SUCCESS semester two 2021
From the Acting Principal
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Feast for Freedom
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Personal Projects turn into passion projects 6 Making new discoveries 8 Paddock to plate 9
< Cover: Lachlan Lidbury and Chalize Bakker, Year 10.
Building physical and mental grit
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Critical and creative thinking skills and grit!
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Sport Achievements
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Introducing your 2022 School Captains
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Why libraries are important in schools
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Alumni News 16
4 Success is a Hunter Valley Grammar School publication. Editorial Team: Caitlin Brookes, Jessica Dyson, Dionne Molina and Anne-Marie Tynan
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42 Norfolk Street Ashtonfield NSW 2323 PO Box 458 East Maitland NSW 2323 P: 02 4934 2444 E: communityrelations@hvgs.nsw.edu.au www.hvgs.nsw.edu.au
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Success 2021 Thrive
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From the Acting Principal
Adapting our leadership approach in response to uncertainty.
As we approach the end of 2021, I reflect on the year that was. Like many of my colleagues and leaders of schools, I have continually adjusted my leadership style to our ‘new normal’ at HVGS. This year, we started with vibrant communities of learning and engaging classrooms. We had a wide-ranging co-curriculum program outside of class and we had aspirations for the year ahead. As the COVID situation became increasingly concerning across the state, we monitored the situation. It was inevitable we would need to close, and we needed to prepare. On 14 July, Newcastle Herald interviewed me, eager to understand our response to a lockdown. I responded with, “our staff and students would be able to transition to remote learning at a moment’s notice” and “we had it covered.” Suddenly, those words were put into action and we were navigating our way through learning, working, and teaching from home. Online schooling left students isolated from their friends, family, and teachers. But with thanks to our wonderful leaders and staff at HVGS we made it through to the other side. Critical to our success was that we remained calm and embraced an attitude of “we’ve got this.” Throughout this experience, we recognised the importance of being prepared to continually adapt to the circumstances and provide clear and robust communication. Moving forward As adults, historically, we have faced numerous stressors through social and economic upheaval, which forced us to meet great uncertainty in all aspects of our lives. At times, this uncertainty may have made us feel overwhelmed, making it incredibly difficult to make decisions or function to our full human potential. When things become less predictable — and controllable —we experience an intense state of threat. Threat leads to the ‘fight, freeze, or flight’ responses in the brain. It also leads to
decreases in motivation, focus, agility, cooperative behaviour, self-control, a sense of purpose and meaning, and overall wellbeing. A focus on wellbeing and opportunities for students to socialise with their peers will be paramount upon our return to school. When educators work together with their Psychology teams, the student and educator experience of feeling overwhelmed can become more manageable. Tips from HVGS psychology team: Set expectations with realistic optimism. We can train our brains to do well when we ‘expect the unexpected.’ It is essential to know the simple tools at our disposal to deal with unexpected challenges and when to use them. Lift to big-picture thinking. Big picture thinking allows us to thrive because of the benefits of adopting a higher perspective. Actively and purposively deciding to consider our perspective helps us accept the reality of most situations without the big emotions. Foster positive relationships. Developing positive relationships is critical in assuring our wellbeing and the health and happiness of those around us. Good quality leadership teams that foster a sense of calm and adaptability will be the key to surviving the unpredictable in schools in the future. Fiona Devlin Acting Principal.
Read the full story on our website
From the Acting Principal Success 2021
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Feast for
Freedom
Service learning is an integral feature of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP) at HVGS. Our goal is for students to see themselves as global citizens and to understand and acknowledge the impact that offering their time to serve, has on others. At HVGS, service learning allows students to: • • • •
identify their own strengths and areas for growth, while enhancing the common good recognise the skills of working collaboratively engage with issues of global significance
consider the ethics of choices and actions.
In Year 8, students work within their Mentor groups on a rotation of activities to learn about asylum seekers in Australia and across the world. As part of their Service in Action unit students complete four rotations, one of which includes cooking and preparing meal packs for the Feast for Freedom. These meal packs are then sold to parents and staff to fundraise for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC).
