From the Principal

When I was young, I heard stories from my grandparents and parents about the amazing people who lived through the Great Depression.

They were a resilient bunch, with almost super-human responses in the stories I heard of incredible deprivation and survival.

Many of you know the stories. I am in awe of their fortitude. Were they just made of sterner stuff or were they just like us? I would like to think they were just like us, and they just lived in a time where they had to apply different skills. Stories I have heard centre around being resourceful and reliant on the support of family and friends. Perhaps nothing has changed, and in this pandemic, I have seen many examples of resourcefulness and resilience in our students and staff.

We are now into our third year of the pandemic and there have been fundamental shifts at St Margaret’s. Teaching and learning online is second nature to our students and staff, and although not the ideal choice, it is still one which we are able to do effectively and with success. Live streaming of events and information nights is a viable alternative, and individually packaged catering portions at our events are commonplace. We know that those who lived through the Depression were forever shaped by it, and, even to this day, we joke about ‘Depression mentality’. I wonder what pandemic mentality will be. How have the constraints of the past few years shaped us forever? It is difficult to say while we are still experiencing it, but what I do know, and I believe the content of this Flyer represents, is that St Margaret’s just ‘got on with it’ and have approached our calendar of events, our care of students, and our teaching and learning processes with a very positive pandemic mentality, in all cases guided by the philosophy of the Sisters of the Society of the Sacred Advent. The Sisters’ objectives for each of their schools is outlined in this philosophy, and at St Margaret’s, we ensure all activities and decisions are within the spirit and aims of these objectives. This means we do not waiver from our focus on the whole child, by ensuring that every opportunity has been still offered or reimagined in some way, and we will continue the focus on academic endeavour by avoiding compromise of the learning and teaching program. We continued our commitment to the liturgical life of the school and tried to inculcate courtesy towards and respect for each other. In other words, staying true to our Sisters’ philosophy has steered us through the past few years and will continue to do so. After all, we have 127 years of the Sisters’ influence in our DNA.

The Archbishop of Brisbane, the Most Reverend Dr Phillip Aspinall, prepares an annual message for students and staff in Anglican schools. Over the past few years, he has focused on community with the theme ‘Being Together’. Each year has a sub-theme. In 2022, it is ‘Embracing Joy’. I think that is something St Margaret’s is quite good at. So, this year, as we did last year, we are hanging onto the lyrics of that 1944 song by Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters – Ac-Cent, Tchu- Ate The Positive. The first four lines might be familiar to you and are a good reminder for the current times.

You’ve got to accentuate the positive Eliminate the negative Latch on to the affirmative Don’t mess with Mister In-Between

The next two lines of this song relate well to the theme ‘Embracing Joy’.

You’ve got to spread joy up to the maximum Bring gloom down to the minimum

You will see this approach alive and well in this edition of the Flyer. Thank you, Bing Crosby!

Ros Curtis

Principal BA(Hons), DipEd, MLitSt,MEd(Leadership and Management), ASDA, FACE, FACEL, FIML, GAICD