard — thank you, for being with us; honoured guests — including immediate past Chair, Dr Cherrell Hirst and former Principal, Dr Judith Hancock; Dr Fiona Harden, President of the P&F; Mrs Janine Schmidt AM, President of the Old Girls Association; staff, parents, Grammar girls and most particularly the young women of Year 12.

don’t talk so much of the very long term future and when we do it is a worrisome, deeply concerning future and a general anxiety, even fear, and pessimism often pervades.

When did we stop talking about a really long term future?

There is no future date — 1984, the year 2000 — that we are looking to or that captures our imagination.

In our modern world, time and space have been conflated. With instantaneous communications, everything today seems circular and superficial. We’ve lost a sense of the linear concept of time — our NOW is real but we need to place it in the context of the LONG.

How do we address this? Some clever futurists have a novel idea.

It is a project to build a big clock — nearly 20 metres high, it will cost millions of dollars and be hidden in a cave in the Nevada desert. And it’s going to run for ten thousand years. The point of the Clock is not to measure the passage of time but to revive and restore the whole idea of the future. To get us thinking deeply about it, in the framework of … the next 10 000 years. A concept of The Long Now.

One of the clock’s creators has said, ‘Civilization is revving itself into a pathologically short attention span. The trend might be coming from the acceleration of technology, the short-horizon perspective of market-driven economics, the next-election perspective of democracies, or the distractions of personal multi-tasking. All are on the increase. ’ (Brand).

The clock is intended to provide a sort of balancing corrective to this prevailing short-sightedness — a mechanism or myth that will encourage the long view and the taking of long-term responsibility, where ‘long-term’ is measured at least in centuries. It is hoped that the Clock of the Long Now will do for thinking about time what photographs of Earth from space have done for thinking about the environment. Such icons reframe the way people think (Brand).

It’s not hard to get excited about next week, the holidays, yet ask a young person if they think we will be around in 10 000 years and a great number of them will tell you, in a very matter-of-fact way, that we (humanity) will be gone by then.

Is it that our talk of the future — about bursting populations, terrorism and climate change — framed to create a needed sense of magnitude, certainty and urgency, could be leaving us feeling so unsure and ambivalent about the longer-term that it encourages us all to just live in the now? What a wise defence to stop thinking about the future. To live only for today.

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Our culture mitigates against long-term thinking. Indigenous people have always understood the importance of the long, yet we are addicted to the present-ness of the constant news feed. We are constantly updating our phones — addicted to little fragments of information — posts, snapchat, tweets. Our preoccupation with mindless distractions and superficial connections means we often miss the bigger issues, the bigger opportunities — it prevents us seeing the big developments taking place that shape the course of our lives. The wheels of history turn more slowly than we are led to believe.

Imagine a world where more of our actions at least considered the longer term.

At Girls Grammar we are educating for the longer term. We continue to celebrate and delight in the now, being mindful — but always with one eye on the future and the profoundly important work we are all a part of — raising and educating girls. Whatever the new system of the future, we will prepare girls to perform well within it, and to pass through that milestone with the skills and education, the attitudes and self-belief to thrive in their future lives as Grammar Women.

Trustees are planning for it, with a 25 Year Master Plan and a bursary programme that will strengthen the fabric of our School.

As parents we parent for the longer term. Dedicated to our children’s future, we hope that they do have a better, stronger, more secure and rewarding life than even our own.

As Grammar girls, you need to make compromises sometimes. Forgo some Facebook for some study, miss a fun social event for a training session in the pool, make sacrifices to balance short-term gain with longer term benefits. You are building the foundations of a fulfilling life.

The Observatory is a physical representation of our commitment to the future. They are ambitious projects —

REFERENCES

Brand, S. (2017). About The Long Now Foundation. Retrieved from http://longnow.org/about/

Chabon, M. (2006). The Omega Glory. Retrieved from http://media.longnow.org/files/2/Michael_Chabon_-_The_Omega_Glory.pdf

to build a 10 000 year clock, to build an observatory. We must never lose that pioneering spirit, sense of adventure, yearning for knowledge beyond ourselves. To begin such projects requires confidence and optimism.

In having children — in teaching them to love and care about the world — as parents and educators we are betting, as Michael Chabon has said in his essay on the Long Now Foundation website, whether we know it or not, on the Clock of the Long Now.

Year 12 girls, I hope that we have prepared you to embrace your future with the imagination to achieve all that your heart desires, the wisdom to face the inevitable challenges and disappointments with dignity, and the integrity to understand that you will make a powerful difference for the greater good, in the longer term.

Gloria Steinham has said, ‘Hope is a kind of defiance.’ Every day, Grammar girls give us hope and defy pessimistic notions of the future. The Year 7 Grimm Tales production on Friday night brought us more delight and pleasure than anything else I have experienced in a very long time.

At Girls Grammar we are looking to the longer long term and some silence — more ‘shhhh’, some space to reflect and digest and a bit of solitude — being alone with your phones girls does not count — to contemplate who we are, where we’re heading and how we will play our role in the longer term, in the bigger picture.

I hope that the observatory will become another element, one of many in a Girls Grammar education that helps us to contemplate the stars and the universe, to be filled with awe, a sense of possibility and of hope for the future.

I’d like to share a little snippet of that vision of the future with you right now with a short film introduction to the Brisbane Girls Grammar School Observatory: www.bggs.qld.edu.au/observatory/

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I would also like to acknowledge Ms Elizabeth Jameson, Chair of the Board of Trustees; Ms Jacinda Euler, Principal; staff, parents and students.

I was born in Perth. My parents migrated to Australia fifty years ago. My mother is from Iraq and my father from Egypt. We lived in a very Anglo-Saxon suburb at a time when multi-culturalism was non-existent. I was the only non-Christian student at the school. My main means of survival: I would always go to great lengths to hide the fact that my parents were Arab and there was no way known that I would let anyone know that I was Muslim.

Little things here and there gave away the fact that I had ethnic heritage.

My nanna came out from Egypt and stayed with us for six months. Every time the phone would ring I would make a mad dash from one side of the house to the other to answer the phone before my Nanna did because whenever she answered the phone she would say, ‘No English,’ and then hang up.

You can imagine how awkward it was having to explain that to my friends.

On another occasion I was chosen to be ‘Mary’ at the end of year Christmas concert in Grade 6. One of my teachers somehow discovered I was Muslim and was not too impressed a Muslim was given the role of Mary. So at the tender age of eleven, I had to embark on my first interfaith dialogue and explain that Muslims love and respect Mary and that there is a whole chapter in the Quran named after Mary.

High school proved even more difficult with peer pressure increasing.

In Year 9 I chose to start fasting in Ramadan. I was keen to observe the fast, but the fact that I was going to do something that made me different from my peers was absolutely daunting, so instead of telling my friends I was fasting because I was Muslim I told them I was fasting because I was going to the dentist.

The next day I was going to the dentist and the day after that I was going to the orthodontist. Each time I lied I felt absolutely sick in the stomach. I finally got the courage to be honest and explain that I was fasting because I was Muslim. I assured everyone I was still cool. Most of my friends were fine about it. Others were less supportive and they would shove donuts down my throat. It was a very character building exercise to say the least.

I made up my mind at that point that I would never lie about my identity again and felt a huge burden lift from my shoulders.

Year 11 and Year 12 proved even more difficult with every function centering around alcohol. As a Muslim we are not allowed to drink alcohol and I found it difficult constantly having to resist peer pressure.

SPEECH DAY 17 NOVEMBER 2016THE OCCASIONAL ADDRESS MS SHERENE HASSAN, DIRECTOR OF THE ISLAMIC MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIA

I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land we stand on today, the Turrbal people and pay my respects to their elders past and present.

One particular party at the end of Year 12 my friends were quite careless with their drinking. One friend of mine was the designated driver who was supposed to drive four of our friends home.

He wasn’t supposed to drink alcohol but he did and had a massive accident not even eighty metres from the party. To this day I still remember the sound of the screeching tyres and the smell of the burnt rubber.

Some of my friends were seriously hurt, thankfully no-one died but for the first time the need to be like everyone else was not so great and the next party I went to I chose not to drink, not because my religion prohibited me from doing so, but because I saw what alcohol could do, and simply did not want to.

