TERM 4 - WEEK 9 DECEMBER 2021

Time flies faster than a weaver’s shuttle.

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Our final week this year has been one of celebration across the whole school. The Junior School has been abuzz with exciting activities, including a wonderful farewell to Year 6 on Wednesday evening, followed by an inspirational Speech Night online last night. The girls and our staff’s creativity and work are certainly second to none.

It has been equally action-packed in the Senior School, with Speech ‘Days’ for each year group on Wednesday and Thursday, and the long-awaited Valedictory Assembly for our Year 12 (2021) girls today.

Yesterday, Year 11 Speech Day was combined with the Year 12 2022 Leadership Induction Service. We warmly congratulate our new Prefects and Vice Captains and every girl in Year 12, 2022 who will provide what we believe will be outstanding student leadership for Abbotsleigh. (Please see below for our new Year 12 leaders as well as an extract of the message to the girls from Emma Thornthwaite, Head Prefect, 2021)

This year, our girls certainly have been strong and courageous, and they have been supported by our professional, talented and very hard-working members of staff to whom we are very grateful.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank every member of staff for their exceptional dedication and every member of our community for your incredible support. I wish you God’s richest blessings for this Christmas and holiday season – may you be safe, healthy and have a wonderful time over the summer.

I look forward to seeing you in 2022 – a year of great hope; a year for our community to press the ‘reset’ button and reconnect; and a year to absolutely flourish.

STUDENT LEADERS 2022

Head Prefect – Anjali Lambotharan

Vice Head Prefect Duties – Elinor Trevelyan-Jones

Vice Head Prefect Service – Jasmine Burton

Vice Head Prefect Houses – Kimia Nojoumian

Head Boarder Prefect – Sophie Oakeshott

PORTFOLIOS

Chapel Prefect – Mikayla Ho

Creative Arts Prefects – Natalie Figueiredo, Lucia Radford

Debating and Public Speaking Prefect – Megan Wang

Drama Prefect – Elizabeth Barnes

Environment Prefect – Olivia Yu

Music Prefect – Helen Jordan

Sport Prefect – Ashley Chan

STEAM Prefects – Nikita Kyrikos, Angelina Niu

SRC Prefect – Zara Vellani

Junior School Prefects – Phoebe Chung, Madison Hills, Eliza Laithwaite

Year 6/7 Prefects – Madeline Goh, Anjana Maheswaran

Year 7/8 Prefects – Lindsey Kim, Emma Ross

Year 8/9 Prefects – Hannah du Preez, Amy Gottschalk

Year 9/10 Prefects – Xanthe Condoleon, Deonne Daher

Year 10/11 Prefects – Natasha Abdulghani, Elizabeth Digges

Vice Head Boarder Prefect – Harriet Ranken

Boarding Prefects – Sophie Friend, Gabriella Shilling, Juliet Slack-Smith

The

ShuttleFROM THE HEADMISTRESS

2021: Our Year of Connection

The end of our second year ‘like no other’Mrs Megan Krimmer Headmistress

IN THIS ISSUE

Headmistress

Chaplain

Community

Junior School

Senior School

TERM 4 - WEEK 9 DECEMBER 2021

HOUSE LEADERS AND YEAR 12 LEADERS

Chisholm

Prefect and House Captain – Georgia Fichardt

Vice Captains – Sophie Boden, Georgia Moore

Year 12 Leaders – Talia Allsop, Darcy Bradley, Stella Carolan, Zara Fisher, Claudia Frampton, Amelia Hansen, Lucinda Hutchison, Erica Kim, Arwyn Stone, Sophia Vassallo, Rebecca Wallwork

Franklin

Prefect and House Captain – Skye Weston

Vice Captains – Ashley Cheung, Samantha Seeto

Year 12 Leaders – Aria Bhatnagar, Rebecca Galeano, Lucie Gallichan, Ameesha Gogulan, Amelia Kirkby, Avin Moosavian Mahdavi, Bella Phillips, Ruby Selikowitz, Maggie Sun, Janissa Tang, Grace Wilkes-Bowes, Georgina Williams, Serena Yu

