Over the last few weeks, we have been excited to meet and work alongside this year’s Artist in Residence, Rosina Possingham. Rosina is a multi-disciplinary artist, designer and photographer who enjoyed working collaboratively with the Wilderness girls. The Creative Industries are very important in the Middle School, and girls in Year 7, 8 and 9 all participate in a range of Visual Art, Music, Drama, Media and Product Design. As part of their course, Year 9 Film and Animation students have been out on location this week filming around Adelaide with local filmmakers Tim Carlier and Sophie Morgan.

Getting the Middle School Moving

Year 9 Antholiza had staff and students alike up and moving in their recent Assembly. After explaining the wide-ranging benefits of physical exercise, they had the entire Middle School trying yoga stretches and dancing along in groups to the YMCA. With so many Middle School girls regularly participating in co-curricular sports, it is pleasing to know that they will gain so many physical and social health benefits.

Several Middle School girls have taken an extra step with their sports recently. We were delighted to see Year 7 girls Katarina Czechowicz, Zali Detmold Cox, Ruby Freemantle, Caitlin Hardin, Ella Meyer and Leila Thirlwell compete at Oakbank in the SAPSASA District Cross Country. As well as this, the Open Touch Football team with Bella Browning, Jasmine Thirlwell, Rose Newman and Sasha Hardin and the Year 8/9 Touch Football team who made it through to the Knockout Final. To read about their success, please refer to the Sport article.

A Busy Week in The Wilderness

Last week was a busy week, full of events, including the last few NAPLAN catch up tests and sixteen of our Year 7 and 9 girls competing in the Da Vinci Decathlon at St Peter’s Girls School. One of our most significant events was Founders Day on Thursday 20 May, remembering the Misses Brown sisters who founded the School with the values that we hold true today. It was a wonderful opportunity to see and hear from old scholars, recount their experiences as a Wildy girl, noting all the changes, but also to understand that some of our traditions remain just as important for us now.

Unique and Wonderful

Since returning from REALISE, our girls have taken the time the reflect on the wonderful opportunity they experienced. Here are some of their thoughts

“REALISE was such a great opportunity that all Wildy Year 9 girls get to enjoy. It is not just a camp it is an eye-opening experience that every girl will remember for the rest of her life. Our three-week journey was like no other and completely different to what we have ever done in the past. The program was jam-packed and provided us with activities that we might not have otherwise ever get to partake in. A few of the amazing activities included overnight rock-climbing, surfing and providing service at Meningie School.

Our favourite part of the whole program was the three-day kayaking expedition on the Coorong where we overcame challenges and obstacles using teamwork and collaboration. It taught us how to better care for the environment by leaving minimal trace travelling in national parks. We learned many new life skills within living in a cabin, this included cooking our own meals, cleaning and keeping a tidy cabin, we also created lifelong friendships and memories that we will cherish forever.” Isabella Abbott and Meredith Grice

“REALISE has made me most grateful for the opportunity I have to go to this school and to be on this camp. This is something so many people don't receive, and I have been able to go kayaking, rock climbing, abseiling, surfing and much more in the past three weeks which have been packed with events and memories I will never forget. I am grateful for this because it has really opened my eyes to so many things like indigenous culture and tradition, ethical and sustainable shopping, the beauty of the Coorong and how lucky I am to experience all of this.” Sonakshi Cooray

“At REALISE, I finished each day feeling accomplished, like I've achieved something good and done something hard. I don’t experience that feeling very often but REALISE has made me want to change the way I live at home, so that I am pushing myself to do surprising and new things and achieve that feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day.” Sophie Grice

Year 7 Female Scientist Meet and Greet

Last Friday, our Year 7 girls attended the 'Annual Pioneer Scientists Meeting of Minds High Tea' where they researched a famous female scientist from the past or present as part of their 'Women In Science' project and then dressed up as them to share their knowledge at high tea. We hope you enjoy this collection of commentary from the girls following their Meet and Greet activity.