University was much easier with people respecting difference rather than merely tolerating it. I completed a science degree and went on to do a Post-graduate Diploma in Education; so I am a chemistry and physics teacher.

I met someone who was my best friend for three years and that friendship blossomed into love we got married and around that time I started to wear the hijab. I found myself working at an Islamic school and the whole time I was working at that school I wanted to teach Christian students and Jewish and Buddhist and Hindu students. I was so sick of teaching Muslims every day, (not that there is anything wrong with Muslims, I had a lovely group), but a part of me just craved diversity.

My husband is a doctor and we had to go to Adelaide as part of his training as an eye specialist.

From Adelaide we found ourselves in Alice Springs, where my husband would work with the Flying Doctors Service.

I rocked up at the local primary school to enrol my children and the principal pounced on me and asked me when I could start teaching. I tried to explain that I was a high school teacher not primary trained and she said, ‘That doesn’t matter just come and teach’. So keep that in mind if ever you are thinking of educating your children in Alice. Completely unqualified teachers!

So I started working as an emergency teacher. I taught in four schools. The children had an absolute obsession with my scarf. They would tell me they liked it when I wore a pink or blue scarf and begged me not to wear my white scarf because ‘white is not a colour’.

One little girl in prep got all excited when I walked into the classroom and yelled out top of her lungs, ‘We’ve got baby Jesus’s Mum teaching us today!’ And the next day her Mum came to school eager to meet this modern day baby Jesus’s mum. I think she was a tad disappointed.

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Then one boy in Grade 1 came up to me and placed his hand on my shoulder and then that hand quickly delved underneath my scarf. He tugged at my pony tail and ran out of the room screaming ‘She does have hair under there, I told you so!’

So initially these children treated me like a freak, ‘that’s Mrs Hassan, the Muslim woman who hides her hair or has no hair’. But weeks after they would say, ‘that’s Mrs Hassan, she’s the West Coast Eagles supporter who takes us out to the oval to kick a footy around when we have finished our work.’

For the first time I felt that I was integrating; doing what I loved, teaching and at the same time I was being respected for my beliefs and practices.

We came back to Adelaide in August 2001, a few weeks later, the horrific terrorist attack in the United States occurred shortly after on September 11. I remember watching the events unfold on TV and feeling absolute devastation at the senseless loss of innocent life. What was quite disturbing was the reaction of my eldest son who was nine at the time. He fell apart and said, ‘I can’t believe a Muslim could do such a thing’.

Because we have always brought our children up with the Islamic teaching that every creation of God is sacred. We don’t even kill spiders in our homes, unless they are redbacks.

My youngest son was at kinder one afternoon and when I went to pick him up I found him in the corner bawling his eyes out. I asked his teacher why he was crying. She replied, ‘We were out in the playground and some boys started jumping up and down on an anthill and your son has been crying out ever since, ‘The ants the ants they are killing all the ants.’

That is the extent to which Muslims should respect and revere life. So for us to see the loss of innocent life done in the name of our religion was the most gut-wrenching thing I have ever had to deal with.

The backlash against the Muslim community was quite severe. It was a lot worse in Adelaide than in Melbourne (there are a number of reasons for that). It was so bad in Adelaide that Muslim women were instructed to stay home and to only go out with a male chaperone. I think I stayed home for three days which is the longest I have ever stayed home in my life.

If I went to the local shops it would have been fine, because they know me there, but I needed to go to a part of Adelaide where people have probably never seen a Muslim before and it was quite awful.

The Coles check out lady instead of greeting me with a smile and asking how my day was just shoved the shopping in my face with a huge scowl.

One man had to be restrained by his wife from spitting at me. And one hoon started revving up his engine, mockingly pretending to hit me as I crossed the road.

I came home and the first thing I thought of doing was removing my head scarf. No longer was I proud to be Muslim. No longer did I want to be identified as a Muslim. It was as if

I had gone back to being that eleven-year old child at school who was ashamed of her religion.

But one thing made me rethink my decision. A friend of mine who was from Afghanistan, she was a stunning looking girl, had long hair, didn’t wear the headscarf, always wore the latest fashions; she had people harass her on the train. Then I thought to myself, what can she do to stop being abused in public? The colour of your skin is something you can’t change, your accent is something you can’t change. It dawned on me that removing my scarf wasn’t the solution.

So I decided to write a letter to the newspaper. I sent it to three newspapers (The Adelaide Advertiser, The Age and the Australian), and all three newspapers published it.

I am an Australian woman who is experiencing immense grief and sadness at the senseless loss of innocent life. When I heard about the terrorist attacks in the US I felt as if a member of my family had been killed. I am also saddened that I am no longer treated as a fellow Australian. I was born here and have always tried my utmost to be an upright citizen. It is tragic that I am being punished for the acts of a few evil individuals. I assure you nothing in the Quran supports their actions. On the contrary, it is a heinous crime against humanity.

Writing that letter was extremely therapeutic but what was life changing was a letter I received from a couple who lived in Eden Hills, South Australia. This couple went to the trouble of sending their letter to the editor of one newspaper and the editor then forwarded it onto me. Basically their letter stated how saddened they were to read my letter and they simply wanted to write to show their support for the Muslim community. I cannot tell you the impact that letter had on me. It was as if September 11 took life away from me and that letter brought me back to life.

It wasn’t just that letter. I went to the Muslim Women’s Association of SA and asked what could I do to support them and the lady there handed me over a pile of beautiful supportive letters written by Australians from all walks of life and my job was to respond to each of those beautiful letters. When I had finished responding to those letters I had nearly one hundred emails I had to respond to.

I could not have been given a better task to do. Every time I would go out and encounter some kind of nastiness I would come home and immerse myself in those beautiful letters and it would make all the hurt go away.

It reaffirmed to me that the majority of Australians are beautiful supportive people. It is just a handful who react with nastiness to these events.

It wasn’t just those letters, people down the street started to show their warmth towards me.

One lady came running up to me at a restaurant and started squeezing my hand, and kept squeezing my hand saying very slowly ‘I just want to know you are very welcome here!!’ I said, ‘Thanks Love.’

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We came back to Melbourne and I realised I could not continue as a teacher. I wanted to do something at the grassroots level to promote harmony between Muslims and people of other faiths. So I got involved in a Living in Harmony project at the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV). It was very rewarding but not enough.

One night I was just flicking through the channels and to my horror, a Muslim male appeared on TV ranting and raving about something. It was very difficult to understand what he was saying as his English was so limited but what was clear was that his message was very hateful and very divisive. I am quite certain each one of you here tonight can picture the scene vividly.

I was so angry that this person was supposed to be representing me as an Australian Muslim and I turned on my husband who was sharing the couch with me and asked him, ‘Why is he allowed to speak on our behalf, and what are the Muslim community doing about such spokespeople?’

My husband didn’t have any answers, I didn’t have any answers and for days I felt absolutely traumatised.

A couple of weeks later a friend of mine who at the time was a humble board member of the Islamic Council of Victoria — he is now a famous celebrity, Waleed Aly — came to my house for a barbecue with his wife Susan and I turned on Waleed asking him, ‘What are the Muslim community doing about such spokespeople?’ Waleed looked at me eyes gleaming rubbing his hands gleefully and said,

‘So you‘d like to become a Muslim leader?’ I angrily said, ‘No that’s not what I said. I have been away from Melbourne for many years, most people don’t know me here and you don’t have any females on your board, do you think I would want to be the only female on your board?’

Waleed then urged me to run for the election that was only weeks away.

Behind the scenes he was lobbying hard to get me on board and by some miracle I found myself elected onto the committee. I served for eight years as Vice President and Secretary, and then retired to take on a role as Director at the Islamic Museum of Australia.

Years later and another piece of correspondence changed my life again.

I receive a lot of hate mail as a Muslim leader. The dangerous emails I send to police but the nasty correspondence I always respond to.

There is a verse in the Quran that states 41:34 ‘Repel evil with good, and you can turn an enemy into a friend.’ I try as hard as I can to live by this teaching.

There was one email from a man called Dave: ‘Bloody Muslims, why don’t you go back to where you came from?’ I responded by saying, ‘Hey Dave, how’re you going? I think you have completely misunderstood my religion.’

So we continued to email each other for weeks. And then Dave stopped emailing me, and I thought ‘thank goodness’, because it’s exhausting.

