PLC Parent Groups

Above: Gwen Leong, Wendy Southward, Catherine Zeng, Hui-Ling Yeo, Vajra De Silva, April Lim, Dawn Clements, Ling Browne, Dhakshi Ravishankar, Hilda Tirtadjaya

Above: Karen Yap, Dianna Xu, Rena Frederick, April Lim, Heather Newhook, Rev Nick Curtis

Hethersett members enjoyed their annual Christmas luncheon held on the Croquet Lawn in the Boarding House.

Hethersett Group

The PLC Christmas luncheon was organised by the Hethersett Group on 15 November 2019. 95 parents and staff from the Junior and Senior school attended and were treated to a candid and inspirational message from Old Collegian Penny Loorham (1986 ) who is the chief designer for the well-known Perri Cutten fashion label. The luncheon was served buffet style and lovely Christmas decorations adorned the marquee lawn.

A wonderful array of raffle prizes ensured many walked away with something in their hands and a broad grin across their face! It was a truly splendid way for parents and staff to celebrate the end of the year!

Hethersett warmly welcomes all parents and we would love for you to get involved. The main purpose of the group is to support the school in organizing events such as the athletics carnival, Harmony Day lunch, Mothers’ Day morning tea, Fathers’ Day breakfast, and the Christmas luncheon. These activities provide a fantastic opportunity for parents to meet with each other while contributing to the school. Contact plchethersett@plc.vic.edu.au

April Lim President

Prayer Group

The PLC Prayer Group continues to meet regularly. The Junior School’s meeting occurs every other Wednesday morning, during Week A. The Senior School meets every Thursday from 1.30 to 2.30pm. A broad range of people attend prayer group, including staff members (past and present), Old Collegians and parents. All are welcome – our oldest member is in her eighties!

The Prayer Group volunteered their services at the Christian Union (CU) BBQ launch in February. Girls had the opportunity to enjoy a sausage and drink, whilst listening to the CU captains as they explained the various activities lined up for the year.

The groups meet together to pray and to offer support to one another. We pray for the needs of the school, the staff and the welfare of students and families. More recently, there has also been a focus on the challenging issues facing our community, including the bushfires and coronavirus. We also receive confidential prayer requests from PLC families. We have seen many answered prayers. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve and impact on communities, cities and nations, we will continue to pray for PLC staff and students, families and others.

Friends of Music

Over 40 years ago, the Friends of Music School (FMS) was established in 1979 by Old Collegian, Mrs Lois Couzens, and “through informal concerts with well-known artists, were able to establish a bursary which is awarded each year to a girl in Year 7 for the duration of her music studies at PLC”. Over the years, the FMS has continued to support the musical endeavours of the girls at PLC by fundraising not just to provide a similar bursary to selected girls from Year 7 but also to contribute to the purchase of musical instruments such as grand pianos for use in both the Junior and Senior Schools. Recently, donations of drums and instruments have also been made to our sister school, Neno Girls’ School in Malawi. Our fundraising efforts have always encompassed a wonderful sense of community; at our last Music Roundabout in 2015, FMS raised over $20,000 through a combination of selling baked goods contributed by many parents of the music students and through various Silent Auction items - these included many handcrafted pieces by dedicated parents and family members, a private dinner party by one of our music teachers and even performances by the various string ensembles at the school. These funds contributed to the purchase of the Schimmel grand piano that was installed in the then newly minted Performing Arts Centre in 2016. Since then, FMS have hosted various other fundraising events, most notably, the inaugural Chamber Music High Tea in 2018, held again in 2019 by popular demand! In March 2020, our talented PLC music staff had graciously given up their time to plan a fundraising concert, The Feast of Music,

The Friends of Junior School (FJS) represents all the parents in Junior School. Its main aim is to engage and connect parents across all levels of Junior School, creating a warm and inclusive school community. The flagship events of FJS remain our extremely popular Mothers’ and Fathers’ Day Breakfasts in Betty Caldwell Hall, attended by more than 300 guests each. We also run bake stalls before and after the Easter and Nativity Services and the Junior School concert. Thanks to the generosity of our talented parent bakers in Junior School, we plan to run more bake sales in 2020 before the Caldwell and Winter Melodies concerts. Other events include sausage stalls for our daughters during House Athletics, the Swimming Carnival and Teddy Bear Picnic. During those events, we run a bake stall and a hot and cold beverage stand for attending parents.

FJS is a volunteering society. The funds raised are the bake stalls and raffle tickets at the parents’ breakfasts are donated to the school. The revenue is used in school projects that will benefit all our daughters. Previous projects included the giant blue foam blocks in the sports pavilion, the undulating seats and table next to the playground and the reading corner in the library. Parents volunteering as organizers work in harmony with the staff and teachers of the school to bring as many networking opportunities as possible to all parents.

We do encourage everybody to join us to help create a diverse and nurturing school environment in which our daughters grow. Contact: fjs@plc.vic.edu.au

Shamilla Ramessur Coordinator

also for the purpose of raising funds for the FMS bursary. Unfortunately, with the onset of the Covid-19 measures, the concert had to be cancelled. Ticket sales were refunded but we hope to be able to reschedule this fabulous concert when circumstances permit and look forward to reconnecting with the PLC community then. FMS is a fun and friendly parent group whose main aim is to support the Music Department at PLC and to promote the positive involvement in music by the students at PLC. Music is a vital part of the comprehensive education offered at PLC and assistance in this area offers much appreciated support to the school, the teachers’ and most importantly the girls. Your support can be as simple as serving refreshments during interval or baking a cake to contribute to our fundraising efforts. If your daughter participates in the many orchestras and ensembles, bands and choirs offered at

PLC, then we encourage you to become a member of FMS or at least be part of our volunteer network. Joining is easy, please leave your contact details with Kerith or Fiona at the Music School reception so we can add you to the mailing list and keep you informed as to what is happening within the PLC music community and how you can be involved.