Gilmore

Prefect and House Captain – Charlotte Hills

Vice Captains – Samantha Chew, Angela Lim

Year 12 Leaders – Sarah Allan, Kristiana Elias, Madeleine Freeman, Anushree Ganesh, Sabine Grubisa, Alice Lee, Gwyneth Leung, Katrina Ord, Anoushka Pearson, Sophia Pinter, Kate Teesson, Karen Yuan

Melba

Prefect and House Captain – Lara Chamberlain

Vice Captains – Aya-Lani Elias, Reilly Grose-Hodge

Year 12 Leaders – Marquise Brady-Quealey, Elise Carroll, Anna Chua, Nihara Delungahawatte, Claudia Freeman, Katrina Gao, Mackenzie Hyde, Sabrina Qiu, Jennifer Riley, Louise Stevenson, Courtney Strong, Daisy Ye

Prichard

Prefect and House Captain – Elizabeth Bragg

Vice Captains – Aleeci Francis, Caroline Gu

Year 12 Leaders – Emma Birch, Sienna Cornelius, Rachel Ee, Ishani Kumar, Katya Lal, Claudia Lee, Tamsyn Ling, Sophie Liu, Jasmine Lo, Alysia Mao, Amy Severino, Yana Wang, Jessica Wu, Lizzie Yanco

Richardson

Prefect and House Captain – Olivia Hosie

Vice Captains – Megan Chan, Chloe Lam

Year 12 Leaders – Olivia Binnie, Matilda Clarke, Tallulah Hagen, Gwendolyn Kong, Christina Kwok, Chloe Lau, Amelia Mak,

Ashna Mali, Jasmine Nagy, Emma Nairn, Jasmine Richardson, Emily Sun

Tennant

Prefect and House Captain – Kathryn Waugh

Vice Captains – Lucia Williamson, Sienna Young

Year 12 Leaders – Olivia Bell, Claire Cornford, Jasmine Fernando,

Ruby Gee, Sophie Greer, Annika Gunesekere, Alicia Lee, Michelle Lin, Natalie Ong, Emma Purvis, Sophie Twyman, Charlotte Vincent, Olivia Wu, Belinda Yuan

Wright

Prefect and House Captain – Helena Yang

Vice Captains – Vishwa Desai, Callie Watts

Year 12 Leaders – Tara Channo, Jane Choi, Aisling Gainsford, Hasti Haghshenas, Anneka Lees, Jiayun Li, Sienna Melocco, Jessica Riddell, Zara Stanwell, Molly Tillett, Audrey Woo

Congratulations Year 12 2022

I want to say a massive congratulations to the new Prefects for 2021/22! It’s an absolute honour to be able to congratulate you on behalf of the School and I hope you all recognise what a true privilege it is to be elected as a Prefect by your peers and teachers. I know that you girls will be fantastic leaders and enjoy every step of the way.

Year 12 (2022), you are an incredible cohort. I know that Abbotsleigh is in capable hands with you as their new leaders. Each and every one of you is a role model to whom girls at school look up.

Seeing your year group come together and support each other, especially during recent events is why I know you will all do a beautiful job of inspiring younger girls throughout the coming year. Year 12 is a year that only strengthens a year group and I know that your passion and cohesion will only continue to grow over the next 12 months.