And then a couple of weeks later, I see Dave’s name in my inbox and I ask myself, ‘Do I really want to open this email? What does good ol’ Davo want now?’ I opened it with trepidation, and then to my shock I discover it is an animation: two puppy dogs with love hearts around it. And it said, ‘You are one of my dearest friends, send this to ten of your dearest friends.’

So this person who was filled with utter contempt for me and my religion sent me a friendship chain email. This is proof that we can overcome hatred with love.

In closing: Australia is the most successful example of a multi-cultural nation.

But the success of our multiculturalism is not something we should take for granted; we need to continue to actively promote peace and harmony as there are others who seek to undermine this. It is vital we speak out against injustice and support all those who are being vilified.

We must choose: education over ignorance … hope over fear … love over hate. We need to start with our children and teach them to see every person and creation of God as being sacred.

Adolfo Perez Esquival’ Latin American human rights leader who was awarded the 1980 Noble Peace Prize stated:

To create this new society, we must present outstretched and friendly hands, without hatred and rancor, even as we show great determination and never waver in the defense of truth and justice. Because we know that we cannot sow seeds with clenched fists. To sow we must open our hands.

Thank you to everyone at Brisbane Girls Grammar School for reaching out to me, and for being a beacon of light in what often feels like a sea of darkness.

May we all find peace and harmony within ourselves and between one another and may we continue to extend our hands in friendship.

Thank you!

SPEECH DAY 17 NOVEMBER 2016THE OCCASIONAL ADDRESS MS SHERENE HASSAN, DIRECTOR OF THE ISLAMIC MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIA

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SPEECH DAY 17 NOVEMBER 2016HEAD GIRLS’ SPEECH SARAH MILLER AND LILI WACKWITZ

Thank you so much Ms Hassan we are so privileged to have had a speaker with interesting life experiences and outstanding acknowledgements and who has spoken with such passion about the diversity in our society. You have given us much to consider.

Your words about the significance of identity, embracing one another, and promoting harmony really resonated with us and our theme of unity this year. Please accept these flowers with our heartfelt thanks.

This year has been incredible. We started this year with one overarching goal, to achieve total unity within the School. This may be a simple goal, but to implement it in a way that every girl could understand and relate to was more difficult. The Student Council, comprising the House, Sports, Arts and Service Captains, and ourselves, worked for over two and a half hours on a motto, changing words like in to is. It was our first major decision and one we knew would define the school not only this year but remain as our legacy in the years to come. When we finally came to a decision, Lili and I sat nervously outside Ms Euler’s office … What if Ms Euler didn’t

Good Afternoon chair of the board, Ms Elizabeth Jameson; Ms Euler; members of the Board of Trustees; guest speaker Ms Sherene Hassan; distinguished guests; family and friends of the school; staff and girls.

like it? Yet we really believed in this motto. We believed in the words that we wanted to define our year and make it the best it could be for every girl in the school. When we revealed our motto, Blue Unity is Opportunity, to Ms Euler, she quietly considered it, said it a couple of times and finished with a smile. Our vision of unity was well received by our Principal and it has been embraced by every student, every teacher and every parent since.

We believed that through increased unity there would be more opportunities for the girls within the school. A unified House group provides the opportunity for personal support. A unified House creates the opportunity to win an Interhouse event. A united Year 12 cohort has the opportunity to excel, lead, and make the most of its final year. We believed that by unifying the school, every girl would have the opportunity to have an enjoyable and successful year.

In the process of creating the motto, the word, blunity, appeared. Blunity, a combination of the words blue and unity, turned out to be the perfect tool and truly did unify the School this year. The word is short, sharp, and catchy and,

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SPEECH DAY 17 NOVEMBER 2016HEAD GIRLS’ SPEECH SARAH MILLER AND LILI WACKWITZ

consequently, many war cries and posters were a by-product of this initiative, successfully enhancing our spirit and unity. Girls from every year level were able to use the word across the year, whether it be at a QG swimming event, a Blue Day at School or Gala. Throughout the year we also used blunity to build a social media platform in order to increase spirit and connectivity throughout the School. We began with a simple hashtag, #blunity, which spread rapidly, and has been used on instagram more than 1700 times by girls from all grades in any activity they did during the year. #blunity badges and laptop stickers were a visual indication of our unity, but the idea of unity was deeply entrenched in our mindsets resulting in the most supporters in years cheering on the swimmers at QG.

Underpinning our motto were five objectives. The objectives of involvement, support, acknowledgment, spirit, and networking were summarised by the acronym ISASN. We encouraged every girl to be a Grammar ISASN. Their increased involvement in sport, in the classroom, arts, service, and any of the theme days, created an increased level of support for every girl. Support is crucial to achieve unity. With the knowledge that ‘someone is right there with them’, girls were able to take a step out of their comfort zones and try something new. We encouraged each ISASN to not only acknowledge the achievements of a friend, but celebrate someone trying something new. The combination of involvement, support, and acknowledgement created spirit and the Grammar spirit is an integral part of the School culture. Finally, with increased involvement, acknowledgement, support, and spirit, each ISASN created a network of girls. And this strong network created unity within the school. What a success! Just think of the vibrancy of Valentine’s Day, denim-themed Blue Day, White Blouse Day, Harry Potter Day and the list goes on!

This is the last Speech Day for the not only Year 12s; it is also the last for some of our staff, many of whom have served as part of the Girls Grammar community for decades. The men and women in this room are the most caring and considerate people in the world. Over the years, every student that has entered your classes has been motivated by all of you, each and every day. You have established the educational foundation for us to achieve incredible things as leaders and learners. Every day you embody the Grammar spirit sharing your kindness, wisdom and incredible enthusiasm, not to mention, patience. You are the kind of people that we want to become as we venture out into the big wide world and begin to make our own choices and choose our own paths. Our leaving staff have dedicated a combined total of over 120 years of teaching experience to us and we couldn’t be more grateful. These wonderful people personify and embody our motto this year.

To our parents — Nicci and Roy, Gill and John:

We hope that we have made you proud. We hope that you know how much we love you and we hope you know how grateful we are that you have given us the invaluable gift of a Girls Grammar education. It’s hard to realize as a teenager how much you need your parents and guardians but we think it’s pretty safe to say that we could not have made it through this

year, these past 5 years, or our lives, without your endless love and support. Every single girl in this room is so fortunate to be able to be at this School and to have someone who cares for them to guide them. This year and every year before, we have worked as hard as we possibly can, not only for ourselves, but for you. You have taken this journey with us and we could not be happier that it was you who came for the ride.

Ms Euler, thank you so much for your support through the years and especially this year. You make countless decisions every day that are to the benefit of every girl and you still make time to come out and have a chat with us in the morning. You have supported our creative ideas and given us important advice which made this year so wonderful for us.

To the 2017 Head Girls Elect, Lucinda Duke and Elizabeth Prins, you will undoubtedly make your mark next year and enjoy yourselves, learn and grow just as much as we have. These girls will lead you to the depths of the School pool, and all the way to the top of Level 5 of the Research Learning Centre (RLC). We know you will have an amazing year full of learning and last-minute speeches, and we are certain you will do a fantastic job with the support of the School.

We look out into the audience today and see the faces of the people who have made an enormous impact on our lives. Perhaps in the smallest of ways like a simple smile in the corridor, all the way up to the teachers, parents and friends that have inspired us to reach far higher than we ever thought we could. And I know it sounds a little cliché but it’s the reality of our experiences at Girls Grammar. We are united by this fantastic school; we are united by the choices that we have made this year as Grammar sisters and we have achieved so, so much. Sarah and I are immensely proud of everything that you have done and we could not have been more privileged to be the ones to lead and serve you in 2016. You have inspired us, and we hope that we have been able to inspire and motivate you to be the absolute best Grammar girl and young woman that you could possibly be. When we look back, and see ourselves sitting outside Ms Euler’s office, we could not have imagined how this year would turn out. But our level of success has only been possible because of all of you — parents, staff and especially the girls.

