French Film Festival Excursion

On Tuesday 28 March, the Year 8 French cohort had the opportunity to travel to the Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas. The benefit of this was to extend their knowledge and vocabulary of the French language by watching the private screening of Ride Above, as part of the annual French film festival.

The film is about a young girl named Zoé who dreams of becoming a jockey and forms a deep bond with a young horse. Zoé’s career is tragically disrupted when a storm approaches her home and her horse, by the name of Beautiful Intrigue, is frightened by the torrential events of it. This leads to the horse fatally paralysing Zoé due to shock, confining her to a wheelchair. Due to her disability, Zoé feels as though she has failed to fulfill her parents’ dream when she is ‘not’ able to ride lifelong.

To create movement in her body, her parents hire a physiotherapist to help her fully recover and gain strength. She takes up swimming and strongly struggles with internal self-negativity. However, with support from her family, she is able to succeed in a race and save her parents’ business.

Not only did this tear-jerking film help the students extend their French language, but it also taught them the important moral to never give up on their dreams. The students were able to pick up certain commonly used phrases in the movie that they could use in real life. It also gave them insight on the pronunciation of specific words and a look into the French culture.

Year 7 Enlighten Program

Please enjoy this report from Kaitlyn Vallat about the Year 7 Enlighten program on Wednesday 29 March:

Our Year 7 Enlighten program was spectacular. We were introduced to Emma, who shared many important challenges in her life and opened herself to us. In our first activity, we got a piece of paper and wrote down any worries, insecurities or concerns we had. Then we were able to rip, throw and squash the paper before it was put into a suitcase that would be taken away. The purpose was to visualise us eliminating anything negative in our lives. The paper activity certainly broke the ice and made us more comfortable with Emma.

Next, we were supplied with a notebook and decorations; working in small groups, we were able to design our own journal. We were given important symbols, such as crowns and butterflies that symbolised queens, princesses and growth. This was a fun way for us to express our creativity whilst also building our collaboration and social skills. The journal was to be used throughout the day and continued at home.

Emma talked about friendships and how it is okay if they change. She taught us ways to resolve friendship fights in a healthy way, which we recorded in our journal. In groups of seven, we passed our journals around; in every journal you received, you would write something nice about that person. This was a way of showing how much we value each other. Some girls got emotional at this stage, since there were some really heartfelt messages.

After watching a video about gratitude, we were told to write a letter to someone we are grateful for. I chose my cousin and wrote about how close we are and how we always have each other’s back. In the video, after writing their letter, they read it to the person, so we had the option to give the letter to our special person. Emma went through many ways that we could show gratitude and explained that people who show gratitude are often happier than those who don’t. We then did a meditation session to calm ourselves.

We talked about body image and how people photoshop photos to change their appearance. We were told that we should be comfortable in our own skin and that there is nothing we need to change. Emma then showed us a packing list containing important things such as food, a growth mindset and our beauty sleep.

Throughout the day, we were also given affirmation cards with a phrase to read aloud together. Affirmation cards encourage positive thoughts. To finish the day, we formed a circle and linked arms. We wore a purple bracelet with a crown and butterfly on our left wrist, then made a pledge together about all the things we learned. This was a really good way to end the day on a positive note and I am sure all of us will have an improved opinion of ourselves. Our Year 7 Enlighten program was a marvellous experience that I am sure none of us will forget. Thank you to Emma for making it such a fun day.

Community Service

Bella Pasin (Year 8) spent the long weekend volunteering at the Ukrainian cafe at WOMADelaide to raise money for the Ukrainian Crisis Appeal. What a worthy cause!

Year 7 Camp

During Weeks 5 and 6, the Year 7 students travelled to the Coorong for their Year 7 aquatics-themed Outdoor Education camp. Both staff and students were grateful that both weeks had mild weather conditions for students to enjoy and immerse themselves in the aquatic activities. The week consisted of developing many water-based skills through kayaking at Tintinara Lake, sailing with Meningie Sailing Club and surfing with Charlies Surf School at Robe. Students also spent a night at 42 Mile crossing, learning about a sense of place and the ecosystem and waterways of the Coorong environment. Throughout the week, students formed new relationships and strengthened existing ones with their Form groups and Form teacher.

Rosie Smith
Teacher of Outdoor Education

Class Representatives

We are pleased to confirm the following parents who have volunteered as the 2023 Class Representatives:

• Year 7 – Jen Guest (Saskia's mum), Joanna Lydeamore (Edie's mum) and Edwina Sutton (Beatrice's mum)
• Year 8 – Andrew Perry (Madeline's dad) and Polly Tembel (Margot's mum)
• Year 9 – Amir Raza (Zoha's dad) *We are still looking for one more parent volunteer!

Class Representative contact details are available on each class list located on SEQTA Engage. Please look out for invitations to events sent from them via email and in your year level WhatsApp groups. If you are not in the group and wish to be added, please contact the appropriate parents above.

Road Safety

A recent tragic event in a school zone has been extensively covered in the media. It is a reminder to us all to consider the safety of pedestrians around schools. We ask that girls and families cross the roads at the designated, monitored school crossings before and after school.

We ask all road users to obey the road rules and to be aware of their surroundings. One of the first lessons in a defensive driving course is to anticipate the mistakes of others and it is a valuable lesson for anyone using roads. Middle and Senior School Form teachers have been discussing this with their students throughout the week and we encourage you to continue the conversation at home to keep our community safe.