Brisbane Girls Grammar School Gazette, Summer 2017

VOLUME

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL / SUMMER 2017

IN THIS ISSUE PAGE 04 / THE DOROTHY HILL OBSERVATORY

PAGE 12 / THE STUDENT COUNCIL

PAGE 18 / 30 YEARS AT MARRAPATTA

PAGE 23 / AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

CONTENTS PAGE 01 /

FROM THE CHAIR

by Ms Elizabeth Jameson

PAGE 02 /

FROM THE PRINCIPAL

by Ms Jacinda Euler

PAGE 04 /

FACULTY OF WONDER AND AWE: THE DOROTHY HILL OBSERVATORY

by Ms Gerri Bernard

PAGE 06 /

OUR YEAR ‘OUT OF THE BLUE’

by Head Girls, Lucinda Duke (12H) and Elizabeth Prins (12B)

PAGE 07 /

GRAMMAR WOMAN: ISABELLA LIN

PAGE 08 /

TECHNOLOGIES FACULTY: SPATIAL LITERACY EDUCATION

by Mr Brendon Thomas

PAGE 09 /

SEMESTER TWO DRAMA REVIEW

by Mr Brad Jennings

PAGE 10 /

THE HUMANITIES AND BEING HUMAN

by Ms Alison Dare

LETTERS We were so impressed by the warm welcome we received at the School and the effort taken to learn more about our daughter and to answer our questions. Special mention must be made of the Grammar girls who escorted us on the day, who were wonderfully confident, informative and engaging ambassadors.

ANGELA BUDDEE (future parent) Happy World Teachers’ Day to all the fantastic, dedicated teachers of Girls Grammar. Your ongoing work and dedication is very much appreciated and valued. Thank you for making such a difference to our daughters.

ERENE APOSTOLOS (current parent) All of the women who were on the ‘Women in the Boardroom’ Grammar Women panel were so accomplished. Hearing their personal anecdotes and their lessons learnt was an incredible insight.

All the points raised by the speakers were practical and useful. It was a wonderful event that focused on a fascinating topic.

SARAH COWLEY (Head Girl, 2007)

GAZETTE GALLERY

Our daughter gave an acceptance speech in front of more than 800 people. Seeing her speak so confidently made me realise how far she has come during the last few years. This is in no small measure thanks to the opportunities provided and the superb education she is receiving at Girls Grammar. We are so incredibly happy that we chose this School for our three daughters.

PAGE 16 /

SHARYN WATKINS (current parent)

PAGE 12 /

THE STUDENT COUNCIL: ORIGINS AND PURPOSE

by Mrs Pauline Harvey-Short

PAGE 14 /

A STRONG LITERARY FUTURE AT GIRLS GRAMMAR

by Mr Stephen Woods

PAGE 17 /

BADMINTON: THE SCHOOL’S FASTEST GROWING SPORT

by Ms Jennifer Fukushima

PAGE 18 /

CELEBRATING THIRTY YEARS OF OUTDOOR EDUCATION AT MARRAPATTA

by Mr James McIntosh NORTHERN LIGHTS: LEARNING FROM THE GREATS IN THE UNIVERSITIES OF THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE

by Ms Rachael Christopherson

Front cover: The Milky Way Galaxy photographed at the Marrapatta Memorial Outdoor Education Centre, the site of Brisbane Girls Grammar School’s Dorothy Hill Observatory (see page 4-5)

PAGE 22 /

Photo courtesy Mr Greg Siemon

PAGE 20 /

FUTURE FOCUS

by Mrs Wanda Hayes

PAGE 23 /

GRAMMAR GAZETTE VOL 30 SPRING 2017

PAGE 24 /

Managing Editor: Dr Belinda Burns, Director of Communications and Engagement

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION GALA

by Mr Paul Holley OAM

PAGE 26 /

GRAMMAR WOMEN

PAGE 28 / OPEN DAY

Editor: Elizabeth Stafford For Grammar Gazette enquiries and comments: T +61 7 3332 1300 E communications@bggs.qld.edu.au To receive an electronic, rather than printed, version of Grammar Gazette, please email communications@bggs.qld.edu.au.

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FROM THE CHAIR

professor at an Australian university and the first female President of the Australian Academy of Science.

AUTHOR

Ms Elizabeth Jameson Chair of the Board of Trustees (Head Girl, 1982) The School’s Strategic Design outlines our commitment to nurturing a culture of stewardship, where resources are optimised for the benefit of girls, staff and our community today, while also strengthening the foundations for a sustainable and confident future.

Consistent with the Strategic Design, excitingly the Dorothy Hill Observatory at the School’s Marrapatta Memorial Outdoor Education Centre was launched in October 2017. The Observatory will have a transformative impact on learning, extending opportunities to foster students’ real-world scientific skills while deepening their inherent interest in the study of science.

Professor Hill argued that ‘the need to be a pioneer is particularly apparent for women.’ How fitting that such an extraordinary learning asset — which will inspire future generations of Grammar girls to look to the stars — bears her name.

The School has, of course, this month farewelled the Year 12 2017 cohort. They carry with them the spirit of our many past Dorothy Hills as they embark on greatly varied paths in pursuit of their own aspirations. In their time at Girls Grammar we have strived to equip them with the courage and the skills needed to venture out across wider seas; to weather the many storms that will undoubtedly appear. And they go with our hopes of enjoying successful and fulfilling careers and lives in whatever is their chosen path and their chosen vessel.

The Observatory honours the significant contributions of past student, Professor Dorothy Hill (1907 – 1997; BGGS 1924), who epitomised what it is to be a Grammar girl — curious, principled, adventurous, balanced and a leader.

As always this year’s many and varied experiences and events have showcased the achievements of our girls and our staff and the innovations and traditions of our school.

This is the basis of our optimism for the future, and the reason for our unwavering commitment to creating a better world through our girls’ education that continues to underpin all that we do.

Professor Hill was the first female to graduate with a gold medal from The University of Queensland, the first female

On behalf of the Trustees, I thank all members of our community for their contribution to our School.

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FROM THE PRINCIPAL

AUTHOR

participation for all. Each girl is supported to realise her potential and an exceptional education draws out the extraordinary in each individual.

Ms Jacinda Euler Principal Philosopher, Bertrand Russell, once said, ‘History makes one aware that there is no finality in human affairs; there is not a static perfection and an unimprovable wisdom to be achieved’.

One of the distinguishing features of Girls Grammar, since its establishment in 1875, has been our continuing drive to challenge, to inspire and to lead. It is the pursuit of exceptional scholarship, commitment to girls’ education in the fullest sense and the challenge to discover what is possible that sustains our School.

Each year we build and strengthen.

At Girls Grammar, we clearly champion achievement and performance — the exquisite virtuosity of our musicians at Gala recently, excellence in sport and the hard work, apparent across curricular and co-curricular pursuits, that produces the awards and recognition we celebrate — but there is depth in our programmes and

I hope for our girls that they develop the skills and attributes that will give them the confidence to embrace the future with optimism and a love of learning. In realising our Aspiration — to be a leader in exceptional scholarship — deep reflection, deep questioning and deep understanding allow us to soar in our thinking and in our imagination.

Grammar girls will become Grammar Women who are leaders in the world and agents of progress and change.

We trust that they will contribute confidently to their world with wisdom, imagination and integrity. A recent exemplar of one such contribution is the remarkable trajectory of nineteen-year old Grammar Woman, Isabella Lin (2013) (see story on page 7). Since graduating from Girls Grammar only four years ago, Isabella has amassed a list of achievements that are nothing short of extraordinary; yet, her greatest motivation is to serve her community in a meaningful way. To enable and

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challenge our students we develop in them disciplined intellectual habits and systematic curiosity for, like Alice down the rabbit hole, things become ‘curiouser and curiouser’ the more closely we examine them.