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Success 2021 Nurture
What is the Feast for Freedom? The Feast for Freedom is an annual event coordinated by the ASRC. Like the Biggest Morning Tea, people are encouraged to register their business or group and fundraise to raise awareness for the challenges asylum seekers face in Australia. HVGS adapted the program with the support of the ASRC, to develop our own fundraiser. Students were provided with a variety of traditional recipes from countries where asylum seekers come from and started cooking their recipes. Barrington cooked Sri Lankan cuisine; Watagan enjoyed Indian cooking; Liverpool created an East African feast, and Gloucester loved Lebanese.
How Fundraising helps
asylum seekers in Australia.
Raising $282
can help fund the weekly food, housing and healthcare needs of someone seeking asylum.
Raising $470
can help provide six months of vital medicine and medication through our health clinic.
Raising $1000
can help provide a vulnerable family with their food and grocery needs for an entire year through our Foodbank.
When COVID-19 put the brakes on the Feast for Freedom Program at school, Alex Rees got busy in the kitchen at home. Through August he made baked goods, selling them to friends and family to fundraise for the Feast for Freedom initiative. What is the outcome of the initiative? The Feast for Freedom initiative offers students critical insights into the lives of asylum seekers. It allows them to reflect on the lives of those without the same access to education or who do not live in safe societies like Australia. The Feast for Freedom helps students appreciate what they have in Australia and facilitates empathy and compassion for others. The knowledge that students have made a difference in someone’s life ultimately moves us towards a better future for Australia.
Alex Rees (Year 8) producing his delicious treats to assist the ASRC’s fundraising effort, raising over $300 for the cause.
Nurture Success 2021
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Personal Projects turn into
passion projects
Our current Year 10 students are the first cohort to complete their Personal Projects as part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) at HVGS. Personal Projects explore an area of personal interest over an extended period and require sustained effort and commitment. It was thrilling to see students’ work presented at the Personal Projects Showcase and to witness first-hand some outstanding Personal Projects turn into passion projects.
Jade Unahi Jade Unahi has a passion for caring for vulnerable mothers and their babies. Jade’s Personal Project reflected her passion and she designed, hand-made and donated numerous hearts to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). We spoke with Jade and discussed her inspiration for her project and her goals for the future. What made you choose this cause to focus on? My passion lies in supporting vulnerable mothers and babies and my career plan is to become an obstetrician. My cousin had a very difficult and early delivery with her daughter, and I was able to see the struggles and challenges these parents and newborns are facing. How did you find the process undertaking your Personal Project? I loved the process. I knew straight away what I was passionate about and that I wanted to tap into my textile design skills and my creative side and blend my love of service with these skills. The process was long and there was certainly challenges and obstacles. It was worth the hard work and hours of writing reflections, researching and even longer at my sewing machine. It was an extremely beneficial opportunity and I recommend to all future Year 10 students to throw themselves in and get as involved as you can.
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Success 2021 Learn
Was there anything you found challenging? My biggest challenge was trying to channel my creativity and love of service into one specific area. There was a process of trial and error and of course disappointments and setbacks as there is in all journeys. Is this project something you’d like to continue? Although the Personal Project has finished, my love for this will not diminish. I have decided to continue my project for as long as I can.
“I will be completing my goal of 100 packs of hearts and wraps in the Christmas holidays and do not plan to stop after my initial goal is reached.”
Finnegan Slattery-O’Brien Finnegan Slattery-O’Brien wrote a novel for his Personal Project. A Tragedy of Sorts is about an exploration of belief and divinity. The protagonist lives and is then reborn three times, each time dying in a different way. The first character takes his own life out of loneliness. The second character sacrifices herself for her brother. And, the third character offers his life to save the life of a stranger accused of a crime he didn’t commit. We caught up with Finn to chat about why he chose to write his novel and to hear about the challenges he faced along the way. Why did you choose to focus on this project? I wanted to choose something I was personally interested in and that I had been planning to undertake for a long time. The project was a vessel where I could channel and refine these somewhat complex authorial plans. What was your favourite part of completing your Personal Project? My favourite part was writing what I enjoyed: the simple scene setting and descriptions. There is something satisfying about translating an image in your head onto the page through vivid and evocative imagery. Then mirroring that same idea in the reader’s head, hoping to engage your audience. What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?