This is our last address to the whole school and it so sad to think we will not be talking to you each day. We are going to miss walking through the School and being able to say hello have a chat to almost every girl we pass, it is our favourite thing to do every day. We have made so many incredible friends and met so many different people in the years we have been here. It is such a bittersweet feeling leaving this School and there are so many people we will never see again, but these have been the best years of our lives so far, and this year has been particularly special. So thank you for a wonderful five years, a wonderful 2016 and thank you for believing in us and our vision of this year. To the Year 12 girls, go into the world with wisdom, imagination and integrity. And as always, Blue Unity is Opportunity #blunity.

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VALEDICTORY 16 NOVEMBER 2016MS TARITA BOTSMAN (1988), OPERA SINGER

I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of this land and the elders past, present, and future. Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is Tarita Botsman. I am an opera singer and creative director.

I am also an old girl of Brisbane Girls Grammar School from the class of ‘88.

I was somewhat surprised when I was asked to deliver the Valedictorian address. You see, I was quite a challenging student. It’s not unusual to feel different, or odd, or unique, or über-sensitive as a teenaged girl. But going through Girls Grammar, I fell into a whole new category of eccentric.

I had a one-track mind from a very young age. I precociously told my kindergarten teacher that I was going to be an opera singer, and from there, not a lot changed.

My Year 9 science teacher would tell you that I wrote a series of essays on the back of my science exams. I refused to do the exams, as I felt it had nothing to do with my lyric ambitions and chosen career path. I went to a great deal of trouble to write a very good argumentative essay in those days — I even wrote out the entire libretto of Carmen during one exam, as I had run out of constructive arguments. On my graduation from Girls Grammar, Mrs Hancock — our headmistress in those days — kept and gave me these essays, urging me to live out my dreams. Just quietly, she never said anything to me, but I think she was secretly sympathetic to my blazing ambition at the tender age of fourteen.

The Science teacher and I eventually came to a ‘gentleman’s agreement’. If I did my homework and my assignments — and at least tried to pass the exams — she would let me practise piano in the music block and miss half an hour of class each week. After we shook on it, I even managed to achieve a B for Science that semester. I was lucky to have such a supportive teacher.

I was known for my constant noise making. I would sing from the moment I entered the school grounds, announcing to all and sundry who I was and what I wanted.

I was so lucky to receive excellent vocal tuition from our Girls Grammar singing teacher, Elizabeth Brazier. She introduced me to art song and folk song. And, in a defining moment — if not a bit nerdy and embarrassing for a young, wannabe artist — Elizabeth taught me my first aria from The Marriage of Figaro.

From a young age, I knew in my heart that I had been given a gift. Music, drama, and history were the ONLY subjects I was truly interested in, because they pertained to opera. I soaked up every moment of those classes, whilst at the same time I resented those girls who seemed to have a talent for every subject they turned their hand to.

I recently had coffee with one of those girls, who was also a friend during my school years. I was ridiculously jealous of her

— everything from her handwriting, to her hair, to her nails — they were just so perfect, and she seemed to top the class in everything. She was a champion rhythmic gymnast, she played the flute; she always came second in the vocal competitions behind me. She could do anything and everything. As it turned out, she went on to become a very successful paediatrician, and I admitted to her how insanely jealous I was of her at school. And do you know what she said? I was jealous of you too! I asked her WHY? And her reason was because my path was so clear to me. It was hard for her to choose her path, because sometimes being good at everything can present its own set of difficulties. She felt like a ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’, and in retrospect, she now knows that she overlooked her true passion, which was music, to satisfy what she thought would be a ‘good’ career.

She also shared with me that the best research she has done through her medical career has been because she was able to throw the rule books out the window and approach problems like a musician — allowing her creative mind to take over. More and more businesses are bringing in creatives to shake up the typical workplace — to fire up new, passionate neural pathways. It’s so important to follow our inner instincts and feelings about our careers. So put your logical mind to one side sometimes, and be open to those instincts as you move out into the world.

Elizabeth Brazier, my singing teacher, guided me carefully away from my teenage, musical distractions. Which, in the 1980s, consisted of dreaming of being the next Madonna. Instead, I was convinced to aspire to being like the next Dame Joan Sutherland. I won every vocal and drama prize during my time at Grammar, and those were the happiest days of my school life. I was so fortunate to have such a wonderful mentor, who was instrumental (pardon the pun) in getting me into the studio of the Head of the Vocal Department at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, and from there, I went on my way.

At age 22, I debuted at Opera Queensland as a principal soloist. As it turned out, my former Maths teacher — the late Barbara Hebden — was also the Arts Critic for The Courier Mail. I was thrilled when Barbara gave me an excellent review in the newspaper, because she failed me on many, many maths exams. She sent me a personal note, which read: ‘Well dear, you can’t do maths, but you sure can sing’.

‘Art making’ has been my life, and it has made me a happy and contented woman. It is not an easy path. If you choose the creative industries — you may not end up flying to engagements in your own private jet — but you cannot measure the satisfaction you will receive, from living an authentic and creative life in dollars.

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Arts and culture is a topic I am passionate about. As the strong, female leaders of tomorrow, I am here to impress upon you why the arts and culture needs to be at the epicentre of Australian society.

It is up to you — Grammar Women — to ensure its priority.

Arts and culture creates a rich tapestry for our society: it is life-enhancing, entertaining, and helps to define our personal and national identity.

During my studies at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, I was lucky enough to spend two years studying opera in Rome, another year in Munich, and then my Masters in Music at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

As a young student living in Europe, I cannot tell you the number of times people would ask me if I had sung at the Sydney Opera House. Our iconic Sydney Opera house is a masterpiece of late modern architecture, but it too has a very important lesson for us all to learn.

Looking back on my career thus far — and the many times I have sung and performed in that beautiful building — I think there are many parallels in its development, as there are in a creative career.

The building and construction process of the Sydney Opera House was a Pandora’s Box full of surprises — frustration, creative ingenuity, and bureaucratic horrors.

The artistic and cultural endeavours of the Arts industry really can be, and should be, for everyone; that was what Utzon’s design was also intended to be — ‘an opera house for the people — a leading world centre for the Performing Arts’. He understood profoundly that each of us make decisions every day that are artistic and creative in nature.

It took nine years to build the opera house, and John Utzon eventually quit, because they would not let him finish it in his original vision. What a heart-breaking, but courageous decision that must have been for him.

It took years, but later in life, the Australian Government eventually apologised to him and invited him back to complete one part of the Opera House that was being renovated in 1999.

The Sydney Opera House is a constant reminder to me of the daily, creative struggle we go through as artists. It also fills me with awe, wonder, and gratitude that I have been allowed to live out my inner, creative dreams.

If you pursue a career in the arts, you will quickly learn that it takes a lot of strength and belief in your own vision to become an artist and to develop the resilience to follow through with what you know is right. Artists develop over time. Artists create because they vehemently want to express their vision (Cotterill). John Utzon’s design — and Australia’s shameful impatience with not letting him see through his final vision — is an example of the huge hurdles that lie ahead of you if you choose a creative career.


It is vital that you remain true to your own ideas (Cotterill) — whatever your career choice is.

William Blake saw the artist’s vision as their ‘genius’ and believed that, ‘He who knows himself greatly never opposes his genius’ (Cotteril).

These are strong words, but most serious creators would agree.

And speaking of Blake, when I was in Year 11, nearly thirty years ago, Grammar organised a six-week trip to the UK, for what was called the ‘Brit Lit Trip’. It was a tour of the many places and monuments that paid homage to the literary greats of yesteryear. Shakespeare, Austen, Dickens, Yeats, the list goes on. Accompanied by our English teachers and some patient parents, our trip had all the drama associated with a good opera: comedy, tragedy, romance, intrigue, suspense, long bus trips, and shopping. On reflection, so many of the girls on that trip have moved onto careers in the creative industries — from writers, events organisers, music admin, modelling, art, and of course opera singing. It really goes to show that, if you are given support when you show an interest and talent for something, you can move into whatever field you choose.

As strong Grammar Women — you have been given the very best education on offer. Allow yourself to follow your truth, and let your creative juices flow.

There will be bad reviews, difficult colleagues, there will be naysayers and family members who wish you would get a real job. Then there are the ‘haters’, especially if your art is controversial; or God forbid, if your art is popular; or if it makes you money. Don’t torture yourself trying to make everyone love your art. Stay true to your vision, and the rest will follow. Barack Obama says when it comes to success, ‘If you can keep it about the work, you’ll always have a path’. His message: don’t worry about yourself, don’t make it personal — make it about the work.