It is our teachers who inspire and nurture this curiosity.

The importance of the teacher-student relationship in student learning is well understood and teachers such as Ms Geri Bernard, Ms Alison Dare and Mr James McIntosh (see pages 4, 10 and 18 respectively) share with students their deep knowledge and expertise within their disciplines. While popular culture increasingly celebrates the ordinary and the average, at Girls Grammar we continue to laud the extraordinary and ponder the profound, taking our students deep into worlds that are different from the everyday experiences to which they are routinely exposed.

The Education Partnership we have formed with Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO), will provide unique opportunities for girls to be mentored by professional musicians and typifies our pursuit of the ‘extraordinary’. For Grammar girls to be inspired by QSO’s Music Director, Alondra de la Parra — a conductor of

international renown and infectious musical passion — will be a rare and transformative experience, not only for the development of their musicianship but also in experiencing firsthand the dedication, skill and stamina required to perform on a global stage.

There is a continuity in our humanity, in civilisation, in education — things often seem so new and evolutionary, but we are still dealing with some fundamental and timeless goals of education through a broad liberal approach at Girls Grammar. Ambitious projects — such as the Dorothy Hill Observatory at Marrapatta — remind us that humanity will lose neither its pioneering spirit and its innate sense of adventure, nor the yearning for knowledge beyond the limits of direct experience.

To return to Bertrand Russell, there is no such thing as ‘unimprovable wisdom’ or ‘static perfection’. Only by thinking and connecting deeply and strengthening our relationships can we sustain an environment where, in the words of our own School Song, we encourage girls to ‘set your goals and strive, dare to let your dreams take wing and soar’.

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FACULTY OF WONDER AND AWE: THE DOROTHY HILL OBSERVATORY

Helena Payne (12H) with the 356mm reflecting telescope at the Main Campus prior to its transport to and installation at Marrapatta

AUTHOR

Ms Gerri Bernard Science Teacher One of the most important photographs in history was taken in December of 1995, not by an individual person, but by a telescope. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Hubble telescope had been orbiting the Earth for five years when a group of astronomers decided to point it at a very small and seemingly uninteresting patch of the northern hemisphere sky. They were not expecting to see an astonishing collection of more than 3 000 entire galaxies, each comprising billions of individual stars, all in an area of sky smaller than the tip of a fingernail held at arm’s length. This incredible photograph, the Hubble Deep Field image, changed our view of the universe as a cold, empty expanse and led us to an understanding of the richness and abundance of the cosmos.

Astronomy has the ability to be astonishing and, with the recent launch of the Dorothy Hill Observatory at the Marrapatta Memorial Outdoor Education Centre, Brisbane Girls Grammar School has the extraordinary opportunity to share this wonderful branch of Science with students in myriad novel and exciting ways.

Optical telescopes collect light from the sky and focus this light into a person’s eye or onto a camera. The three main types of optical telescopes achieve this in different ways.

Reflecting telescopes use mirrors to reflect light to the eye, refracting telescopes use lenses to bend light toward the eye and catadioptric telescopes use a combination of both mirrors and lenses. Each type of telescope design comes with benefits and drawbacks that make it suitable for observing particular objects in space. The Dorothy Hill Observatory takes advantage of all three designs, as well as a wide array of cameras, filters, imaging software and computer-controlled mounts, to collect a broad range of images and astrometric data that will deepen Grammar girls’ understanding of the universe.

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/ 05 Telescopic observation will be built into the Science curriculum beginning in Year 7. Students will first be introduced to the 280mm catadioptric telescope, which can produce crisp, bright images in relatively short timeframes. Watching from their laptops at home, students will be led by their Science teacher through a live-cast ‘tour of the sky’ as an introduction to the field of astronomy. In class, students will learn how to send instructions to the robotic telescopes and how to use image processing software to manipulate the data that is sent back to them. This will allow them to produce images of astronomical objects, which they will interpret for their teachers and classmates.

In Year 10 Physics, the data gathered from the observatory will move beyond photographs, as the many filters on the 356mm reflecting telescope will allow the students to map the chemical properties of stellar nurseries and determine the temperature of stars. The period of revolution for Jupiter’s largest moons will be measured and used to support Kepler’s Third Law as part of the new Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority Senior Physics Syllabus.

Senior students in the Astronomy Club will use the observatory for long-term projects that will gather publishable data of interest to the wider scientific community.

Year 8 will see the classwork increase in complexity as students begin to understand how the motion of the Earth affects what we see in the sky. Students will use the observatory’s all-sky camera to produce time-lapse star trail images that show how the motion of stars over the course of an evening is related to the rotation of the Earth on its axis. They will also learn how Earth’s revolution around the sun results in some astronomical objects only coming into our sky for a few months out of the year. This curriculum will be delivered in a dedicated, term-long Astronomy unit at the end of Year 8.

We are excited to share the use of this amazing new facility with our international affiliate schools in Japan, Germany, France and China, who in the future will have the opportunity to explore the southern hemisphere sky from their northern hemisphere classrooms. Partnerships with other astronomers and astrophotographers at the Astronomical Association of Queensland, University of Southern Queensland and Edith Cowan University have already commenced.

We will also offer training and telescope time to local primary school teachers, so they can begin inspiring their own cohorts of future-generation stargazers.

In Year 9, the curriculum will broaden the girls’ horizons even further. The 102mm refracting telescope and the 356mm reflecting telescope with its colour filters and high-quality charge-coupled device (CCD), can be used to produce exceptional images of deep sky objects, including nebulae, globular clusters, galaxies, and supernova remnants. More sophisticated image processing techniques and more refined scientific understanding of astronomical phenomena will be required for this work.

Brisbane Girls Grammar School’s Dorothy Hill Observatory is a ground-breaking, highly innovative educational opportunity for the School and the Science curriculum. We, in the Science Faculty, are eager for the challenges and opportunities that our new observatory will bring and we cannot wait to see our students’ experiments move out of the classroom and into the wider universe.

Brisbane Girls Grammar School’s recently unveiled Dorothy Hill Observatory at the Marrapatta Memorial Outdoor Education Centre will open the scientific field of Astronomy to Grammar girls in myriad new and exciting ways

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OUR YEAR ‘OUT OF THE BLUE’ Elizabeth Prins (left) and Lucinda Duke (right) with Principal, Ms Jacinda Euler, on White Blouse Day 2017

AUTHORS

Brisbane Girls Grammar School 2017 Head Girls Lucinda Duke (12H) and Elizabeth Prins (12B) ‘Tradition is always reviving — born again in each new generation, to be lived and applied in a new and particular way.’ Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island (1955) At Brisbane Girls Grammar School, every year produces a fresh cohort of leaders and is shaped by a new motto and a unique set of goals. This way, as a school community, we maintain our traditions while embracing change.

This year, we sought to build upon the mainstays of Grammar life, to embrace the yearly events we enjoy so much and to establish our own legacy. We have been consistently motivated and inspired by our three initial goals of: promoting teamwork; embracing gratitude; and celebrating diversity. We placed these values at the forefront of our initiatives and worked to ensure that a positive culture was fostered in our school community as a direct result. The universal adoption and acceptance of our goals was a reflection of how deeply embedded diversity, gratitude, and teamwork are in our school culture.

As a Student Council, we continued with beloved favourites such as celebrating Blue Days before major sporting events.

Blue Day is a time-honoured tradition at our School, but this year we wanted to create a point of difference. To add a little variation, we incorporated a theme into each; from Under the Sea to Inter-Grammactic and Blue Warriors, each 2017 Blue Day was spirited and much enjoyed.