I encourage you all to be present in this last year of your schooling and cherish every moment. It’s certainly not going to be easy, but it’s a challenge that you will conquer together. …

There is a bible verse in Philippians 2 which captures the essence of leadership perfectly. It says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” Leadership is all about serving the people around you and you girls already do that so beautifully and I know you will continue to. – Emma Thornthwaite, Head Prefect, 2021

TERM 4 - WEEK 9 DECEMBER 2021

Chaplain

Christmas joy to a weary worldRev Sarah Hobba Assistant Chaplain

I have a tendency to not always know the lyrics to the words of songs and I think others have similar experiences. Apparently, when we do this, it is called a 'mondegreen' which comes from the American writer Sylvia Wright who misheard a phrase from a poem which said, 'Layd him on the green' and she thought it was 'Lady Mondegreen'. As our homes and the shops are filled with the sound of Christmas carols, very often we can mishear Christmas lyrics. A couple of mondegreens are 'He's making a list of chicken and rice' and 'Get dressed ye married gentlemen' but my favourite would have to be 'while shepherds washed their socks by night'. So often we don't really think about what is being sung.

One Christmas carol that I had never really paid proper attention to until a friend sang it at a local carol service was 'O Holy Night'. A stand-out line is 'A thrill of hope the weary soul rejoices'. I'm not sure I realised what it said initially, but the concept of a weary soul struck a chord. It continues to resonate this year with the weariness of lockdown and Covid. Our weary souls know the brokenness of the world around us and the brokenness of our own lives, as another line says, 'Long lay the world in sin and error pining'.

The great news is the solution announced through angels' voices singing sweet hymns of joy. The angels sang, 'Glory to

God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests' (Luke 2:14).

The story of Jesus' birth gives us the thrill of hope, a new and glorious morn that we can receive as a gift through faith in Jesus as our saviour. His message is love shown in his life, death and resurrection, which also brings us peace with God.

This Christmas, may we truly listen to the lyrics of the songs of Christmas, possibly even 'checking them twice' by re-reading the story of first Christmas story again. (See Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2).

May you find some rest for both weary souls and bodies from this challenging year. May this Christmas time be full of joy, hope, love, and peace for all our Abbotsleigh families.

Junior School

End of term festivitiesMs Sally Ruston Head of Junior School

As our most remarkable 136th year at Abbotsleigh comes to conclusion, it is important that we mark the special milestones the girls have achieved and celebrate a wonderfully successful year in spite of or perhaps because

of, the challenges that have come our way now two years in a row.

On Thursday of Week 7, we celebrated virtually the wonderful journey our Year 2 girls have made since Kindergarten at the Year 2 Celebration. It was wonderful to see such a large audience taking pride in their daughters' achievements and the confidence with which all Year 2 girls performed. One of the pleasures of sharing this recorded session via Zoom was that the girls actually had the opportunity to see themselves perform. I delighted

TERM 4 - WEEK 9 DECEMBER 2021

in watching the pure delight and pride on both girls' and parents' faces throughout the event.

Last Tuesday we enjoyed a special Year 6 Farewell Chapel Service for our most senior girls in the Junior School. Happily, all girls in the Junior School were able to share in this service with Year 6 in Everett Hall, with all other year groups watching via Zoom from their classrooms. The event was a wonderful way for the girls in Kindergarten to Year 5 to farewell our 2021 leaders with prayers, a reading and an encouraging talk.

While holding our traditional Twilight Carols on the Junior School campus wasn't possible this year, it was truly innovative of our Chaplaincy team to bring to us a virtual Christmas Service last Thursday night. Again, the ability to share in the joy of Christmas and God's unconditional love was just as precious, even though we couldn't physically be together.

On Wednesday of this week, we celebrated the diverse and creative talents of our Year 6 girls at the Farewell that occurred in two parts. The formal processional and presentation of certificates occurred with Year 6 girls and parents present on the Lower Oval. Once families arrived home, we shared virtually the girls' talents in their online concert. This was a wonderful evening of dance, performance and photo reminiscences with the overarching theme of 'Heart to Heart; courageous connections'. It is with very mixed emotions that we farewell our oldest girls. We know they are ready for the Senior School but will also very much miss their contributions to the Junior School.

On Thursday 2 December, we enjoyed a wonderful bevy of talent demonstrated by girls at the Variety Concerts. Girls, using their initiative, imagination and creative talents, have been through extensive auditioning and rehearsal routines to ensure that we have selected fabulous items from across the Junior School. To finish as a community with the special end-of-year icy treat generously provided by the Abbotsleigh Parents' Association, was a wonderful conclusion to the year.