When I look around at all of my friends who are doctors, lawyers, accountants, or the people I know who have ‘normal’ jobs, I remind myself that there is not a culture in all the world that does not sing.

For millennia, music and song has been consecrated by humanity. It’s used in everything from rites of passage and chants of war, to the invocations of gods.

This significance we give to music today in our everyday life is not trivial. It is fundamental. Girls — I am sure there have been many assemblies where you have been so glad that the choir or the orchestra were performing instead of having to listen to the latest sports results?

From song, came language and stories. Sometimes people drew pictures to accompany these stories. Or to remind people of stories that were once told. Ballads and epics were written in verse. These stories are what gave us culture, and there really is no civilised society that has not developed without culture and the arts.

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Artists tell stories — important stories — linking us to our past, our heritage, and making a deeper connection to ourselves. We live in a country with the oldest living culture on earth.

A Songline in Indigenous culture, also called a Dreaming Track, is a complex series of paths that have been tracked across Australia during the Dreamtime. These paths are written in song, in incredibly intricate detail. Some are long, some are short. Indigenous people are able to navigate their land by repeating the words of the song, which describe the location of landmarks, waterholes, and other natural phenomena.

By singing the songs in the correct order, Indigenous people could navigate vast distances, often travelling through the deserts of Australia’s interior. Since a Songline can span the lands of several different language groups and cultures, different parts of the song are also in different languages.

What is so extraordinary about this, is that without a map, without a simultaneous translator or an iPhone in their pocket, they could understand how to traverse this entire continent in different languages and through different cultures! This was done through the manipulation and profound knowledge of language and its connection to land. They used the melodic contour and rhythm of the song to describe the land over which the song passes. Stories were told and passed on for millennia through the use of storytelling, music, dance, and art. Aboriginal people regard all land as sacred, and the songs must be continually sung to keep their land ‘alive’. These are a profound and knowledgeable people who have lived on this land for more than 60 000 years.

Art helps us make sense of our world, and it broadens our experience and understanding. It enables us to imagine the unimaginable, and to connect us to the past, the present, and the future, sometimes simultaneously.

So often, I am profoundly moved by the music I am learning or the response from an audience member who comes up to me after I have performed. It is those moments that I realise why I do what I do. To give joy, enhance the lives of others, and to also provide contemplation time for people to look inwards.

Art expresses and captures that which otherwise may go unexpressed — it is a communication of emotion and sense. It provides abstract representations of common feelings and thoughts. Art allows us to connect to our world in a deep and meaningful way that other communication cannot.

Recently I did a series of recitals through Northern New South Wales. For one of the recitals, the local newspaper advertised the wrong time for the concert. The pianist and I were waiting backstage for front of house to give us the sign to walk on stage and suddenly she appeared to ask us if we wanted to perform as there were only 5 people in the audience. I decided to do it, and we walked out on stage and performed. It was such a lovely concert; they adored every second of it, and by the end of the concert, the lady in the front row was weeping. Later she told us that she had not heard one of the songs that I sang since her mother had passed away 30 years ago, and she was completely and unexpectedly overcome. She was so grateful

and still keeps in touch. I think we helped her move through the final stages of the consuming grief she had held onto for years. They are the moments that I am glad I chose music.

As a summation of those experiences, and as an arts practitioner, I like the idea that art is a skilled attempt to impart some understanding about human existence, which cannot be fully communicated in another way.

Let me give you an example. If I am singing a role or a song with the subject matter based around death, I draw on the life experiences I have had. I draw upon the chemical, emotional, and physical reactions flooding through my mind into my body, which I am then communicating out to my audience. The rehearsal and preparation process requires me to look deep into myself. I must summon the courage and discipline to perform and thereby expose my deepest feelings. More importantly though, it collectively helps an audience to heal, as they witness and sense the emotion being conveyed, which creates a mirror to what we have all suffered at some time. It produces a release, a letting go. It provides a form of therapy for the artist and the listener. While it is not a frontline health service — it certainly plays an important complementary role. Have you ever had an ‘A-HA’ moment watching a play, a movie, or listening to a piece of music? Suddenly all those crazy emotions you were ignoring start to slowly piece together.

It’s a unique way of keeping society mentally healthy. It’s another way to communicate subjective experiences to other people, whether their experiences are similar or not. It is a way to explain our grievances, our concerns, our troubles, and also our joys. Through music and art, we can express the complexity of the human experience in a way that words cannot do alone. It can inspire, reform, change, and assist us to transcend our everyday reality.

Art is the vessel through which we can immortalise our culture, our Australian culture which is full to the brim with innovative, ground-breaking, and exciting artists and musicians.

To me, after the basic fundamentals of survival, art is the most important facet of our society. Why? Do I say this because I’m a delusional dreamer? Do I say this to find comfort in my lifestyle and my choice to be an artist and live a creative life? No. I say this because, art inspires us, because art encourages us to explore the world and our own selves. It brings life to life.

There have been a couple of memorable occasions — when I have been studying and working overseas as an artist — where the experience of living life as an artist overseas was so distinctly different to working as an artist in Australia. In Germany, I was sharing a flat with another singer. I was told I could put my name on the outside of the building and also to write my profession on there. So, I quite happily wrote Tarita Botsman, Opera-Sängerin. The respect, esteem, and admiration from the other people in the building was quite overwhelming. Almost every day, other members of the building would stop me in the lift, on the street, and in the Backerei, to ask about my studies, my auditions, my lifestyle,

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and how they could help. I was quite amazed. We both felt like mini-celebrities. Germany is a country that truly cherishes its artists and the importance of culture.

In Australia I go out to dinner, and I still dread telling people my profession in case they answer with the rather common, ‘No, really — what is your real job?’ I think it’s time to change and challenge that culture and attitude. And I believe, we can all help change this. Many of you will choose to study other pursuits — law, medicine, engineering, accounting, and so on. It’s your job to stay in touch with your creative friends because, let me tell you, it was my friends who had ‘real jobs’ who kept me fed and watered when I was studying in London. Your creative sisters will be relying on you.

Let’s help shift this cultural cringe. Give your creative friends respect when they are still studying seven years after you have graduated and are earning good money. Go to their concerts, their exhibitions, the launch of their latest robot, and stay interested and engaged in their creative pursuits. It is those connections that ‘normalise’ the choices of artists, and I can’t tell you how much it helps the esteem of artists as they are going through their, often, very lonely lives.

Also, when cultural life is vibrant, brain drain is reduced. Why? Because intelligent, young creatives are inspired to stay here inside their society working together to create a legacy and a tradition for other artists to follow. If we are to support other artists, the typical migration of Australian artists overseas would diminish, and our culture would grow stronger.

Another pressing reason we must keep our arts and culture alive — and keep our creatives here in Australia — is to make sure we are ready for the next huge cultural shift in humanity. It is what they are now calling the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Creative skills will be more valued in a decade or so, when workers are required to surf the wave of new technologies and new products, when they are met with unforeseen problems to be solved and must develop new ways of working.

Workers will need to be far more creative than they are now, to have the edge over our robotic future. We need our artists and creatives to help us through this dramatic transition.


REFERENCES

Cotterill, T. (2012). Potent Personal Images Drive Creativity. Retrieved from https://thomascotterill.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/potent-personal-images-drive-creativity/

Cotterill, T. (2012). The Lonely Thinkers Path. Retrieved from https://thomascotterill.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/the-lonely-thinkers-path/

Cotterill, T. (2012). A Visionary View of Writing. Retrieved from https://thomascotterill.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/a-visionary-view-of-writing/

Cotterill, T. (2013). Ego is only a Supervisor in the Psyche. Retrieved from https://thomascotterill.wordpress.com/2013/01/10/ego-is-only-a-supervisor-in-the-psyche/

Cotterill, T. (2012). The Guiding Hand of the Unconscious. Retrieved from https://thomascotterill.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/the-guiding-hand-of-the-unconscious/

Supporting cultural production creates an economic counterforce that protects local income, because it is unique to this country.

Arts and culture is an active commercial industry on its own. To be able to create unique works of art and productions, we need to have a serious shift — not only in the thoughts and priorities of politicians — but we also need the genuine support and commitment of the business community and the general public. The arts reflect the society that creates them. And here in Australia, we need stronger support for the arts and creative pursuits.