We were humbled by all girls who embraced gratitude while supporting our various service endeavours throughout the year. White Blouse Day was an opportunity for us to take time to appreciate the women in our lives while raising awareness for female gynaecological cancers.

Steptember allowed girls to become personally involved in a charitable initiative, raising considerable amounts of money for the Cerebral Palsy Alliance.

Similarly, events like the Kirsten Jack Formal Fashion Parade encouraged girls to involve themselves in Service at Girls Grammar and raise money for service groups within our own School.

The Student Council wanted to reflect current events to highlight our goals and achieve unity within our diversity.

To do this, Diversity Day was adapted to incorporate Pride so we could acknowledge and celebrate the support for the LGBTQIA+ community at Brisbane Girls Grammar School.

All students were given the opportunity to apply coloured paint onto a large canvas, resulting in a rainbow of unique handprints. At the following Assembly, Ms Euler removed two strips of tape from the canvas, revealing an equal sign and reinforcing the idea of equality for every individual’s personal identity. The project was a huge success for the Student Council with the canvas being a physical representation of our diversity, as well as providing us with a beautiful piece of art to remember the occasion.

In our role as Head Girls, we sought to meet as many girls as possible by visiting all House Groups in the School.

This endeavour allowed us to gain an insight into the lives and opinions of the younger girls. We also reinforced the relationships within the Year 12 cohort. In Term III, we celebrated the particularly momentous milestone of ‘50 days to go’. As a Student Council, we wanted to ensure that this day was special for every senior student.

To do this, we folded 243 origami white blouses and royal blue ties by hand, which were then stealthily placed on the Year 12 tables. We invited each girl to write a goal or hope for her last days at Girls Grammar on her origami blouse to mark not only her achievements to date but also the opportunities she still has ahead. We were so proud of the thoughtfulness of responses and the subsequent installation of these ‘blouses’ on the noticeboard for the whole school to see, creating a poignant and public reminder of the remaining time the Year 12s had at school.

As we approached the end of the school year, we were increasingly aware of how little time we had left as Grammar girls, and the dwindling opportunities we had to make that time count — to appreciate the bonds we made, to remember the experiences we enjoyed and to cement the legacy we hoped to leave behind. We wanted to ensure that not only the Year 12s, but all girls, walked out the gates at the end of this year feeling satisfied with their year but also full of the Girls Grammar spirit.

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GRAMMAR WOMAN, ISABELLA LIN: INSPIRING GRAMMAR GIRLS TO EXPLORE AND PURSUE THEIR DREAMS AND ASPIRATIONS In the four years since nineteen-year-old Isabella Lin (2013) graduated from Brisbane Girls Grammar School, she has amassed a list of achievements that are nothing short of extraordinary.

Isabella recently graduated from the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), completing a four-year Degree in Genetics, Genomics and Development in three years and — as the student with the highest grade point average in an undergraduate degree with a genetics major — the recipient of the UC Berkeley Edward M. Blount Award.

Isabella also graduated with Dean’s Honours, Highest Distinction; Summa Cum Laude (Honours); and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society — the oldest academic honour society in the USA. She was also a recipient of the Berkeley Undergraduate Scholarship for Academic Merit and the Alumni Leadership Award, which recognises leadership and community service and is the most prestigious nonacademic award at UC Berkeley.

A desire to serve her community in a meaningful way motivates Isabella who said that she is working towards a career in paediatric oncology clinical research.

‘Medical science is a truly fascinating field, and one which will allow me to positively contribute to society, ultimately, I hope, in a way that saves lives’, Isabella said.

Isabella has applied to medical schools in the US to complete post-graduate studies to combine a Doctor of Medicine and PhD. Between now and when her studies recommence in August 2018, she will be working in cancer immunology research at the renowned Raulet Laboratory

Isabella Lin (2013) graduating earlier this year from University of California, Berkeley

(UC Berkeley campus) and conducting a clinical project in paediatric oncology at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute.

Isabella said she was looking forward to returning to Brisbane once her studies are complete.

‘I love the warm people and glorious weather, and with the opportunity to work in one of Brisbane’s world-class medical research facilities, I look forward to again calling Queensland home.’

Isabella sharing her story with Grammar girls interested in studying and working in medical science

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TECHNOLOGIES FACULTY: SPATIAL LITERACY EDUCATION Technologies Teacher, Ms Emanuelle Jones, with Maya Remedios (7G) in a Design Technologies class

AUTHOR

Mr Brendon Thomas Director of Technologies As the twenty-first century marches ever onwards, spatial cognition is increasingly being called on to visualise, invent and understand complex ideas and systems, both natural and human-made.

For many years the Technologies Faculty at Girls Grammar has prepared spatial literacy education that has included generating 2D nets that fold into 3D geometric shapes — modelling concepts and creating orthographic and isometric projections. The teaching of traditional industrial drawing skills includes scaling, hidden detail drawing, measuring and making in millimetres, estimating, designing and constructing. These skills are essential foundational learning that lead to fluency and complex reasoning in spatial literacy.

The rapid advances in the adoption of virtual and augmented reality and various software applications allow us to generate and use spatial learning much more prominently. 3D modelling tools such as Blender, SketchUp, Tinkercad and Tilt Brush help our students advance their spatial skills and better comprehend how to create and work with geometric shapes. Spatial literacy forms an integral part of assessment programmes such as NAPLAN and the Queensland Core Skills Test.

Numerous research studies have revealed that gender differences in spatial literacies do exist through social, cultural, environmental and psychological factors, with spatial literacy forming the largest of all gender differences (Andrews, Neumann and Reilly, 2016).

However, it is also well documented that all students — regardless of gender — can be trained to improve spatial reasoning (Uttal et al., 2013).

At the recent National Education Summit, I presented on ambitious ways schools can integrate digital and design technologies to improve spatial literacy, discussing a

blueprint curriculum that examines how spatial literacies can be enhanced through school-wide pedagogy advances. The core focus of the blueprint investigates smarter ways schools can link spatial literacy with the academic disciplines of mathematics and technologies.

In doing so, I envisage a stronger correlation between spatial ability and success in science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses. We are currently investigating the time of study and type of activities being explored in spatial literacies for all Year 7 and 8 students to improve the ways we link spatial literacy theory, practice and applied learning in Technologies and Mathematics.

One way we currently do this at Girls Grammar is through an annual learning day for Year 8s, The Quest.

The Quest was developed by Technologies with the support of the Mathematics Faculty and sees Grammar girls working in teams with boys from Brisbane Grammar School to respond to a design brief for a ‘structurally efficient system to hold a payload the furthest distance from a fixed point’. This year, The Quest involved about 550 students across 108 teams. The teams who spend the most time in design thinking and collaborative prototyping prior to finalising their development often have the most technological refined and unique solution. This observation reinforces the importance of building spatial aptitudes to more clearly present concepts and design ideation in the testing phase, prior to development. We find that it is important to keep the students in the process of collaborative design thinking and sharing ideas in open-ended experimentation so they can more clearly visualise how forces, structures and cantilevers take place. This is central to their final success.

REFERENCES Uttal, D. H., Meadow, N. G., Tipton, E., Hand, L. L., Alden, A. R., Warren, C., & Newcombe, N. S. (2013). The malleability of spatial skills: A metaanalysis of training studies. Psychological Bulletin, 139(2), 352.

Reilly, D., Neumann, D., & Andrews, G. (2017). Gender Differences in Spatial Ability: Implications for STEM Education and Approaches to Reducing the Gender Gap for Parents and Educators. In Visual-spatial Ability in STEM Education: Transforming Research into Practice (pp. 195–224).