“I learnt to always rely on my creativity to back me out of a sticky situation. This can be moved along by just leaving the work, no matter what it is, and coming back to it after mulling things over in the back of your head for a while.” I also learnt I should have got a computer monitor before writing a novel. I have given myself a bad neck by hunching over a computer for ridiculous amounts of time. Will you continue this project or a similar project in the future? The novel was always intended to be a longer piece, so I may come back to it months or years down the track. But writing itself, especially fiction, is something I love and will always continue to do. I always have too many ideas for projects, it’s just a matter of picking one, developing it, sitting down and finding the time to begin.
Refining what I had written was a challenge for me. About six months before the Personal Projects Showcase, I had a lot of words, in fact more than would be in the final piece, but it was rambling and incoherent without resolutions. The next six months were spent ironing out inconsistencies. Another challenge I had to overcome was a lack of ending by reshuffling the entire narrative structure and re-writing scenes to fit in this new, connected vision.
Learn Success 2021
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discoverie s
Making new
Our littlest learners use play to explore key scientific concepts and to make new discoveries about the world around them.
Paper plane construction A spontaneous request to make a paper plane led to the exploration of the concepts of flight, gravity, force, aerodynamics and motion. The children demonstrated delight in discovering how they could fly their planes through the air as well as seeing how far or high they could get their plane to fly. Using problem solving skills and trial and error, they experimented with a variety of throwing techniques and launch heights. Newton’s laws of motion are explored when young children play and experiment with homemade planes. They learn that an object won’t move by itself without a push, and how far and how fast the plane flies depends on the force of the motion. Building rocket cars Young children have an innate attraction to being hands-on with their learning. It supports them to understand concepts and retain information. ELC students investigated and explored the concepts of force and motion using loose parts and recycled materials to build their very own rocket cars. Fabulous discussions and discoveries with educators ensued on how the air was powering the cars. Do you know that the amount of air in the balloon determines how far the car travels? We love science!
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Success 2021 Learn
Paddock to plate “The primal cuts are used daily for HVGS events, canteen lunch specials and even school fundraisers. We hope this program broadens into the supply of other meats such as lamb and pork in the future.”
With over 40 head of beef cattle running on the HVGS Farm, it is clear why there is a need to maximise this fantastic facility’s educational and economic potential. Since the start of the HVGS Agriculture program five years ago, there has always been the focus that agricultural systems cannot be an isolated unit, and with our senior agriculture classes studying topics such as vertical integration and value, adding the need for marketing our product was only a matter of time. The origin and benefits of paddock to plate Over the past year, the plan to create a paddock to plate relationship with the School’s Treetops Restaurant, has developed from more than an idea conceived by Farm Manager Simon Studdy, and grown into a month-by-month selection of processing and preparing Prime Angus steers to be sold to Treetops. The sale of the animals directly to Treetops has been a success on several fronts: 1.
The School’s farm is more economically sustainable.
2. Students can sample the meat studied in agriculture lessons or receive personal culinary feedback as a member of the Cattle Team.
3. Higher quality product is sold to patrons in the School’s restaurant and café.
“The Cattle Team are breeding cattle producing high-quality cuts of meat that any commercial kitchen would be pleased to serve,” says Treetops head chef Anthony McGavin.
Paddock to plate in action Animals in the commercial herd are selected once the students have weighed and classed them in the correct conditional score. They are processed locally and delivered to Treetops in various cuts to meet the upcoming menu. This arrangement is more than just the sale and consumption of the School beef. Pasture management and forage crops are all set based on a stocking rate, which changes due to this arrangement. Students in Year 11 who manage the pasture must consider that animals sold one at a time (rather than in groups as they were previously) will effect plant management and grazing choices on the farm. The Program has increased not only the economic return of the farm but also the educational options for Senior School students by: •
witnessing alternate livestock management
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influencing and understanding the end-to-end consumer and product lifecycle.
•
studying sustainable farming practices of commercial farms and
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Building physical
t i r g l a t n e m and
If you have children at school, you are likely aware that Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE) is a compulsory school subject. However, you may not realise that NSW schools are mandated to provide secondary students with 150 minutes of planned and organised physical activity and sport each week.
There is considerable research and science behind the benefits of physical activity. However, when you grasp the multitude of benefits in improving everyone’s physical and mental wellbeing, it’s clear why young people love to participate. The benefits on your body when engaging in physical activity and sport include: •
increased memory and brain function
•
support of healthy body function and weight
• • •
protection from disease improved sleep and
reduced stress and anxiety.