Final assemblies

On Friday of last week, we also held our final assemblies for the 2021 year. We took time in these assemblies to herald the significant contributions of service and commitment girls have made this year through the awarding of pennants. These are a highly prized recognition of a girl's outstanding contribution to, and exemplary conduct in, a cocurricular activity. We warmly applaud the following girls who have been awarded a pennant.

Sport

The following girls have been awarded pennants for their outstanding contributions to Saturday Sport where they have participated in all four terms of sport each year since their enrolment:

Sophia Bennetts, Grace Black, Amelia D'Arcy, Emily Harrington, Holly Jennings, Scarlett Low, Matilda Mamo, Gianna Pillay, Margot Story, Neomi Verma, Angela Yang, Hannah Yap

Music

We commend the following girls for their outstanding contributions to Music:

Serena Chi, Imogen Lam, Audrey Li, Amelia Ma

Christmas wish and thanks

I take this opportunity to thank you all for the support you have brought to our Junior School community during this remarkable year of such unexpected and ongoing challenges. Yet it has been through these challenges that we have grown as a community and so much better understand that by connecting we are able to sustain each other so well. For your support through AOCL 2.0 and this year of innovation, we sincerely thank you as our school is the richer for your contributions. I hope that you and your family enjoy a happy and holy Christmas and a wonderful New Year. I encourage all girls to spend time reading over this extended holiday period. Entering into other worlds and realms through books is a most stimulating and relaxing activity. Finding time for active outdoor pursuits will also be essential and fun. This will ensure girls are ready for the exciting challenges and demands of their new schooling year.

Gratitude and recognition of staff

We are saddened to farewell Breanne Porter who joined us in 2015 and has taught and led in Upper Primary and most recently as the Literacy Specialist. Breanne's teaching and leadership practice has been profoundly informed by education research from practices in the United Kingdom and through course work undertaken at Harvard University. Her classrooms have

been wonderful environments that have made learning visible and actively provoked the girls to think deeply and to enquire. Breanne has also been active in supporting the girls to develop their debating skills in readiness for the IPSHA Debating Competition. Breanne's ability to stretch students' thinking to see them achieve remarkable outcomes is truly impressive. Equally is renowned for setting the highest of standards and engaging with our girls with warmth and delight in ensuring their wellbeing. We thank Breanne for sharing so readily her exemplary teaching expertise and dedication to educational excellence.

We also take time to sadly farewell Susanna Matters who joined us in 2017 and has taught and lead in Upper Primary with distinction. The hallmark of Susanna's practice has been her commitment to seeing her girls achieve the highest of standards and her determination to make learning accessible, deep and engaging. Her passion for challenging our able girls to strive for excellence

and tackle sophisticated concepts on matters of importance to us as a country and world has been outstanding. A great linguist herself, Susanna has introduced the girls to Latin both in class and through the establishment of a Latin Club.

TERM 4 - WEEK 9 DECEMBER 2021

Equally she has fostered impressive debating skills and supported the Year 6 girls to be successful at both ISDA and SDN competitions. Susanna has also modelled a great thirst for learning as she has actively sought to undertake further studies, read widely and share her voracious appetite for knowledge and understanding with all. Susanna is indeed a master teacher of great acumen and integrity.

In our Teacher Assistant team, we farewell Holly Staniland who has been an invaluable support in Art and in After School Care. Holly's warmth, generosity of spirit and commitment to supporting and assisting are most impressive. Her attention to detail, creative flair and warm pastoral support have seen her greatly appreciated and she will be sadly missed.

We are truly thrilled that Jac McCarthy – our Primary Science Teacher has been so well recognised by being awarded the only Highly Commended Award in 2021 Prime Minister's Prize for Science Teaching in a Primary School. Congratulations to Mrs McCarthy, who not only teaches Science to our girls in Years 4-6 but is also extensively involved in contributing to the scientific

community through her lecturing at university and leadership at the Science Teachers' Association of NSW.