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SEMESTER TWO DRAMA REVIEW Auditioned productions are a significant component of the Co-curricular Drama programme at Brisbane Girls Grammar School, providing girls studying Drama an opportunity to engage in a rigorous rehearsal process to stage a production for a season of performances. The School’s focus on contemporary theatre gives our young artists a unique experience where they can refine and extend skills learnt in the classroom, while working as part of a dynamic ensemble. By engaging professional artists across the year, Girls Grammar is able to produce excellent work that is elevated above the standard expectations of a ‘school’ production.

In Semester Two, we produced two works: the Years 7 and 8 production, The Lost Property Rules by Matthew Ryan; and the Years 9 and 10 production, Kate Mulvany’s Masquerade.

YEARS 7 AND 8 PRODUCTION: THE LOST PROPERTY RULES BY MATTHEW RYAN

Inside the lost property box

Oscar and the ticket to faraway places

The Big Family, in their very small home

YEARS 9 AND 10 PRODUCTION: KATE MULVANY’S MASQUERADE

Tara Treetops and the amulet, a gift of love from the Moon to the Sun

Jack Hare, on a mission to deliver a message of love from the Moon to the Sun

The Barbershop Quartet, mourning the loss of their fourth member, Ali Barber

Sir Isaac Newton explaining the laws of gravitation to bumbling Jack Hare

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THE HUMANITIES AND BEING HUMAN

Ms Alison Dare with her Year 12 Ancient History class reflecting on the nature of historical causation

AUTHOR

Ms Alison Dare Director of Humanities While all true education is ultimately about enabling the individual to become more fully human, an education in the humanities is perhaps more explicit in this objective. This is attributable to the unique way in which a humanities framework conceives of the world. Recognising that humans are more than the sum of their parts is a distinguishing characteristic of humanistic study and it is this approach which sets it apart from many other fields of knowledge which focus on knowing ‘about’ humans — a process which is inherently reductionist. As its name suggests, humanities is about the human story in all of its complexity and richness — what we do and the forces that compel us to do both great and terrible things.

As with all good stories, the human one relies on imagination and creativity, not just the bare facts. It provides context to a complex world and thus enables the individual to make sense of that world and find her place within it.

From an historical perspective all education was once more explicitly connected. The earliest schools in ancient Athens for example saw knowledge as integrated and the various subject disciplines such as mathematics, logic and geography as branches of the new humanistic curiosity in a world which offered endless possibilities for enlightenment.

The famed ‘father of history’, Herodotus, embodied this curiosity in that it embraced a variety of inquiries and he may also be recognised as the first to write a major work on geography and ethnography. His interests ‘were omnivorous, from natural history to anthropology, from early legend to the events of the recent past and the nature of Greek liberty’ (Thomas in Strassler, 2008).

In our own times, as knowledge has become more complex, it has also fragmented and perhaps lost some of this grand and unified vision. The concept of knowledge itself can seem quaint in a highly competitive environment of limited university places and an unstable employment market. Will the careers that students seek now still exist by the time they finish university? What new and unforeseen careers

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/ 11 will emerge while we are teaching students what has always worked in the past? The increasingly rapid pace of change makes a humanities education more relevant than ever. Indeed, it is in the humanities classroom that students learn explicitly about the nature of change itself.

Humanities at Girls Grammar is based on the premise that while the human story can be understood through various lenses (economic, religious, geographical, historical), the goal underlying these subject avenues remains the same; that is, to uncover the common thread that unites us through time and place. This means that in studying the discrete subject areas with all of their skills and content specificities, students also consider the big questions underpinning these areas. For example, topics as diverse as the Roman Republic in the first century BC or Germany in the 1930s would obviously require an acquisition of core facts. But beyond the facts, the development of deeper knowledge would require the utilisation of critical thinking skills in order to make sense of a multiplicity of narratives and perspectives.

At a more elemental level, students might be compelled to consider questions about the nature of power, the role of individuals in shaping the course of history or

the meaning of freedom. Addressing questions such as these fosters the development of self-reflection and selfknowledge. It refines the individual’s understanding not only of their own personal values but also of the source of those values in the big thought frameworks through which we all see the world. It prompts them to consider ideas that might challenge underlying assumptions and beliefs — beliefs that would otherwise seem natural or normal. In this sense, the humanities classroom is the forum where divergent ideas co-exist. It is the place where students learn not only how to critique ideas but also, in considering ideas that might clash with their own, how to listen with empathy to the various standpoints of others.

An education in the humanities opens students up to the richness and diversity of the human experience. It builds in them the capacity to make decisions that are both wise and judicious and in so doing builds confidence as they forge pathways into the future.

REFERENCES Thomas, R. (2008). Introduction. In R.B. Strassler (Ed.) The landmark Herodotus: The histories. London: Quercus

THE HUMANITIES AT WORK AND IN LIFE where I had come from. I think it was in humanities classrooms that my interest in learning about others was sparked, it may also have been where my gratitude for all that we have here in Australia was fostered and where I started to think about the great inequality in the world and consider how we might approach this as a global community. I went on to work in medicine and now work largely with refugee communities in Brisbane.

Dr Rebecca Farley (1998)

hen I stop to think about how my experiences in W humanities classrooms have helped me in my life after school, it’s difficult to know where to start. Those experiences shaped me and I use the knowledge and skills, and the ways of looking at the world that I developed in those classrooms every day. Perhaps most importantly for me, the discussions I had in those classrooms opened my eyes to the richness and diversity of the human experience. They gave me an opportunity to learn about the history, art, literature, languages of cultures so different to my own, that were at the same time not so different. They also gave me an opportunity to reflect on my own culture and

I feel very fortunate to be involved in work that allows me the opportunity to continue to learn about others and explore our differences and also our common humanity. I find this so rewarding and I think it helps me in my practice of medicine. It was, in part, those humanities classrooms that introduced me to how rewarding and rich this work could be. It was also in humanities classes that I learnt some very practical skills that have served me well throughout my professional and personal life ... the ability to research, critically appraise information, communicate effectively in both written and verbal forms and develop a persuasive argument when advocating for my patients.

Finally, there is the great joy that comes from an appreciation for the humanities, the sharing with each other of something that we have created, be it an idea, a piece of writing, a piece of art, theatre or music. I am so grateful for the introduction to these joys that my experiences in humanities classrooms gave me.

Dr Rebecca Farley (1998) BSC, MBBS, MPH, FRACGP

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THE STUDENT COUNCIL: ORIGINS AND PURPOSE Members of the 2017 Student Council on White Blouse Day with Dean of Co-curriculum, Miss Ellena Papas, and Director of Service, Mrs Lynne Mungomery

the prefects’ responsibility to nurture young Grammar girls, set standards, instill school spirit and exemplify service.

AUTHOR

Mrs Pauline Harvey-Short Dean of School What is the quintessential Grammar girl? From earliest days of the School, a Grammar girl was seen as poised, learned, responsible, capable and organised. The older girls, be they be known as Sixth Formers or Year 12 students, were held in high esteem by younger students and expected to help the younger girls in academic and sporting pursuits, while maintaining the high standards of behaviour set by the Lady Principal of the time and her staff.

How did these girls acquire the skills needed to meet these expectations and gain the respect of the other School students?

A Girls Grammar broad-based, liberal education underpinned their knowledge and skills; however, lessons learnt through the responsibility of being the leaders of the School were also a major contributing factor.

The prefect concept was introduced into student life in 1920 with six prefects, including one Head Girl. It became

The Student Council is the modern iteration of the Prefect body and in 2017, it consists of twenty-six students who are democratically elected by their peers after a rigorous application and presentation process.

The Student Council comprises the two Head Girls, two Service Captains, two Sports Captains (representing the sports captains of our nineteen sports), two Arts Captains (representing the captains of music, debating, visual art, drama and publications), and eighteen House Captains (two from each of the nine houses).

Throughout the decades the role of this group of student leaders has, in essence, remained the same — to be exemplary leaders of the entire student body.