And, while the physical benefits of sport are far-reaching, so too are the interpersonal and social benefits: •
learning to interact with others,
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collaborating and working towards an individual or shared goal.
•
cooperating as part of a team, and
Sport makes us physically stronger but being physically strong is only part of what keeps us healthy, as being mentally strong is equally as important.
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Success 2021 Learn
Let’s talk about tennis for a moment. Ashleigh Barty Ashleigh Barty is an outstanding female athlete and proud Indigenous Australian who was recently crowned the 2021 Ladies’ Singles Wimbledon Champion. Ash has an extraordinary history in the sport and from a young age led a public sporting life in both tennis and in Big Bash cricket. She is an incredibly hard worker and has overcome injury, setbacks and criticism, all while displaying humility and positivity. She is a proud advocate for her sport, her culture, and herself. Ash embodies the essential characteristics of an athlete who is both physically and mentally strong. Of course, she is in a somewhat unique position, to make her sporting talent her career, but she understands that staying at the top of her game requires a focus on both her physical strength and her mental stamina. That’s why in 2018, she engaged a mental strength coach to help her through some of her most brutal matches and gruelling training programs. You don’t need to be the world’s number one tennis player or engage a mental strength coach to work on your mental stamina because mental strength is vital for everyone, not just elite athletes.
It’s the final stages of a game, match, exam, assessment task, or project where you can lose focus or take your eye off the ball. Maintaining your ability to stay focused on the task and not on the ‘pain’ is essential for success in any endeavour.
So, perhaps it’s time to revaluate how you are going and start to think more about what you can do to stay fit, both physically and mentally.
Mental strength training
‘Grit’ comes in many forms, not just through sport. We can train our ‘mind muscle’ to become more resilient and sustain us through tougher times by the small things we do each day. For example, thinking positively about ourselves or focusing our energy on what gives us fulfilment and satisfaction and not on the fleeting approvals of others. We can plan for setbacks without dwelling on failure, and we can be consistent in working towards our goals and aspirations, no matter how big or small. If you look at the highs and the lows of Ash’s career and you will see that she sets a fine example for us all. It’s important we all find time for physical activity, prioritise sleep, and engage in genuinely relaxing activities to support our mental and physical strength.
Nurture Success 2021
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Critical and creative thinking skills… HVGS screens participants into enrichment programs: • based on consistent assessment tasks, and • in comparison against age-group peers. The means, students can complete tasks and compete in competitions that are: • •
both challenging and rewarding and encouraging them to persist.
As with any learning process, critical thinking and creativity require students to be present and focused, which requires grit. What enrichment programs are offered to students in the Junior School? The Junior School Gifted and Talented program incorporates: • Future Problem Solving • University of Newcastle SMART: Science Maths (FPS) – Global Issues and Real Technology • FPS - Scenario Writing programs • FPS - Scenario • Competitions such as Performance WriteOn, What Matters? • Tournament of Minds My Place and • Writing Enrichment • Educational assessments • Maths Olympiad - ICAS • Maths Games • Peer Tutoring What is the FPS - Scenario Performance Finals Competition, which students participated and what was the result? Isabelle Hicks, Odette Mury and Gemma Taylor were invited to compete. Scenario Performance is a story-telling competition where students develop and submit short videos of themselves orating a story. Students must compete individually and tell a creative and entertaining, futuristic story related to a FPS topic - Youth in Competitive Sports, Wearable Technology, and Human Environmental Impact. From these submissions, students were then selected to present on Personalised Medicine with the live National FPS Australia Finals taking place in October. Isabelle and Odette were placed in the top seven students in Australia, and we are so very proud of their efforts.
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Success 2021 Thrive
and GRIT! A Super Rap Congratulations to Miliana Callan (Year 8), who was recently awarded third place in Junior category in the Tax, Super and You competition run by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
Students from the Senior School were invited to create a project that highlighted their entry topic on tax and super. The competition encourages students to review educational online resources, to improve their understanding of the Australian tax and superannuation systems. Miliana created her video entry to highlight the value of tax in the community. Miliana displayed her superb rap skills and knowledge of tax and super in her entry. HVGS has entered this competition previously and were placed second, so we are thrilled Miliana received third place. Miliana as well as Hunter Valley Grammar School was awarded a $300 MasterCard gift card. Congratulations Miliana!