Nowhere is the need for this support seen more clearly than in the case of the ancient Greeks. Through their temples, theatre, sculpture, and pottery, the Greeks incorporated a fundamental principle of their culture: arete. To the Greeks, arete meant excellence and reaching one’s full potential.

The Greeks were also the first civilisation to build public stages, and Athens was the place where the birth of drama began. Theatre was seen as an important tool to solve problems of the day, to inspire debate, and watched by everyone. Actors and playwrights — such as Sophocles and Euripides — were celebrated, and they have had a 2000-year influence on our lives in the theatre. Plays and operas, like Oedipus Rex and Antigone, are still performed today.

Let us not stray — as we enter this new phase of innovation and technology in humanity — from the lessons of the ancient Greeks, or the wisdom and profound importance of the oldest living culture alive today — that of the Indigenous people of Australia.

They both were, after all, responsible for the beginning of civilisation as we know it.

You — Grammar women — are the young leaders of tomorrow, and you will be stepping into the world and the workforce sooner than you think. Ask yourself very carefully: what kind of world do I want to contribute to? And I hope you will say that a world with arts and culture at its epicentre, is the kind of world you choose to be a part of.

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BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL 2016 Annual ReviewP / 41


STAFFBRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

EXECUTIVE STAFF Principal Ms Jacinda Euler BA, GDipEd, MEdSt, MACE, MACEL, MAICD

Chief Financial Officer & Secretary to the Board Mr Jared Dawson MBA, ACA (Terms I-II)

Deputy Principal Mrs Anna Owen BSc, PGDipEd, MSc(ScEd), MACE, MAICD

Deputy Principal (Students) Mrs Anne Ingram BSc, DipEd, AMusA

Dean of Academic Administration Ms Tennille Cummings BSc, GradDipEd, MLeadershipMgmtEd

Dean of Co-Curriculum Ms Maggi Gunn BBus (Acc), DipT, GradDipHlthSc, MEd(Leadership&Mgt), MACEL (Terms I-IV)

Dean of Curriculum & Scholarship Dr Bruce Addison BA, BBus(Econ), BEdSt, PhD, DipEd, MACE, MACEL, AFAIM

Dean of School Mrs Pauline Harvey-Short BHMS, DipT(PE), MPhil, FACHPER, FRLSS

Dean of Studies & Learning Analytics Mr James Keogh DipTeach, BEd, Med, Mace, MAIP

Director of Communications & Community Relations Ms Michelle Allan BA, MBA (Terms I-IV)

Director of Development & Alumni Ms Lea Walker BA (Ed), GradCert, GradDip, MBA, Medplus (Terms I-III)

Director of Finance Ms Katherine Bartley BBus(Acc), CPA (Term I)

Mr Brent Durham CPA, MBA (Term II-)

Director of Human Resources Ms Dianne Firman MODSHRM, BA(Psyc), DipTeaching, GradDipOrgPsyc, PGDipBehavioural Science, Dip Counselling

Director, Information Technology Mr Kent Walker DipIT, MCSE

Facilities Manager Mr Aaron Bowden

DIRECTORS Centre for Professional Practice Dr Kay Kimber BA, CertT, GradDipMedia(AFTRS), MEd, PhD, MACE

Creative Arts Ms Lorraine Thornquist BA, DipEd, MA, Cert III Tourism, GradCertMuseumSt (Terms I-IV)

Mr Andrew Pennay BA, Bed (Co-Director Terms I-II)

Cross Faculty Initiatives Dr Ann Farley BEd, GradDipResT, DipT, MSc(Dist), PhD, MACE

Digital Pedagogies Mr Shane Skillen BEd, CertIVEng, DipMultiMedia

English Mr Stephen Woods BA, MA, GradDipTeach

Health & Physical Education Mr Stephen Fogarty Bed

Ms Jane Martel BAppSc(HMSEd) (Acting Term IV)

Humanities Miss Alison Dare BA(Hons), DipEd, MA

Information Services Mrs Kristine Cooke BA, DipEd, GradDipResT, MEd(TeachLib)

Instrumental Music Mr Mark Sullivan BMus, GradDipFet(Tertiary), DipArts (Inst) (Terms I-IV)

International Studies Ms Susan Garson BA/BEd, MEdStud

Marrapatta Memorial Outdoor Education Mr James McIntosh BEd, GradDipOutEd, MEdSt

Mathematics Dr Peter Jenkins BSc(HonsI), PhD, GradDipEd

Science Dr Sally Stephens BSc, MScEd(Dist), GradDipT, GradDipCommComp, EdD

Service Mrs Lynne Mungomery BHMS(Ed)

Sport Ms Sally Northcroft BSc MSc

Technologies Mr Brendon Thomas CertFineArts, BEd,PgradCertOEd, MEd, Cert IV Training & Assessment

Mrs Malgorzata Golawska-Loye, MagisterBEd (Acting Term III)

HEADS OF HOUSE Assistant Dean of Students Mrs Emma Lowry BBus, BA(IntSt), BEd, MACEL

Mrs Hazel Boltman HDE(Physical Science) (Acting Terms I-II)

Year 7 Advisor Ms Sarah Boyle BA, BEd(GE), GradCertRE

Beanland Ms Rachael Christopherson BA, DipEd

Mrs Lyn Chakravorty BA, DipT, GradDipLibSc, MACE (Acting Term II)

England Ms Alysia Stark BAppSc(HMSEd), Cert IV Training & Assessment

Gibson Mrs Hazel Boltman HDE(Physical Science)

Griffith Ms Jan O’Sullivan BA, DipEd, MACE

Hirschfeld Mrs Alice Dabelstein BEd

Lilley Mrs Sybil Edwards BA, DipT

Mackay Ms Ruth Jans BA, BEd

O’Connor Ms Sarah Boyle BA, BEd(GE), GradCertRE

Woolcock Mrs Violet Ross BA, GradDipEd

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HEADS OF DEPARTMENT / SUBJECT

Accounting Mrs Phillipa Greig BBus, BEd, DipT (Sec), AssocDipSecStudies

Biology Ms Tracey Monteith BSc(Hons), DipEd

Chemistry Mrs Jacqueline Ross BSc(Hons), GradDipT

Chinese Mr Gideon Huppert BA, Grad Dip Ed, MEd (TESOL), Cert IV Training & Assessment

Classroom Music Mr Andrew Pennay BA, Bed

Co-curricular Drama Mrs Katrina Riveros BA (Drama) GradDipEd

Drama Ms Joanne Martin BEd

E-Learning Ms Natasha Littler BA/BEd

Economics Mrs Amanda Barnes BA,GradDipEd(Sec)

English Year 7 -8 Ms Linda Thomas BA, DipEd, Cert English (Terms I-IV)

English Years 9-10 Mr Richard Laur BEd(PG), BA(Hons), MEd

French Mrs Annabelle Ritchie BA, GradDipEd, MEd (International Ed), Cert IV Training & Assessment, Cert I in Spanish

Geography Mr Jeffrey Wheatley BEcon, DipEd

Geography/Business & Economics Years 7-8 Ms Yonnie McDonnell BA, Grad Dip Ed

German Mrs Debra Barker BA, DipEd, BEdSt, MEd (TESOL)

Ms Louise Raben Bed (Sec) L.T.C.L, A.T.C.L (Acting Terms II-IV)

History Ms Julie Hennessey BA MEd DipEd

History/Civics & Citizenship Years 7-8 Dr Rashna Taraporewalla BA(Hons), PhD, GrDipEd

Japanese Ms Jennifer Fukushima BA(AsianSt), GrDipEd(Sec)

Latin Mr Nicholas Hollier BA (Hons), GradDip Divinity

Leading Science 21 Mrs Sacha Cross BAppSC(HMS)/BEd(Sec)

Mrs Monica Urry BSc, Bed (Acting Terms I-IV)

Mathematics A & Year 10 Mrs Judith Muller, DipEd, BSc, Gr DipCompEd, DipBus(FrontlineMgmt)

Mathematics B Ms Gay Barnett BA,DipEd

Mathematics Years 7-9 Mrs Jennifer Winter BA, MEd, HDE(Maths)

Mrs Patricia Greenland BSc, GradDipEd (Acting Term III)