However, the responsibilities have dramatically broadened and the Student Council’s role now encompasses setting the goals for the Year 12 cohort, establishing the School motto for the year, organising whole-of-School events such as Blue Days, fundraising for the School charity and, most importantly, creating a united and effective Year 12 cohort to set the tone for the whole School throughout the year. These tasks give the girls of all levels purpose and ownership.

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OUT OF THE BLUE AND INTO THE WORLD Brisbane Girls Grammar School Form V 1922

Perhaps the task of least familiarity to many past students is the development of the motto for the each year.

Until 2000, the only motto referred to was the School motto, ‘Nil sine labore’. In 1926, the girls saw its value.

Our motto is indeed a very wise one, and ever as we grow older we realise its truth, that nothing worth having in work or in play can be won without definite and concentrated expenditure of energy. But we also realise a still more important truth that, though at first the effort is but a means to an end, in time joy is born of the effort itself, and therein lies the secret of true happiness (1926 Magazine).

In 2017, as in more recent years, while considering the School motto, the Student Council led by Head Girls, Lucinda Duke (12B) and Elizabeth Prins (12H), came together for two days in January before the school year started to discover their strengths as a group and discuss and decide on the goals for the year. It was from these identified goals of celebrating diversity, gratitude and teamwork that the motto of ‘Out of the Blue’ emerged.

The 2017 motto gave the Student Council its direction, enhanced decisions made in relation to events to be held, and acted as a ‘call to arms’ for the Year 12s and the rest of the School.

The Prefects (A Parody on ‘Those Teachers’) Who stalk about thro’ all the schools And when they catch us breaking rules Make us feel we’re silly fools? The Prefects!

And when we’re having any fun, Along with eager steps they run, And say it isn’t to be done? The Prefects!

And when with joyous steps we go Down to the gym, we always know, They’ll come and give away the show. The Prefects!

Who always after school each day, Wait in the porch so they may say, “Put on your gloves to go away!” The Prefects!

And when we think the coast is clear, They’re always sure to be quite near, And at your gloveless hands they sneer!

The Prefects!

(E.H., IVA, 1918 Magazine)

As the ‘engine room’ of student-based activities, the members of the Student Council learn diplomacy, organisational skills, the benefits of service, and the responsibility of office, all of which prepare them for their adult lives.

Hopefully, along their Year 12 journey, they come to appreciate that nothing is achieved without work and there is a ‘joy born of the effort itself’.

Girls Grammar Prefects 1934

SUMMER ISSUE / 2017

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GAZETTE GALLERY Brisbane Girls Grammar School provides girls with an exemplary broad, liberal education through diverse opportunities to strengthen new and existing talents, and to evoke a spirit that strives for mastery and personal best. Strong evidence of this philosophy of learning is apparent across the Visual Art programme at Girls Grammar, where girls are encouraged to experiment and celebrate creativity.

In the Junior School, Visual Art teachers work to establish a solid technical base within the girls to enable them to venture into more experimental and wide-ranging art work as they grow.

During Years 11 and 12 at Girls Grammar, students have more creative freedom to interpret their chosen subjects and the works made give evidence of a greater individuality and diversity.

The Summer 2017 Gazette Gallery showcases a selection of works from the academic year — highlighting the continual growth in technical skill, breadth of creative expression and sophistication of message as students transition through Years 7 to 12.

Urban Botanical, Emily Flanagan (9E)

Urban Elements, Madeleine Ryals (11O)

Cloud Atlas, Fenella Counsell (9L)

The Key To Charm (detail), Emma Macbeth (12G)

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Creature, Amelie Gardener (7M)

Lost Lunch, Emily Hirst (8G)

Chaotic Harmony, Mia Pearn (11R)

Snakes and Ladders (detail), Grace McLay (12R)

More Than a Pretty Face, Isabel Tseng (10O)

SUMMER ISSUE / 2017

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A STRONG LITERARY FUTURE AT GIRLS GRAMMAR

AUTHOR

Mr Stephen Woods Director of English As part of the suite of new senior subjects to launch for Year 11 in 2019, Literature is a first for Brisbane Girls Grammar School and for English teaching in Queensland.

Neither has ever had a subject devoted solely to the appreciation and creation of literary texts.

English, of course, has always exposed girls to the literary and fostered their own, fledgling literariness, but has always done so alongside the development of valuable non-literary skills in persuasion, media texts and personal reflection. Indeed, in the new system, English will continue to do just that, but will have Literature as a more specialised companion subject for girls of a more literary bent.

Naturally, an English teacher is going to say that a specifically literary subject is a good thing, but the prominence of matters literary in 2017 only serves to validate my flagrantly self-serving message. The media this year has been full of tributes to the literary giant, Jane Austen, and proof of her work’s continuing popularity and relevance has filled countless columns and screens in marking two hundred years since her passing.

Anyone unconvinced of the breadth and depth of Austen’s appeal need look no further than Mrs Kristine Cooke’s Year 12 English class in Term II. Alongside the twenty or so senior girls being amused by the gentle and genteel satire of Pride and Prejudice, sat Girls Grammar Sports Manager, ex-army curmudgeon and devoted Austenophile, Mr Barry Greatorex. So fond of Austen’s Regency world is Mr Greatorex, that 2017 marked the third time he joined a Year 12 class as they were in turn frustrated and delighted by Lizzie and Darcy. Austen’s appeal, both in original form and in the many modern screen and print adaptations, testifies to the lasting power of the literary to entrance, amuse and divert.

The power of literature to illuminate our own world has been underscored by the return of some canonical novels to the bestseller lists. No doubt given an impetus by political developments overseas, authors, Margaret Atwood and George Orwell — both of whom have recently or currently adorned our English booklists — have outsold many more contemporary writers this year. The Handmaid’s Tale and its prescient critique of gender, faith and environmental issues returned to the top of bestseller charts and spawned an enormously popular television adaptation. In the way of literary speculative fiction, its masterfully wrought dystopia forces readers to reconsider our own world and acknowledge how — without our vigilance — it could become this fictional one.

The other side of the literary coin, of course, is producing it.

Literature will provide girls with double the number of opportunities to express themselves creatively than English can. Osmosis is a fine thing, but girls will not just be hanging out with great fiction in the hope that it ‘sinks in’. Creative writing courses have recently proven their popularity the world over and count Alice Sebold, Kate Grenville and Jeffrey Eugenides among their many notable alumni. The girls in Literature will work at the craft rather than await their muses. Far be it from me to either predict or limit their literary futures, but even if novelistic success and riches prove elusive, the world of work is always looking for creative types who can write well.

Literature exerts a strong and lasting hold on us and our hope is that the new study of Literature will afford Grammar girls a source of artistic and creative expression for years to come.

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BADMINTON: THE SCHOOL’S FASTEST GROWING SPORT

Brisbane Girls Grammar School 2017 Senior Badminton players (from Years 11 and 12) with Mr Barry Greatorex and Ms Jen Fukushima, proudly displaying the six Championship Pennants won by the School during the 2017 season

AUTHOR

Ms Jennifer Fukushima Head of Japanese and Badminton Co-ordinator Reflecting its rank as the second most played sport in the world today, Badminton at Brisbane Girls Grammar School has during the past five years been the fastest growing sport both at the School as well as within the Queensland Girls Secondary Schools Sports Association (QGSSSA).

The Girls Grammar Badminton story started in 2006 when three Year 10 girls appeared in the McCrae Grassie Sports Centre almost every lunch hour to play badminton. Sports Manager, Mr Barry Greatorex, saw an opportunity to ‘formalise’ the sport and for the girls to potentially represent the School. The trio formed an ‘observational team’ to consider and ascertain the sport’s viability at Girls Grammar and for the School to participate in the QGSSSA Badminton competition.