An Art of Success Emma Purdie (Year 2) donated one of her wonderful artworks to Maitland Regional Art Gallery (MRAG) for the gallery’s art sale in the Young MRAG Members section. Emma’s artwork was purchased by a Sydney collector and will be included in the Elliott-Eyes Collection. The Elliott-Eyes Collection is a private art collection with an emphasis on selected artists. Although it is a private collection, it can be viewed as part of a guided tour by the collectors. The tour provides insights into their chosen artworks and explains how they were obtained. What a fantastic achievement for such a young artist.
Sport Achievements HVGS Sonics The HVGS Sonics play in the Net Set Go competition and took to the court with gusto at this year’s Gala Day, finishing undefeated. An excellent result following a highly competitive season. Well done Sonics! Cross Country Our Senior School Cross Country team reclaimed the Hunter Regional Independent Schools (HRIS) Cross Country Championship. Competing against 17 other HRIS Schools, our athletes performed extremely well. Age Champions included: •
Jade O’Brien (13)
•
Harry Carlson (15)
•
Luke Purdie (14)
HVGS also won the following Age team Championships:
Bill Turner Cup and Hunter Region Independent Schools (HRIS) The HVGS 15 years girls football team enjoyed a wonderful season and remained undefeated whilst contesting the HRIS Championships and the state-wide Knockout Bill Turner Trophy.
•
12 years boys
•
15 years boys
A win in the HRIS Championship (without a goal being scored) is quite an achievement and to make the top 16 of the Bill Turner Trophy demonstrates the quality of the team.
•
14 years boys
•
17 years girls
Individual Success
•
13 years girls
•
15 years girls
The following students continued to perform at the Association of Independent Co-Educational Schools (AICES) Championships with a top 10 finish and attended the Combined Independent Schools (CIS) Championships. •
Adam Moisey
•
Noah Carlson
• •
Bella Murdoch
• •
Indianna West Bridie Long
Emily Fortunaso-Klocker
Well done to Emily for again making the CIS team.
HVGS students are making their mark in several sports. This year two students were selected in the NSW Combined Independent Schools Sports Council (CIS) AFL team: • Genevieve Smith’s (Year 8) CIS AFL team placed second at the 15 years All Schools Championships in Albury. • Cooper Higgins (Year 10) and the boys CIS team also placed second.
Thrive Success 2021
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Introducing your
2022 School Captains
Kimberley Clement
Ryan Betts
Kimberley Clement and Ryan Betts are our 2022 School Captains. Kimberley and Ryan shared a bit about their personal strengths and values, and how they intend to draw upon these key qualities as school leaders. What are your personal strengths? Kimberley: My greatest strengths are good time management which helps with both internal and external school activities, the motivation to complete whatever I start and a flexible mindset. I also love the art of spontaneity as it fuels my adventurous nature and curiosity! Ryan: Some of my greatest strengths are perseverance and adaptability because I work hard to persevere to overcome challenges. I strive to be as adaptable as I can. When I am put into different and difficult situations, I try to find a new way to overcome it. Which of your strengths is most important in a leadership role and why? Kimberley: The combination of having a flexible mindset and the motivation to complete whatever you start would be beneficial qualities to have as a leader. Obstacles and challenges will present themselves along the way, but it’s how you deal with them that really matters.
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Success 2021 Thrive
Ryan: To me adaptability is most important in a leadership role. Leaders need to be able to adjust to the situations that are presented to them. It’s important to be able to listen and modify a response to best suit the feedback and ideas that are suggested by members of the school community. Which one of the values do you most identify with and why? Kimberley: Optimism stands out to me, as I always find myself looking past the hard-yards and constantly believing everything will work out. Having this mindset keeps me feeling positive and gives me a lot of things to look forward too. Ryan: I most identify with the value of Integrity. I believe it is important for someone in a position of leadership to strive to maintain integrity. Integrity encourages us to be honest and maintain sound principles. Read the full story on our website
Why libraries are important in schools
The role of the school library and Teacher Librarians are constantly evolving to meet the teaching and learning needs of both staff and students. Teacher Librarians collaborate with all teaching teams in the School and develop the collection to encourage global citizens who are life-long learners. What are the benefits of our School libraries? HVGS libraries are safe places which: • • • •
• •
Support an inquiry approach to learning which includes action and reflection. Support both personal interests and the curriculum.
