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St Catherine’s News Autumn 2022
From the Chair of Council These results are testament to the strength of a St Catherine’s education, and the deliberate and considered approach St Catherine’s applies to educating, nurturing and empowering young women for their futures, from the moment they step through the Heyington Gates.
As a School we continue to celebrate the remarkable achievements of our students. In 2021, we had much to celebrate with the outstanding VCE results of our Class of 2021, placing St Catherine’s as the number one girls school in Victoria.
In our Early Learning Centre our youngest learners build lifelong thinking routines and social skills, connecting them to their learning and the world around them, developing a solid foundation to move into our Junior School, Barbreck, where our young girls discover their passions and talents, immersed in our Thinking Classrooms. This year, our Year 6 students will extend their knowledge in Mathematics,
Science, and English in preparation for the step into the Senior School, with our academic transition program. In our Senior School, students begin to sharpen their skills, extend their capabilities, and challenge themselves through intellectual endeavour and experiential learning. In 2022, our Year 9 students commence a new Humanities program that lifts their leadership, independence, and critical thinking skills through a yearlong Critical Conversations program. This Program forms a platform for students to move into St Catherine’s innovative Senior Years Learning Model in Years 10 and 11, empowering students in their learning, and preparing them for life post-school,
From the Principal Inspired by the words of singer-song writer, Natasha Bedingfield, our 2022 School Co-Captains, Angela Yu, and Madeline Powell, encouraged our younger cohorts to ‘Emerge’ from the COVID years stronger, smarter, and wiser, and to seize the opportunity by embracing the blank page of every day.
“Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something you own.” — MICHELLE OBAMA
“Today is where your book begins. Your book, your story for 2022. At the start of the year, we emerge into the unwritten, staring at the blank page before us with confidence and anticipation. No one else can speak the words on your lips. We all write our individual, unique stories. So, embrace the blank page that is 2022 with this in mind: follow your passions, express your opinions, be around people who make you happy, who lift you up.” As we embrace this post-pandemic period, the St Catherine’s story for every student begins the moment they walk through our
Heyington Gates; a time when they are encouraged to be courageous, to inquire, to question, to learn and contribute. This story tells of the shared passion for connecting, engaging, and participating, an opportunity for every student to create their own chapter. As we step forward this year, we celebrate the stories of the Class of 2021, and their outstanding VCE results that led to St Catherine’s being ranked the top performing girls school in Victoria. These extraordinary results were not achieved by one, single reason, rather a deliberate combination of factors summarised by two simple words: Academic Care. Throughout Term One of 2022, we continue to witness repeatedly, our model of academic care in action, and combined with a culture of participation, the story of every St Catherine’s student is written.