As a consequence of this award, Mrs McCarthy was invited to speak this week at the Australian Academy of Science on the online adaptations that she implemented to teaching Science during lockdown. The role of instructional videos was also shared, as too was the importance of using readily available household items when seeking to run experiments. Mrs McCarthy also identified that a positive outcome to the pandemic was how involved parents became through completing science at home and the photos and comments they made to the girls' posts. The following quote from Mrs McCarthy speaks volumes to her commitment and passion for all things scientific,

I want all girls to realise that science is fun and for everyone.

This year has been one full of exciting adventures, great growth and wonderful 'firsts' for our girls. It has been possible due to our most dedicated and remarkable teachers and staff for their tireless, generous and gifted educating. The vocation of teaching is a rich and rewarding one. I warmly thank our educators for giving with such great energy, creativity and purpose to mark yet another wonderful and remarkable year in Abbotsleigh's rich history.

Speech Night success

Our Junior School Speech Night was held virtually via Zoom last night with you gathered as a family at home. Many of the traditional elements of Speech Day were recognisable, yet equally, the collaborative and surprise items presented in this virtual format allowed us to highlight the successes and reflect upon on this year to celebrate all that has been achieved.

There have been lessons this year that will last a lifetime. The girls' billy button posies and their certificate of attainment will be wonderful reminders of all that has been achieved in 2021. Similarly, the book of each girl's choosing that will be donated in her name will ensure all girls are fully involved in opening our new library and contributing their own legacy. More lasting memories and lessons that will last a lifetime as we celebrate and farewell 2021.

2022 ARRANGEMENTS

The 2022 school year begins for the girls on Monday 31 January at 8.20 am. We ask that your daughter catches public transport or is dropped off in the Lower Car Park on this day in the usual manner. Allow her the thrill of coming home and telling you of her first day news including her teacher for the coming year. I look forward to meeting you again at the Junior School Parent Information Night on Thursday 3 February 2022 from 7 pm. Further details will be shared as updated COVID-19 protocols are known.

Car park arrangements 2022

To ensure a smooth start to the drop off and collection routines from Day 1 next year, Monday 31 January 2022, we ask that you ensure your family name is displayed in the windscreen. Staff will be on duty to assist so please remain in your car and collect your daughter from the following allocated location:

Lower Car Park

All morning drop-offs will occur in this location with supervision from 7.50-8.20 am. Afternoon pick-ups from the Lower Car Park will be for Kindergarten, Year 3 and Year 5 from 2.50 to 3.40 pm. These families, with siblings also in Years 4 and 6, are directed to use the Lower Car Park for all children.

Upper Car Park

Afternoon pick-ups from the Upper Car Park will be for Years 4 and 6 with supervision from 3.10-3.40 pm.

Before and After School Care

I sincerely thank our Before and After School Care educators for their warm pastoral support of our girls each morning and afternoon. We will continue to offer both Before and After School care with child care rebates available from Monday 31 January 2022.

• Before School Care service is offered from 7 to 8.15 am forall girls arriving at school before 7.45 am who are not in anorganised activity.

• After School Care is offered from 2.30 to 6.30 pm.

If you wish to register for Before and/or After School Care for next year, please click here to register your interest and days sought.

TERM 4 - WEEK 9 DECEMBER 2021

With many a re-jig, reschedule or rethink thanks to restrictions due to Covid, it has again been another wonderfully successful year for the Junior School girls in sport, Outdoor Education and PDHPE. Students have had the opportunity to extend their skills in a broad range of endeavours including Physical Education lessons, Growth and Development sessions with Judith Krause, Outdoor Education camps, the Year 1 Act for Kids program, the continuation of the Year 2 Saturday sports program in Term 4 in preparation for IPSHA sport next year, the introduction of the hugely popular Kindergarten and Year 1 football program in Term 4, two terms of IPSHA Saturday sport as well as the Primary Swimming Carnival, Infants Athletics Carnival and our Cross Country Carnival.