Are safe and stress-free where students can choose to relax, socialise, read or pursue academic learning.
Provide areas for students to meet, talk, study, and make ideas come to life. Spaces have been created to encourage hands-on learning. These areas aim to nurture imagination, creativity, communication, collaboration and critical thinking. Promote the ethical use of information and construction of knowledge. Offer opportunities for student agency.
Research continues to show how a school library, a qualified Teacher Librarian and a well-resourced collection fosters high student achievement.
What resources are available to access in our School libraries? School libraries promote a love of literature. Our Libraries provide information in a variety of formats: •
author and illustrator workshops
•
LearnPaths
• • • • • •
eBooks and audio books through Sora and EBSCO graphics novels picture books
video via ClickView
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (through the class kit) Kookaberries – a digital learning hub
The school library is beneficial to students by promoting reading, researching and critical and creative thinking. This provides us the opportunity to see the ‘big picture’ of the School’s vision and be well versed in the pedagogy and curriculum needs of both teachers and students, which is our passion.
Read more on our website.
Reading and writing scores, regardless of demographics or socio-economic background, are consistently higher in schools where a school library and qualified Teacher Librarian is active. Learn Success 2021
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Fine wine, fine living Jane Maroulis (1997)
A L U M N I
Jane Maroulis and her husband, Daniel, are making headway with their successful and rapidly growing Hunter Valley wine label, Boydells. Jane’s hard work and commitment has led her to managing their vineyard and property, all while raising their four beautiful daughters. You can visit Jane and have a glass of wine (or two) at her new cellar door recently opened in Morpeth. Jane shares more about her work, accomplishments and her aspirations for future HVGS students. Tell us what you have been up to since leaving HVGS. After finishing school, I spent some time overseas before completing a Bachelor of Psychology and Social Work at The University of Sydney. Shortly after, I fell in love with a farmer and moved to rural NSW. That is where our love story began! Whilst in rural NSW, I worked in child protection. In 2014 I began working at a support service called Kids Out West after recognising that rural children in Out of Home Care did not have the same support services as their city counterparts. I remain the Director of Kids Out West today, and it employs approximately 70 staff and has assisted countless vulnerable children in the child protection system.
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Success 2021 Alumni
This is very challenging but extremely rewarding work which I am very passionate about. My husband Daniel and I, along with our four daughters, moved back to the Hunter in late 2015.
“Here, we realised our other dream – a love for farming and wine – and started our wine label Boydells after purchasing our dream property and vineyard in East Gresford.” It’s an idyllic place to raise our children, and it has been wonderful to be back in the Hunter, closer to family and old friends. It has been a tremendous amount of work to start a label from scratch and to produce high-quality fruit in some challenging seasons, but we have loved every step of the way. In 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, we opened our restaurant and cellar door in Morpeth. What a roller coaster this has been. We are always learning and pivoting, but most of all, we have been welcomed and supported by the local community.
If you could go back in time, what experience from school would you do differently and from the learnings, what advice would you share with your girls or a current student? If I could go back in time, I would take every opportunity that came my way. I am so impressed by all the co-curricular activities on offer to the students at HVGS.
“I would tell my girls, and current students to give everything a go, don’t be afraid of making a mistake. By trying all these different things, you get to meet a range of people, find hidden talents and passions and, equally but as necessary, find the things that you know you don’t want to pursue in life.” Have you continued with interests and passions you had at school, and if so, how have you developed on them in your adult life? Passions and interests evolve and develop with age and experience; however, it would be fair to say that I was a social person at school. So, in this respect, I have definitely continued this through Boydells and the ethos that it captures.
“My varied professional life between two very different sectors, resulted from an education that encourages critical thought and empowers women to be resilient, with a ‘have a go’ attitude.”
I think the experience of venturing out of the safety net of your local community, experiencing the world on a wider level, and all the different people you come across in the process, helps develop your interests as well as a sense of adventure, responsibility and respect for difference. Success 2021 Alumni
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A dancer’s
dream
Kate Ralph (2005) Kate Ralph has been dancing and performing for over 15 years. She successfully runs her own dance studio and in 2019 her hard work and dedication was recognised with the Forbes Business Award for Excellence in Social Enterprise. In 2022, Kate will graduate from the Royal Academy of Dance in London. Kate shares a little more about her passion for working hard and chasing one’s dreams. When did you start ballet?