A positive response ensued, fortifying the girls’ resolve to secure a fourth player to form an inaugural Girls Grammar Badminton competition team. Much to the delight of everyone involved, a team was completed with the inclusion of a Year 9 girl and that team went on to be undefeated in its first year of competition — winning the 2006 QGSSSA 10A Pennant.

A member of that foundational team, Dr Leona Chun, has each year continued to be an avid supporter of Girls Grammar Badminton as either a coach or a referee since her graduation in 2008.

At the close of the 2017 season, I am very pleased to report it was our most successful Badminton year ever.

We received six Championship Pennants and three very close second places across sixteen teams. The 122-student strong squad proved that we are a dominant force in Badminton at the QGSSSA level.

A special congratulations is directed at 2017 Years 11 and 12 Badminton players for their outstanding performance winning all Senior divisions and placing a very close second in the Open division.

SUMMER ISSUE / 2017

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CELEBRATING THIRTY YEARS OF OUTDOOR EDUCATION AT MARRAPATTA

AUTHOR

Mr James McIntosh Director of Marrapatta Memorial Outdoor Education Centre Brisbane Girls Grammar School’s life-wide learning goal is to ‘inspire girls to dare to dream, without fear of failure, and to test the unfamiliar; enable them to develop enduring life and leadership skills and to be resilient and adventurous in spirit’ (Strategic Design 2106-2019).

Since 1978, outdoor education has been a vital and rich source of life-wide learning for Grammar girls and in 2017 we marked the thirty-year anniversary of the School’s owned and operated outdoor education campus — the Marrapatta Memorial Outdoor Education Centre, located in the picturesque Mary Valley two hours’ drive north of Brisbane.

Marrapatta was officially opened by the then Chair of the Board of Trustees, Dr A. S. Gehrmann, on 9 August 1987. The bold decision to build the centre was led by Dr Judith Hancock, School Principal from 1977 until 2001, to ensure Grammar girls could participate in a challenging outdoor education programme in a safe and supportive environment. To this day, through a carefully considered and progressive programme — from Thrive and Discovery in Years 7 and 8, to Interdependence and Journeys in Years 9 and 10 — outdoor education makes a powerful contribution to a Girls Grammar education.

From Marrapatta’s humble beginnings on a bare hillside paddock, previously used to graze dairy cattle and grow small crops, the site was transformed into an educational facility. Accommodation was basic and consisted of canvas tents on the flat space behind the three original buildings. Meal preparation and serving occurred beneath the amenities block. It was a setting that provided students with a ‘comfortably uncomfortable’ base from which to experience the varied elements of the outdoor education programme.

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For thirty years, Marrapatta has been the home of outdoor education for Grammar girls, providing a vital and rich source of life-wide learning

The development of the Marrapatta Memorial Outdoor Education Centre to what it is today would not have been made possible without significant support from the Girls Grammar community. We acknowledge and thank: the innovative 1970s staff who advocated for greater outdoor and experiential learning opportunities for Grammar girls; the School’s visionary Board of Trustees and Senior Leadership Team; the Parents and Friends Association; the Fathers Group; the first Outdoor Education Directors, Tim and Sue Lanham (nee Gordon, Head Girl, 1978); and Marrapatta campus staff and Girls Grammar staff more broadly. I am also grateful for the spirit and energy of the several thousand Grammar girls who have each harnessed and embraced Marrapatta’s challenging yet formative learning environment throughout the past thirty years.

From raft building, high ropes, camping and cooking out, canoeing, navigating, hiking and trail-riding journeys, outdoor education at Marrapatta has inspired in Grammar girls the confidence that they can perform and achieve as individuals and in teams, no matter what the challenge and sphere of activity.

In contrast to the early days, the property’s infrastructure now includes a commercial kitchen, student dormitories and a most wonderful recent addition, the Dorothy Hill Observatory.

During thirty years of progress, the fundamentals of student learning experiences within an outdoor programme have, however, remained steadfast and are perhaps more important to adolescent development and educational outcomes today than at any time before.

For students who are part of an ‘instant gratification’ age and exposed to vast quantities of global information including a plethora of ‘fake news’, outdoor education helps individuals develop. Marrapatta will continue to provide an enriching programme to encourage Grammar girls to connect and belong, develop an assured sense of self, and appreciate the natural world of which they are part.

SUMMER ISSUE / 2017

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NORTHERN LIGHTS: LEARNING FROM THE GREATS IN THE UNIVERSITIES OF THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE The Illuminated Texts — hand-written books with elaborate decorations in gold or silver — which appeared in northern Europe in the late seventh century — served as ‘symbolic and narrative compositions, which proclaimed the mysteries of the faith and instructed the unlettered in the stories of sacred scripture’. This idea of the illumination of the ‘mysteries’ of knowledge captures the experience of the Oxbridge Academic Programme.

The Oxbridge experience is much like an illuminated text. The founding principle of Oxbridge is to provide students with ‘imaginative teaching, experiential learning, and cultural enrichment’ experienced within the campuses of some of the most inspiring universities in the world. Students spend four to six weeks immersed in two areas of study under the tutelage of accomplished academics, and in the company of like-minded students from many different countries. This period of illumination allows students to experience in-depth discussion of current topics as well as extended time for reflection, creation, writing, observation and analysis — a rare and unique educational experience.

AUTHOR

Ms Rachael Christopherson Head of Beanland House This year, thirty-six Year 11 Grammar girls and three Girls Grammar teachers attended the Oxbridge Summer Schools Programme. Studying with an exceptional team of academics (including seven Rhodes Scholars) at seven different northern hemisphere universities such as Cambridge University, Oxford University and L’Academie de Paris.

The girls were immersed in courses covering topics such as medical science, architecture, art history, entrepreneurship, politics and human rights. At the opening ceremony of the Oxford Tradition held at Christopher Wren’s magnificent Sheldonian Theatre (built 1669) more than 300 students from thirty-three nationalities were welcomed by the Oxbridge founder and CEO, Professor Jim Basker, who challenged the

students to take advantage of every opportunity presented to them in this experience of a lifetime. Director of the Oxford Tradition Summer School, Mr Michael McInlay (journalist, screenwriter, filmmaker and author) spoke to the students about the privilege of the experience, emphasising that they are characters in ‘a unique play’. I visited our students at two of the campuses — Oxford University and the University of St Andrews — and discovered firsthand the dynamism and rigour of the Summer Schools.

The classes were unconventional, often conducted in the historic buildings around the university towns, with the teachers challenging our girls to move beyond their knowledge base to discover the new. Annabel Ryan (11E) and Mary Keyser (11H) studied architecture with Mihaela Mitrovic (neuroscientist, architect and writer) in the stonearched ‘Bar Hall’ of Pembroke College (est. 1624), Oxford.

Taking a ‘hands on’ approach, Miheala set practical tasks where the students completed construction activities to design and build abstract spatial compositions.

Oxbridge founder and CEO, Professor Jim Basker (centre), with Year 11 Grammar girls and Ms Rachael Christopherson at Pembroke College, Oxford

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Grammar girls and other international students at a Philosophy on the Quad class with tutor, William Jefferson, at Pembroke College, Oxford

Annabel found the subject ‘freeing’ stating it felt good to be ‘creating and constructing’ while Mary was fascinated by the neuropsychology aspect of architecture — buildings evoke feelings. Both girls expressed humble awe at the depth and calibre of their teachers.

Time for thinking, creating and responding, and collective sharing and review was what Maddie Facey (11G) and Nanda Soe (11G) valued in the creative writing class taught by published author and poet, Julie Bolitho. In a wonderful atmosphere of energy and honesty, Maddie and Nanda enjoyed the chance to devote time to extended writing, focusing on poetry in their first week.