Physics Mr Alan Allinson BSc(Hons), PostGradCertEd

Student Credentials Coordinator Mrs Elaine Serisier BEd(Hons)

Student Development Mrs Alison Carmichael BEd, MEdSt, DipSpEd, GradDipEdSt, COGE

Study of Religion Mrs Narelle Waverley-Smith BA(Hons), BEd(Sec)

Visual Art Mr Donald Pincott BEdSt, BA, MEd, MLI, DipSecT(Art), MACE

ACADEMIC STAFF Mr James Allday BSc(Hons), GDipEd (Term II)

Ms Sharon Anderson, BADipEd

Ms Stefanie Bailey BSc/BEd

Mrs Joanna Belich BA, LLB(Hons), DipEd

Mrs Sanae Asada-Leone BA, GradDipEd

Miss Gerri Bernard BSc(Physics),MSc(MatSciEng),GrDipEd(Senior Yrs)

Ms Jacqueline Boyd BEd, DipT, MACE

Dr Ruth Burnett BEcon, Dip T, MEd, EdD

Ms Anne Byrne BSc, BEdSt, MEd, DipEd

Mrs Sally Callie BEd

Ms Nadine Cameron BSc, GradDipEd

Ms Kate Child Bed (Physical Ed),PG Outdoor Env Ed (Term III-)

Ms Emma Churchland BFA(Drama), DipEd (Sec) (Term II-)

Mrs Catherine Clemot BEd, GradCertRE

Ms Kara Coughlan BSc, PostGradDipEd

Mrs Sacha Cross BAppSC(HMS)/BEd(Sec)

Mr Anthony Cupitt BEd(Sec)(GE),BA(Hons),BA

Ms Adele Cummings BA, GradDipEd

Ms Nisha Davé BSc(Hons)Multimedia Des&Tech, ProfGradCertEd(Des&Tech

Miss Indiana Dellit BEd, (Terms I-IV)

Mrs Sally Downes BA, DipEd

Ms Kirsten Eadie, Bed,GCCI,Med(LeadershipMgmt) (Term II-)

Mrs Stephanie Eaton BMus(Perf), BMus(Cond), GradDipEd(Sec), AdvDipMus(Accomp), LMusA, AKC

Ms Anna Flourentzou BA, BEd

Mrs Romy Fritz BA, GradDipEd

Mrs Malgorzata Golawska-Loye MagisterBEd

Mrs Patricia Greenland BSc, GradDipEd

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Mrs Louisa Harvey BEd, BA, CertIV TESOL

Mrs Rebecca Haskmann BA, MA, GradDipEd

Mr Larry Hickey BEd(Sec)(GE),BA

Ms Abigail Hills BVA GDipEd

Ms Hollie Hollie (VisArt), BEd(Sec)

Mrs Lorraine Huxley BSc, GradDipEd(Sec) (Terms I)

Ms Rita Jajjo BA, GradDipTeach

Mr Brad Jennings BEd, BA (Drama)

Dr Paula Johnson BA(HonsI), PhD, GradDipEd

Miss Stephanie Johnson BAppSc(HMS), BEd(Sec)

Ms Adele Johnston BCreInd(Drama)/BEd(Sec), MCI(Drama Teaching) (Terms I)

Ms Emanuelle Jones BA(Hons), PGCE

Mr Christopher Joseph Bed, Cert IV Training & Assessment (Terms II-IV)

Ms Carmen Keating MBiomedE, BMechE (Hons), GradDipEd

Miss Jessica Kempe BSc, GradDipEd

Mrs Kate Kildey BEd(Sec)(HonsI) MLI, MACE

Mrs Clare Kiolle BA,CertT

Mr Alan Lane-Richardson BSc(Maths), GradDipEd, GradDipSc(Info Tech) (Term III)

Mr Andrew Lanning BEd(Sec), BSc

Mrs Carolyn Lansdown BA(OutEd), GradDipEd

Mr Daniel Larkin BA, BEd

Mrs Catherine Lay BSc,GrCertA Bed(SEC)(GE)

Mr Timothy Lehmann MEdSt,BEd,BCom(Hons),BA,BMus, GCertMidYrs, GCert Autism Studies

Ms Jenna Luiten BSpSc, MSc, GDipEd (Term IV-)

Ms Amy Mackay BSc, BEd(Sec), (GE) (Term III-)

Ms Tracey Maclean BA (Hons), GradDipEd GrDipTESOL

Mrs Amee Magee BSc GradDipEd

Ms Jane Martel BAppSc(HMSEd)

Mr Paul Martineau BA, BEd

Mrs Lee Mazzaglia BEd,DipT

Mrs Kate McCarthy BHMS, BAppSc(Ed)

Miss Kayley McCorley BHlthSports&PhysEd

Ms Raelene McDonell BE (Civil), GradDipEd

Mr Elliot McGarry BEd(Sec)

Mr Michael McGrath BMus(Hons)/BEd(Sec) BMus

Mrs Carol McIntosh BEd, GradDipOutEd, MA

Ms Bronwyn McKean BA, DipEd, CertFineArts

Ms Susan Miles BEd,Med(TeachLib)

Mrs Izabela Minuzzo Licencjat Magistra

Mrs Chris Moore BA, DipEd, MACE (Terms I-IV)

Ms Susan Morrison BEd (Sc)

Mrs Joanne Nisbett BEd (Term IV-)

Mrs Anna O’Gorman BSc(Hons), DipEd

Ms Suzanne Peck BA, GradDipEd

Dr Zhi (Sam) Peng BA, MA, MIB (Hons), PhD, GradDipEd

Ms Deborah Perz BSc, BEd

Ms Kate Phillips BEd

Ms Natalie Quinn BSc GradDip Learning & Teach(Sec) (Terms I-II)

Mrs Paula Quinn PGDipED, BA, BA(Hons), MAppLing

Mr Michael Ramsay BTeach, GradDipOutEd

Dr Anton Rayner BSc(Hons)PhD(laser Physics), GCEd, GradDipEd (Terms I-IV)

Ms Cathy Rees DipT, GradCertHlthSc. (WomHlth)

Mrs Morag Roberts BA(Hons),ProfGradDipEd(Eng)

Mrs Jacqueline Rose-Diamond BSc, HDE (Terms I-IV)

Miss Katie-May Rynne BA,Bed (Sec) (Term III)

Mr James Seaha MA(EdPsych), BSc (Terms I-III)

Ms Corrinne Scruby BA DipEd (Term IV)

Mrs Vimla Sharma BSc(Hon),DipEd,GradDipComputerEd (Term I)

Miss Jessica Smith BOutEd, GDipEd

Mrs Julie Smith BA(Hons)(Eng), CertEd

Ms Jane Taylor BA, GradDipEd, GDipArts, MEdSt (Asia), CELTA (Terms II-IV)

Dr Keith Treschman BSc, DipEd, BA, BEdSt, MEd, MSc (Terms I-II)

Ms Belinda Upton BSc, BEd

Mrs Prue Vize BAgSc, DipEd

Miss Emily Walsh BSc, GradDipEd (Term I)

Mr John Walsh M.ED, B.ED, B.SC Hons, GradDipLibSci, GradCert Ed (Term II)

Miss Jenna Whitby Bed, BA (Terms III-IV)

Ms Kimberley Wood BAppsSc(HMS) GrDipEd (SEC) (Term I)

Mrs Christine Woodford BSc, DipEd

Mrs Jane Zealand BScHon, PostGradCertEd (Term II)

STAFFBRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

P / 44


INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC STAFF Director, Coordinator of Strings Mr Mark Sullivan, BMus, GradDipFet(Tertiary), DipArts (Inst) Violin and Viola Teacher (Terms I-IV)

Coordinator of Band Programme & Brass Teacher Mr Paul Kucharski BA, MMus, Grad DipL&T

Ms Laurinda Davidson BAMus, GDipMusSt (Acting Terms II-IV)

Coordinator of Choral Programme, Voice Teacher Mr Paul Holley OAM, BAMus, GrdDipEd

Band Director, Clarinet and Saxophone Teacher Mr Owen Clarke FRSM, ATCL, BMus, BA, GDipArts, GDipTeach (Terms I, III-)

Mr Warwick Tyrell (Term II)