A L U M N I
I started dancing when I was three years old and fell in love with ballet after seeing a poster of Darcy Bussell, a soloist in The Royal Ballet. I idolised her when I was younger. She is now the Royal Academy of Dance patron where I studied and, fingers crossed, will hand me my degree next year when I graduate in London! What is your biggest achievement since leaving school, and where has it led you? Since finishing at HVGS in 2005, having studied dance and completing the National Art School Intensive Program, I completed a double degree in Education and Fine Arts at The University of Newcastle (graduating in 2009). This led me to become a secondary visual arts teacher.
“I have continued to dance and have taught in many dance studios before opening my own, Elevate Dance Studio.”
In 2019, I was a finalist in the Forbes Business Awards for Excellence in Social Enterprise, Startup Superstar and Young Entrepreneur. I won the Excellence in Social Enterprise award and was a finalist at the NSW Business Chambers Regional Business Awards in 2019. In 2015, I studied in London as one of twelve international students accepted into the Royal Academy of Dance and undertook my Master in Education (Dance Teaching) Programme at the University of Bath. Hopefully, when things improve with COVID-19, I can go back over in 2022 to graduate. What’s your advice for people interested in pursuing a career in dance? There are many different avenues in the dance world. My advice is to finish your high school education because injuries can happen, and you then need to change your path. If you have finished school you could consider moving into other similar areas such as physiotherapy or teaching, for example.
“If you pursue the performance avenue, always take on feedback positively and practice with your whole heart. You can have beautiful technique, but your heart must be in it too! You will face rejection at times, but you need to keep positive and find an alternative path to follow your dream.” Read the full interview on our website
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Success 2021 Alumni
Creating a
bright future
Toby Dawson (2005) Toby Dawson has endured a lot. In 1999 he became a paraplegic just six weeks before starting high school, and in 2016 he was fortunate to have a lifesaving kidney transplant after being on dialysis.
What’s your advice for those who are interested in pursuing a career in aerial imagery?
Toby has a passion for helping others succeed and his resilience, courage, optimism and tenacity have led him to become a success in the world of aerial imagery.
My advice for those who are interested in any career is to make sure they are passionate about their career choice. It’s very difficult to do a job long term if you’re doing it for the wrong reasons. Try and find something that makes you happy, and you won’t feel like it’s a job.
You graduated in 2005, what have you been doing since leaving school?
What trait did you learn at school that has helped you succeed, grow and develop?
I completed a Bachelor of Information Technology at the University of Newcastle whilst working part-time. In 2011 I relocated to Sydney and joined IBM as a Graduate Account Manager working with clients, including Westpac and Qantas. I went on to manage the IBM Graduate Program, directly managing 50 university graduates.
Having real-world job experience is crucial to getting a professional job, not just a degree!
A L U M N I
In 2018 I joined Vocus Communications as an Enterprise Account Manager, and since April this year, I’ve been working as a Strategic Account Manager for an aerial imagery company, Nearmap.
Two of our key values here at HVGS are Courage and Optimism, can you provide examples of how have you displayed these values throughout your career?
Sometimes you must take a risk and push yourself outside your comfort zone. Twice I have now done this, and it’s paid off for me professionally, personally and financially. Why do you feel it’s important to live these values?
How can aerial maps assist organisations to make better decisions?
It’s been very easy over the past two years to feel a lack of optimism.
“Access to high quality, current aerial imagery is crucial to organisations, especially during a pandemic, as employees can access site information remotely. By reducing the need for site visits, it dramatically decreases the costs and risks.”
As we become more digital, we’re able to work in jobs we haven’t seen in the past. I think it’s important to remain
optimistic that there is a bright future for us all and the next 20 years is going to be such an exciting time to enter the workforce.
Read the full interview on our website
Success 2021 Alumni
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42 Norfolk Street Ashtonfield NSW 2323 PO Box 458 East Maitland NSW 2323 P: 02 4934 2444
E: communityrelations@hvgs.nsw.edu.au www.hvgs.nsw.edu.au