The students were also invited to read their poems to the class generating thought-provoking discussions about language and the arrangement of words.

In the Medical Science class, Dr Christian Jones, a recent graduate from the University of Cambridge, taught students Asha Varghese (11H), Eloise Tam (11O), Amelia Mills (11B), Ranee Chu (11R), Zoe McSweeney (11W), Amaana Hussain (11O) and Edith Rodda (11R) skills in observation and diagnosis. The girls participated in a diagnosis activity where Christian first presented them with a patient’s symptoms which generated a group discussion, followed by an examination of the patient’s x-ray resulting in an animated conversation. Other classes incorporated ‘fieldwork’ including anatomy which was very exciting for the students — ‘We used a lot of skills that actual doctors would use in hospitals’, reflected Asha, ‘and that was really amazing’.

The dynamic environment for the development of knowledge and values extended to the ‘optional’ lectures and performances. Every afternoon and evening there were opportunities for the students to learn more from accomplished experts about a variety of topics — from Brexit and global warming, to the changing face of terrorism and the young T.S. Eliot. With theatre visits and music recitals as well as lectures, the girls were seldom idle.

From Oxford, I travelled further north to the University of St Andrews in Scotland where the richness of history and learning in one of the United Kingdom’s oldest universities provided the platform for the academic

growth of Harriet Reinhold (11L), Grace Fisher (11L) and Helena Gandhi (11O). I visited the girls in their final week of their four-week course at the University at the historic St Salvator’s Hall.

All commented on the dedication of their teachers, the vibrancy of their classes and the great friendships that they had formed with other international students.

There is so much to be gained from the exchange among students, educators and academics from all corners of the globe. Amelia Stacey (11B), who studied politics and economics at Oxford, commented that within her class, ‘everyone knows so much and there are so many different perspectives on the global issues, and this is both enlightening and stimulating’.

I was fortunate to be awarded a Fellowship from Oxbridge Academic Programs to study Celtic Cultures and British Literatures at St Andrews. Our supervisor was Dr Katie Garner, a graduate of Cardiff University and expert in romantic and Victorian women’s writing. In my class, the diversity of literary backgrounds enriched our discussions.

Our classes were enhanced by private viewings of rare and historic books housed in the St Andrews library’s Special Collections and visits from renowned poets and academics. I came home weighed down with a small collection of Scottish literature and a long list of books and anthologies to read.

It’s these moments in life that resonate through the years and cannot be replicated. For many of our girls this incredible experience will be the spark to future careers, study and research. The love of learning is ignited and the illumination of deep knowledge and contemplation is a value that the girls and I now hold close — like a sacred book. Sometimes school can be so busy that we can forget to stop and remember what the learning is for.

Why do we learn at all? Socrates reminds us, ’Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel’. I think the Oxbridge experience has given us some of that light.

REFERENCES oxbridgeprograms.com/Student-Journey

SPRING ISSUE / 2017

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FUTURE FOCUS

AUTHOR

Mrs Wanda Hayes Director of Post-Secondary Planning As our current Year 12 students prepare to complete their transition from secondary to tertiary education, many will be casting their thoughts beyond study to their ultimate goal. While most would say their aspiration is to find a career path that is satisfying, rewarding and sustainable, many don’t know yet what form that work will take. In a rapidly changing world of work, not knowing for sure is perfectly reasonable, and may even be the most appropriate response.

Many people think of career decision-making as being about selecting and matching. It is understandable that young people often approach the task of choosing a career path by scanning the current environment and trying to identify a profession that appears to be a good fit for them. However, employment patterns and career paths are no longer fixed and predictable, and digital disruption is driving change in all kinds of workplaces.

Futurists and researchers are forecasting a dynamic and mutable working life for our young people, and it is likely that the professional paths our current students take will differ considerably from the paths that are available today.

The secret is knowing and accepting that your occupational destination may turn out to be quite different from your current expectations. Jobs are changing. It’s happening everywhere, and it’s a good thing! It means the possibilities are broadening and — more than ever before — paving the way to a wider variety of careers with whatever you learn.

The most adaptive response under these circumstances is to turn your long-term focus to identifying the kinds of work that suit you, rather than trying to ‘pick a profession’. Along the way, it’s far more helpful to think about study in terms of acquiring capabilities that are valued, rather than focusing solely on ‘obtaining a qualification’.

The good news is, it’s much easier to choose a study path by focusing on what you want to learn than by trying to work out, now, where it will take you, later. This approach is also more realistic, given the future will be filled with opportunities and paths that don’t yet exist.

The critical capabilities of the future are those attributes that were once called ‘soft skills’, but are in fact anything but soft. Social and emotional intelligence, the ability to work across disciplinary boundaries, cross-cultural understanding, and creative problem-solving skills have already replaced technical skills as the most prized commodities in the employment marketplace.

These capabilities can be developed alongside learning in any discipline, but the learner must seek the right opportunities. What matters is not so much what you study, but what you do with it.

We live in a world where machines perform tasks previously completed by doctors and lawyers; where Google is actively recruiting anthropology graduates; and mathematics graduates are doing research on issues like jaguar conservation in the Peruvian jungle. The degree and discipline you choose to study no longer determine to which jobs you will be confined. With that in mind, how does one select the ‘right’ study path?

2017 INNOVATIVE SCHOOLS AWARD Brisbane Girls Grammar School received a 2017 Innovative Schools award from The Educator magazine. Recognised as one of forty schools around Australia that are leading the way in their efforts to best prepare students for tomorrow’s world, the award specifically commends the School’s record of attracting and retaining students’ interest in science.

Being recognised as one of Australia’s most innovative schools is testament to our dedicated, specialist teachers and the School’s outof-classroom science programmes that embed deep learning to inspire curiosity and a passion for new discoveries. As a result — and running counter to much of the discourse around the need to encourage women and girls into science — the study of science thrives at Girls Grammar.

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AWARDS AND RECOGNITION Brisbane Girls Grammar School’s approach to a broad, liberal education sees our students and staff — past and present — excel across myriad areas of study, career and community. The School extends very warm congratulations to the following individuals whose extraordinary efforts in a wide variety of pursuits have recently been recognised by various independent agencies.

Brisbane Girls Grammar School student and well-known formidable debater, Isabel Nolan (12B), was one of five students (and the only Queenslander) who represented Australia at the World School Debating Championships recently held in Bali, Indonesia. Out of a total of 250 debaters from across the world competing at the event, Isabel was named as the ‘sixth best’ debater at the Championships.

I n recognition of her extraordinary service to the School and the community more broadly, Mackay House Captain, Abirami Somasundaran (12M), was awarded a Secondary Schools Citizenship Award from The Order of Australia Association, Queensland Branch for 2017.

Brisbane Girls Grammar School Open Netball player, Sally Finch (11H), recently represented Australia at the World Indoor Netball Junior seven-a-side Tournament held in Johannesburg, South Africa. Australia won the tournament and Sally was awarded Player of the Field.

rammar girl and ballerina, Ashlee Basford (7H) and her younger sister and future Grammar G girl, Darcy, were guest dancers in Queensland Ballet’s recent production of La Fille mal gardée which played to sold-out audiences throughout the two-week season at the Playhouse, the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.

I n recognition of her outstanding contributions to the teaching of history at Girls Grammar and across the wider teaching community, Head of History, Ms Julie Hennessey, was awarded The Dr Russell Cowie Excellence in History Education Award by the Queensland History Teachers’ Association.