Band Director, Percussion Teacher Mr Jacob Cavanough BMus

Band Director Miss Ashleigh Porter BMus,GDipEd

Choral Accompanist Ms Anne-Maree Eyles MEd (School Leadership), GradCertEdMgmt, GradDipEd, BMus, AMusA

Choral Accompanist Ms Sherelle Eyles MMus(RCM), ARCM (GradDip), BMus, LMusA, AMusA

Choral Accompanist Ms Kathryn Sander Dip Mus (Creative Arts), B Mus (Perf — Accompaniment and Chamber Music), A Mus A

Choral Director Ms Clare Finlayson BMus, BEd(Sec)

Double Bass Teacher Mrs Connie Garrett-Benson BMus, GradDipEd

Flute/Bassoon/Oboe Teacher Mrs Anne MacAskill Auld BMus(MusEd)

Guitar Ensemble Director, Guitar Teacher Mr Ian Weston BJS (Dist), MMusSt

School Nurse Mrs Louise Lockyer BNurs

Mrs Deb Conn RN

Mrs Carolyn Hann RN

Ms Kristin Kavanagh RN

Mrs Susan Micallef BNurs

Mrs Anna Pilcher (Midwifery)

Ms Jessica Reid RN

PROFESSIONAL STAFF

Administrative Assistant — ASC Mrs Jennifer Stafford

Administrative Assistant — ASC Ms Gillian McHarg

Administrative Assistant — Communications Ms Chantelle Castillon (Terms III-IV)

Administration Assistant — Facilities Mrs Rachel dos Santos Cert IV Bus Admin (Terms I-II)

Mrs Melanie Bishop Cert 1v Bus, Cert IV Training & Assessment (Term III-)

Administrative Assistant — IT Mrs Wendy Bradley

Administrative Assistant — IT Ms Jodie Oldfield

Administrative Assistant — Music Mrs Elizabeth Worth

Administrative Assistant — Sport Mrs Cherie Beaumont BBusMan

Administrative Assistant — Student Care Mrs Tracey Bilton

Administrative Assistant — Student Care Ms Leigh Fitzsimmons (Terms I-III)

Assistant Facilities Manager Mr Andrew Supple DipMn, DipBusAdmin

Accountant Ms Hannah Myatt CPA, BCom (Term III-)

Carpenter Mr Robert Vogler

Music Accompanist Ms Kylie Los MMus, BMus

String Orchestra Director, Coordinator of Chamber Music, Cello Teacher Mrs Helen Sharp BMus, GradDipMus

String Orchestra Director, Violin/Viola Teacher Mr Michael Patterson BMus(Hons), MPhil GradDipLearning&Teach(Sec), LMusA, AMusA

String Director Mr Jonathan Zorzetto BMus/BEd

Voice Teacher Mr Gary Holley MusEd, MMus(MusEd), MMusSt (VocalPed), A.Mus.A

LANGUAGE TUTORS (NATIVE SPEAKERS)

French Ms Corrinne Scruby BA, DipEd

Japanese Ms Aya Topp BAEd

German Ms Bärbel von Frankenberg BA,TESOL,Dip in Banking & Finance

Chinese Ms Julie Zhu BA,MA(AppLing), GradDipEd

SPECIALIST STAFF Post-Secondary Planning Mrs Wanda Hayes BSc(Psych), DipEd, DipSchCouns, FCDAA

School Psychologist & Student Counselling Coordinator Mrs Jody Forbes BA(Hons)

School Psychologist Mrs Tara McLachlan BPsychSc, MPsychClin, MAPS

Miss Chrystal Gray BPsych SC(HONS), MPsych(Clinical) (Terms II-)

School Psychologist Dr Alix Vann BPsySc(Hons),DPsychClin

P / 45


STAFF

Communications Manager Mrs Sara Swan BJ (Terms I-III)

Ms Sara Merry BBusMan/BA, GradDipEd (Term IV-)

Ms Elizabeth Stafford BBsComn (Term IV-)

Communications Manager Mrs Teva Smith PR Dip (Terms I-IV)

Ms Sarah McCormack BA (Term III)

Communications Officer (Digital/Social Media) Ms Katie Trappett BBus, BInfoTech

Database Administrator Mrs Linda Sutton BInfoTech, Cert IV Training & Assessment

Data Entry Officer Miss Nicola Gunn (Term III-)

Development and Alumni Officer Ms Anne Costello BComms

Enrolments Manager Mrs Suzanne Hancock BTech(FET),MLitt

Enrolments Officer Mrs Melinda Winton

Events Manager Ms Xenia Aitken-Smith BBA, MBus

Ms Charis Holt BHlthSc, GCCI (Terms II-III)

Executive Assistant to the Principal Ms Lara Parker

Facilities Support Officer Mrs Leonie Doran

Facilities Support Officer — Ground & Events Mr John Summers

Facilities Support Officer — Ground & Events Mr Aaron Woulfe

Finance Officer Mrs Linda Krey

Finance Officer Mrs Mischa Antoun (Term III-)

Financial Accountant Mrs Anita Morgan BComm (Dist), CPA (Terms I-IV)

Horticulturist Mr Ben McCann

Human Resources Manager Mrs Brigitte Bickham

Information Systems Manager Mrs Rebecca Adamson, BAMM, DipMM, MCSA, (Terms I)

Mr Robert Simmons DipComputerStudies (Term II-)

IT Helpdesk Support Officer Mr Craig Hohrmann

IT Helpdesk Support Officer Mrs Allison Luque

IT Senior Desktop Support Technician Mr Dane Culley Cert IV IT (Networking), BBiotech

IT Services Manager Mr Breck Felsman BInfoTech, MCSE

Laboratory Technician Dr Carla Atkinson BSc (Joint Honours), MSc, PhD

Laboratory Technician Mr Anthony Lumsden BSc(Hons)

Laboratory Technician Mrs Alison Wind BEnvSc(Hons)

Ms Aisling Kelly BEdSc (HONS) (Term III-)

Librarian — Special Collections Mrs Jenny Davis BA(Hons), GradDipArts

Library Technician Mrs Janet Tripp DipLibInfoStudies

Library Assistant Ms Tilly Askey

Library Assistant Mrs Carrie MacLaren (Term III-)

Old Girls / Alumni Manager Mrs Antonia Swindells DipEvents

Payroll Officer Mrs Sharon Rose

Personal Assistant to Chief Financial Officer & Dean Co-Curriculum Ms Kirsti Moyle

Personal Assistant to Deputy Principals Ms Sally Condon

Receptionist Ms Jan Nothdurft (Terms I-II)

Ms Tonia Scholes (Term III)

Receptionist Mrs Lorraine Skillen (Terms I-III)

Ms Helen Mengel (Term IV-)

Reference Librarian Ms Helen Demack BA, GradDipLibSc

Repairs and Maintenance Officer Mr Robert Hetherington

Risk and Compliance Officer Mrs Tina Hinspeter BCA(Hons),DipProgMgt (Term I)

Mr Daniel Mitchell Bbus(Intl), GradDipAppFin (Term II-)

Secretary to Dean of Academic Administration Mrs Sandra Philps DipBusAdmin

Secretary to Dean of Studies & Learning Analytics Mrs Sue Martin DipHSc(Couns)

Secretary to Dean of Students & Heads of House Ms Jennifer Smith

Security Officer Mr Terry Brown

Sports Manager & Workplace Health & Safety Officer Mr Barry Greatorex BSportStudies(Admin), GradDipOutEd, MALeisure.Mgt.MSSA

Stores Officer Mr Phillip Hopkins

Team Leader, Grounds & Events Mr Ray Goodrich

Technical Support AV Specialist Mr David Joncheff

Technical Support AV Specialist Ms Maxine McCabe BMus, MCommun

Web Systems Administrator Ms Maryam Nemati MInfTech, BAAppMath(CommpSci) (Term II-)

Cleaner Ms Kerry Clutterbuck (Marrapatta)

Maintenance Officer Mr Peter Ward (Marrapatta)

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL

P / 46

Brisbane Girls Grammar SchoolGregory Terrace Brisbane QLD 4000Australia

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BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL Annual Review · GENERAL REPORTS / 6 ... 37 STAFF 2016 / 42 BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL Annual Review 2016. ... very successful year with Girls Grammar