The Forest project

The Avoca Courtyard has always been a well-intentioned green space within the school yet has never truly realised its potential – it’s a little awkward and very much underutilised. Over the past decade, we have witnessed similar spaces in the school – the site of the old Tuckshop and original Loft and the tract of bitumen near the Breezeway – transformed into the Barley Sugar Garden and Toorak Gardens respectively. These now beautiful green spaces not only make an amazing difference to the aesthetics of the school’s landscape but provide outdoor learning and social green spaces for our students.

Preliminary Landscape Concept space is vital to the mental wellbeing, overall health and cognitive development of children and young people.

Thanks to the generosity of the St Margaret’s community in 2022, the wait is over for Avoca Courtyard’s magnificent makeover, with works soon to commence on ‘The Forest’, the first stage of the new cafeteria, to be located in this precinct. More than $220,000 donated to the Building Fund last year will assist with this stunning transformation, which will create a new cafeteria with a more functional green space and for students across both the primary and secondary schools to utilise during their lunch times.

Studies out of Japan spruik the benefits of the practice of shinrin-yoku which means ‘forest bath’. Forest bathing can reduce blood pressure, lower cortisol levels and improve concentration and memory, while phytoncides, a chemical released by trees and plants, boost the immune system. As more research highlighted the benefits of shinrin-yoku, the Japanese government even incorporated the practice into the country’s health program, and it is now emerging in western health practices (Sherwood 2019).

Research aside, we instinctively gravitate towards green space, whether to commune with nature, or to find a quiet and grounded space to journey inwards – to connect with ourselves, or our faith and spirituality.

The Forest project is still in the design and development stage; however, we are excited to share these first concepts of the outdoor component which will be constructed first. The design stage for the internal component of the cafeteria has also commenced and will be an important improvement for our students.

‘One of the greatest benefits of the work we are doing in preparation for a new cafeteria is that this amenity services both primary and secondary students,’ Principal Ros Curtis said.

We thank everyone who donated to the Building Fund in 2022 and welcome contributions to the Building Fund this year to support this significant project.

Reference:

Sherwood H 2019, ‘Getting back to nature: how forest bathing can make us feel better’, The Guardian, 8 June, accessed 12 November 2022 https://www.theguardian.com/ environment/2019/jun/08/forest-bathingjapanese-practice-in-west-wellbeing)

We were overwhelmed by the generosity of our community once again exceeding our Giving Day Bonus Goal!

We raised an extraordinary $328,977 during our 12-hour campaign to continue to deliver an outstanding educational experience to a generation of young women.

Donations to the Scholarship Fund supported our needs-based bursary program to help us provide a St Margaret’s education to some girls who thought such an opportunity would never exist for them. Those who supported the Building Fund will help us to develop The Forest and new cafeteria, which will benefit students in both primary and secondary schools. It truly was a whole community effort, and we thank you all for your wonderful support. It was an inspiring day seeing our whole community come together.

A special thank you to our Matching Donors who matched donations dollar for dollar right through to the completion of our Bonus Round.

Anonymous (2)

The Beard Family

The Burdon Family

Katrina and Andy Carrick

Keri Craig-Lee OAM (‘75)

Ros Curtis

The Dunning Family

Kaye (‘95), Anthony, Ava and Juliet Flynn

Stuart and Genevieve Fraser

The Kho Family

Cartier Lee (‘15)

The Lisle Family

The McDonnell Family

The Middlemis Family

The Sorbello Family

St Margaret’s Foundation Directors

St Margaret’s Old Girls’ Association

St Margaret’s P&F Association

St Margaret’s School Council Directors