The Queensland Debating Union (QDU) named Science Teacher and Girls Grammar Debating Coordinator, Mrs Anne Byrne, as ‘Debating Coordinator of the Year for outstanding levels of commitment and service to Queensland Debating above and beyond the expectations of the QDU’.

he School’s Dean of Curriculum and Scholarship, Dr Bruce Addison, has been conferred T a Fellowship by the Australian Council for Educational Leaders in recognition of his ‘outstanding contribution to student learning and enhanced educational outcomes’ in Queensland.

SUMMER ISSUE / 2017

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GALA

AUTHOR

Mr Paul Holley OAM Acting Director of Instrumental Music With the joyful theme of ‘Let’s Dance’, this year’s Gala held at the UQ Centre dazzled the audience with impressive and memorable repertoire written for, or inspired by, dance. Spanning classical, jazz, pop and folk genres, the students brought to life the dance music of composers and songwriters from Elton John to Glenn Miller, and Tchaikovsky to Marvin Gaye.

The School’s annual celebration of music education lived up to its fine reputation with exquisite performances from our talented student vocalists and musicians.

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This year, Gala featured all senior music ensembles and a massed choir of 300 students, singing Jim Papoulis’ Sih’r Khalaq. Our 140-voice Grammar Community Choir — comprising parents, past students and friends of the School — also sang, revelling in the opportunity to perform on stage alongside the girls.

The commitment and dedication of our excellent music staff was evident in the accomplished performances drawn from their students and a special thanks must also go to Head of Curricular Drama, Mrs Katrina Riveros, for compering the evening. With the excellence of our students on show, the night was a wonderful tribute to their dedication and love of music.

SUMMER ISSUE / 2017

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GRAMMAR WOMEN The Generational Grammar Women Afternoon Tea, held on Saturday 9 September, welcomed past students and their mothers, daughters, sisters and grandmothers to together celebrate and strengthen connections to the School and each other.

AUTHOR

AUTHOR

Ms Antonia Swindells Community Relations and Events Manager

Mrs Julie Caton (Cleghorn, 1981) President of the Old Girls Association

A panel comprising 2017 Head Girl, Lucinda Duke, and her two sisters, Phoebe Duke (2011) and Caitlyn Duke (2013), shared their experience of the ‘Grammar sisterhood’ with President of the Old Girls Association, Mrs Julie Caton (Cleghorn, 1981).

It was very special event for five guests who also celebrated their ‘seventy years or more’ School reunion at the afternoon tea.

Grammar Women celebrating seventy years or more since graduation with 2017 Head Girls, Elizabeth Prins (12B) and Lucinda Duke (12H)

The following is an extract from one guest’s reflection on the gathering.

What a wonderful afternoon I spent at the School after seventy years from when I first entered and discovered a whole world of education I had never envisaged … surrounded by younger past students as well as beautiful, young, fresh students of today, I was entranced by the feeling of welcoming friendship and that exciting sensation of belonging in this roomful of like-minded people, encouraging me to give glimpses of memories of my time at this School.

Three generations of Grammar Women: Ashlee Warat (12R) with her grandmother, Mrs Margaret Davies (Robinson, 1965); and mother, Mrs Karen Warat (Davies,1989)

Mrs Doreen Semple (Urquhart, 1946), pictured above second from left

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REUNIONS Four milestone reunions — ten, twenty, forty and fifty-year — were marked with celebrations at various locations around the School in recent months.

Following each of the School-hosted ‘official’ functions — which included a tour of the campus led by student ambassadors — each group moved on to a privately run celebration at a nearby venue to continue celebrating and catching up with friends from years past.

Grammar Women twenty-year reunion (class of 1997)

Grammar Women forty-year reunion (class of 1977)

SYDNEY GRAMMAR WOMEN ART EVENT The Sydney Grammar Women Art Event saw Grammar Women based in Sydney and regional areas in New South Wales join Principal, Ms Jacinda Euler, at a special viewing of the 2017 Archibald Prize finalists at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

This year’s Grammar Women guests, representing alumni years from 1955 to 1995, were given an insightful presentation about each of the artworks and the stories behind the artists and their subjects. Guests also enjoyed a lunch and connecting with other Grammar Women before viewing the exhibition on a private guided tour.

GRAMMAR WOMEN IN THE BOARDROOM At ‘Grammar Women in the Boardroom: A Conversation for Change’, Panel Chair for the evening, Ms Elizabeth Jameson (Chair, Brisbane Girls Grammar School Board of Trustees; Head Girl, 1982) led a discussion with four prominent career directors — Ms Else Shepherd AM (1960), Ms Margie Seale, Ms Kerryn Newton and Ms Susan Forrester — to share their experiences of the boardroom and offer real-world advice for the next generation of female business leaders.

For people in the audience, the discussion provided great insight and practical tips on pathways to the boardroom and what may be expected of you as a board member. Women considering joining a board were advised to be clear about their reasons behind their decision, develop a compelling case for what they have to offer, and undertake further education to address any gaps in their skill set. Most importantly though, the panel emphasised the value of ‘being bold, and seeking a mentor and asking for advice and assistance’.

To support future female leaders, Brisbane Girls Grammar School has established the Grammar Women Board Network. Designed to harness the knowledge and

experience of female directors who have an association with the School, the network assists in the development and promotion of future generations of female business leaders in Australia.

A LinkedIn group has been created to support members in establishing connections within the network to develop mentor/mentee relationships. To view further information and take steps to register to join the Grammar Women Board Network, go to the Brisbane Girls Grammar School website, www.bggs.qld.edu.au/ community/grammar-women/grammar-women-boardnetwork/.

The Grammar Women in the Boardroom panel: Ms Else Shepherd AM (1960), Ms Susan Forrester; Ms Kerryn Newton, Ms Margie Seale and Ms Elizabeth Jameson (Head Girl, 1982)

SUMMER ISSUE / 2017

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OPEN DAY 2017 This year’s Open Day truly lived up to its reputation for being a celebration of the irrepressible spirit, talent and enterprise of Grammar girls. On the evening of Friday 28 July, the School, awash with carnival colours, shone and dazzled both current and prospective families, exhibiting the very best of Brisbane Girls Grammar School.

But what truly separates Brisbane Girls Grammar School’s Open Day from others’ is the wonderful display of participation, with every student and every staff member pitching in to make the evening such a great success. On show then is our passion, collaboration, team work, grit, creativity and, of course, that indomitable Grammar spirit.

Following a tried and tested formula for success, this year’s Open Day also featured a few additional highlights. The Science Labs were incredible and many of the incoming girls and their younger siblings were swept away by the ‘wonder and awe’ of Science in action, with interactive displays such as using science to solve a crime case and classifying dinosaur species. An extra item on this year’s programme was the ‘flash mob’ choir, delighting crowds at finely timed ‘impromptu’ moments throughout the evening.

The Amazing Race was again popular with our incoming girls, who revelled in the opportunity to navigate the campus and learn more about their ‘new’ School. Walking in Their Shoes — a panel session of current Year 7 girls — proved a favourite with families keen to hear what it is really like starting out at Girls Grammar.

FEEDBACK FROM FAMILIES

“ I was so impressed by the professionalism of it all.”

“ All the girls were so well mannered and helpful and enthusiastic. It certainly makes me feel comfortable that I have made the right choice for my daughter.”

“What really stood out for me was the sheer delight in enterprise, the infectious and welcoming nature of the girls and their unshakeable belief and pride in their School.”

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“My daughter loved the science lab and was raving for days.”

“It was a wonderful opportunity to see the girls contributing to the school and to see what the school offers. The atmosphere was fun. The music was, as usual, amazing.”

SUMMER ISSUE / 2017

Brisbane Girls Grammar School Gregory Terrace Brisbane QLD 4000 Australia T +61 7 3332 1300 F +61 7 3832 6097 E communications@bggs.qld.edu.au /BrisbaneGirlsGrammar @BGGS /school/brisbanegirlsgrammarschool

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