Personal Development, Health and Physical Education lessons continued with a focus on the 'You Can Do It!' program and the refining of the new curriculum, which developed the girls' key skills of getting along, organisation, persistence, confidence, resilience and innovation. The girls responded very positively to the Health and Wellbeing resources and course content carefully crafted by our PDHPE team.

This term the Physical Education program had a strong focus on water safety and swimming confidence. Children in ELC to Year 1 participated in the Abbotsleigh Intensive Swimming program. For the first time in Term 4, Year 2 shifted out of the intensive week and into weekly PDHPE swimming lessons and this change has been a huge success developing a higher level of water confidence and aquatic skills. Primary girls participated in swimming stroke correction lessons in Term 1 and the Abbotsleigh Swim Safety Award program in Term 4. Girls are strongly encouraged to join a swimming program over the Christmas break. Please contact the Abbotsleigh Aquatic Centre for more information on the programs available for your daughter. Primary girls will be involved in swimming trials in the first week of Term 1, 2022.

The Junior School Sport program continues to build every year and we have had record numbers of participation across each term that interschool sport ran in 2021. The girls enjoyed a variety of sports on offer including football, water polo/flippa ball, netball and minkey/hockey during Semester 1. We very much enjoyed using the Senior School Sports Precinct facilities on Saturdays with Abbotsleigh proudly hosting IPSHA football and water polo in Term 1 and netball in Term 2. We also made use of our wonderful Junior School facilities hosting flippa ball in Term 1. We look forward to continuing to host games again in 2022 with Abbotsleigh able to offer our Senior School and Junior School facilities to IPSHA.

The Infants Intensive Swimming program, which used the Junior School pool, has seen much needed gains in the girls' swimming confidence. All levels of swimming ability are catered for and the staff are skilled at differentiating lessons to achieve the best possible outcomes for each child. The

girls received a certificate following the program which gives parents an accurate overview of what skills their daughter mastered. ELC students and Transition girls again benefitted from inclusion in the Intensive Swimming program this term.

Carnivals were conducted for both Primary swimming and cross country and also Infants athletics this year. Unfortunately our Primary Athletics Carnival was not able to be held for the second year in a row and our Infants Swimming Carnival also had to be cancelled. The Cross Country Carnival was held on the Senior School campus and all girls gave their best effort over challenging 2 km and 3 km courses. Our Swimming Carnival was a fine example of what a quality school carnival should look like with a huge number of 50 m races conducted as well as events to cater for our entire range of abilities. The continued use of electronic timing at the Primary Swimming Carnival has ensured that accurate records can be attained with a highlight this year seeing Wentworth break our longest standing record, the 12/13 years freestyle relay time, which was set at the Junior School's very first carnival at our Aquatic Centre way back in the Year 2000!

We were also privileged this year to have two of our Year 6 girls achieve outstanding results individually to be named NSWPSSA State Champions for 2021 – Emilie Chen in tennis and Emily Rundell in diving. Unfortunately, no School Sport Australia Nationals events took place this year; however, both girls were selected in NSW State Merit teams for 2021.

As always, we like to celebrate all the girls' achievements regardless of skill level and look forward to again offering a broad range of opportunities for the girls to become involved in physical activity in 2022.

I warmly thank Paul Guirreri, who has so skillfully and innovatively led the PDHPE Department in constantly striving to find innovative, exciting, inclusive, motiving and fun ways of ensuring great outcomes are achieved for all girls in this physical domain. He has been ably assisted in this endeavour by Michelle Penn and Georgia Scott.

Physical endeavour for 2021Ms Sally Ruston Head of Junior School

TERM 4 - WEEK 9 DECEMBER 2021

Senior School 02 9473 7777 Junior School 02 9473 7700 www.abbotsleigh.nsw.edu.au

An Anglican Pre K-12 Day and Boarding School for Girls

Year 12 Valedictory Assembly