As we head into the final week of Term 1, the girls have been busy completing assessment tasks and representing the School with pride in the co-curricular arena. I was proud of the way our senior teams performed in the annual Summer Intercol against Seymour College. While every team likes to win, it is how we respond in the face of defeat that is just as important. The sportsmanship, spirit, commitment, and grit shown by the Wilderness Teams when they came up against stronger Seymour teams spoke volumes.

Seymour is congratulated on winning the Overall Summer Intercol Trophy for 2021. Congratulations also go to all the Wilderness Touch Teams that had a clean sweep of the four Intercol games with an average winning margin of over 12 tries, including the Open A Team, who won 15 tries to 1.

Head of the River

Last Saturday, the 2021 Head of the River Regatta was held at West Lakes. All Wilderness crews performed strongly, with all but three crews placing in the top 4 of their A Division Finals.

The First VIII rowed superbly. They came from 4^th place with 700m to go and placed 2^nd, rowing through Walford Anglican School For Girls and Seymour College. This is the best performance by the Wilderness First VIII since 2006.

Round Square: Women of the World – Where do we stand?

On Wednesday 10 March, four Year 11 students took part in a Zoom Around the World with Round Square event, where they spent an hour exploring the current position of women and the evolving situation of gender inequity with their peers from schools around the world, including India, UAE, Japan, Armenia, and the USA.

It was interesting to hear so many perspectives and realise that we are all working towards the same goal, even though our starting points may differ. Here are some student reflections on the experience:

“I'm extremely privileged as a young woman in Australia, compared to other young women around the globe. Australia is in no way perfect, and we need to keep progressing as a society; however, I have many rights and freedoms compared to other young women.. I have never been prevented from achieving my goals because of my gender, which is not something all women in 2021 can say… It was awesome to see so many inspiring young people who are going to make incredible leaders in the future.” Evie Archer

“(It) was particularly meaningful listening to people from countries like India that still have severe period poverty, where many young girls are not able to go to school and are not allowed to go to places such as friend’s houses, temples or other sacred locations. I also found it interesting listening to people’s views about significant feminist figures, such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Emma Watson, and to see how much these women have influenced people’s lives... By talking with people from around the world, this session made it evident how lucky we are in Australia and at Wildy to be so much closer to gender equality, while also showing how much there is left to do in reaching gender equity, both locally and globally.” Inika Weber

Kicking Goals

Congratulations to Year 11 student Sachi Syme, who was selected to play her debut game for the Norwood Football Club in the SANFL Woman’s Football League on Saturday 20 March, against North Adelaide. Norwood had a strong win over the North Adelaide Roosters, winning by 22 points, with Sachi being named one of the Best Players for the game.

Debating Success

Year 10 student Devika Mukherjee has been selected for the 2021 South Australian Schools’ State Debating Squad. She will now undertake a rigorous training process in preparation for the National Schools’ Debating Championships, which will take place in Hobart in late May this year.

The Arts to Take Centre Stage

Next week the focus moves to the Arts. The girls are looking forward to the Music Focus Days for Choirs and Bands this weekend, followed by the ‘Grooves on the Green’ concert on Memorial Lawn next Wednesday 31 March at 5.00pm. Tickets are available here.

At assembly this week, we had a sneak preview of the Year 10 and 11 Drama Commedia Performance which will be held in the Newman Theatre on Tuesday 30 March at 6.00pm. Delightfully entertaining I encourage you to attend. Tickets are available here.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Parent Teacher Interviews for both the Middle and Senior School will take place at the beginning of Term 2. You will have the opportunity to book interviews on Monday 19 April from 2.00pm to 7.00pm and Tuesday 27 April from 3.45pm – 9.00pm. An email with information about how to log in and book will be sent next week.

Working With Children Check

From 1 July 2019, all persons (including students) aged 14 years and above are required to have a Working With Children Check (WWCC) in order to engage with children in prescribed situations.

If your daughter has not already applied for this check, we encourage her to do so. This will enable her to formally participate in sports coaching, community service work, work experience and a range of activities with our partner organisations (e.g. Sony Camp, Duke of Edinburgh etc) throughout her Senior years at Wilderness.

Click here to learn more about the application process.

The End of Term 1

A reminder that Term 1 will end at 1.05pm on Thursday 1 April after the Easter Service. Girls will be free to leave school at this time for the Term 1 Holidays. Please note that the Library will not be open in the afternoon.

Middle and Senior School Cross Country Carnival

Finally, we are looking forward to the Middle and Senior School Cross Country Carnival next term. This event will be held on Thursday 22 April at the Parklands. Please save the date in your diary as we welcome parents to attend. Details about the event can be found in the Sport section of this newsletter.