"This quote is our motto, to let our hearts be true to who we are; as women, we can change the world. During Term 1, all Year 7 girls were told to choose a woman in science and research them. We were told to research their character strengths and what scientific discovery they made. Later, in Term 2, we were part of a meet and greet activity, which enabled us to dress up and impersonate their character. We met other girls and talked to each other about who we were in the science world, whilst drinking ice cool tea and yummy, delicious food!" Zoha Raza

"The past few weeks we have been learning about famous women in science and today we dressed up as our person of choice and had a high tea. We discussed our contribution to the world and whose work we added onto. We got our tea and talked about our accomplishments and how we weren’t always given credit for our own work. This helped us understand how women’s rights have evolved over the years and how privileged we are." Sophie Proudman

"To celebrate the incredible female scientists and their contributions to the world, on Friday, week 5, term 2, all Year 7's were invited to an ‘Annual Pioneer Scientists Meeting of Minds High Tea’ held at the Science Plaza. We dressed up as our chosen woman in science and in groups, shared highlights about the scientist and their importance. After learning more about female scientists, we started enjoying the iced tea that was available and the snacks. I enjoyed having the opportunity to acknowledge the amazing women in science, and it opened my eyes to the incredible thing women can do." Kaylie Yen

"Today we had a once in a lifetime experience to meet the best female scientists that have passed before us. As our Term 1 science project, we had to research and become a famous female scientist from the past or present. Meeting all these amazing scientists at a high tea as young adults helped us understand what society once was and what changes still need to come. Researching all these amazing women helped us understand that there is more to just men creating, researching, and being credited for the discoveries women make. Even today, women aren't getting credit for the amazing things they do. As I have experienced many great women in society, I want to be one. Grow up to help the world, make discoveries, help the injured and in need. I want to be one of those girls, and I know that I have every Wildy girl beside me because once a Wildy girl, always a Wildy girl." Lily Nicholls

"Over the past two terms in science, I have learned about the importance of extending and testing the work of scientists before us. It shows us how we could improve civilisation over the years by challenging past theories to create new and improved ones. I chose Katherine Johnson and found that if she were not calculating the Apollo 16 Mission 3, innocent lives would have been lost.
Doing this allows us to extend and create new learnings to build new technology, enhancing a happier and healthier society. It shows how we have continued to develop by analysing past things to use in our new technologies to see how other people thought how things could work.
It disgusts me to hear about the thousands of hard-working, independent women not being congratulated for their essential contributions over the years. I have loved to research the work they put into being who they wanted to be and how they showed independence doing what they thought and believed was right." Caitlin Hardin

"I've learned about so many scientists and their contribution to our world and how they have made some of the biggest changes in our society today over this topic in science. Overall, I loved learning about Rachel Carson and her contribution to the world about pesticides and her book Silent Springs.
It made me feel proud knowing that there are plenty of women in this world contributing and working hard to show that women can do the same as men. Seeing all the girls dress up as a famous woman in science made me feel like it's not all just men. This topic allowed us to show how many women did amazingly brave, smart, and courageous things and succeeded.
A challenge that I faced was finding out all the different scientific meanings of their jobs and their contributions." Willa MacLachlan

"This morning, all the Year 7's gathered together to share and connect with information about the female scientists we chose for our 'Women In Science' project. We got into small groups and shared the information we had collected on our data cards. By listening to each other and gaining knowledge from this experience, we learnt a lot about the scientists that the other students had chosen to research.
Learning about this project and having this opportunity today connected by learning about different women in science and explaining our thinking and data interpretation.
I learnt that climbing on the shoulders of the people that came before us helped us understand and obtain more knowledge about what we can do and what we can add more to in the future.
This experience can encourage and inspire young people and women to discover more and be recognised as important and appreciated." Annelise Vellaris

Spotlight on Systemic Racism

In Year 9 Artemis, we are studying systemic racism in Australia. To further our understanding of this topic, we were lucky enough to have Mr Dave Booth speak to the Year 9 girls about his experiences as an Aboriginal person. His explanation of how the loss of culture has occurred and the effect it has had on subsequent generations was both informative and moving. He explained his closeness to and appreciation of his late Mum and how she broke the cycle to ensure Dave and his siblings are rich in their culture. It truly is important to remember Australia’s past and educate ourselves. Dave made a lasting impact on all students present.

Lucy Lydeamore and Joanna Robinson
Year 9 Students

Year 7 Social Events

The following events are a great opportunity for the parents in our Year 7 community to connect, and Class Representative Sharee Redic looks forward to seeing you all there.  

Coffee Morning
Friday 11 June
8.30am
Coffee Institute
96 Walkerville Terrace, Walkerville

RSVP to Sharee Redic on 0407 722 660 or via email by Tuesday 8 June.

Dads Night
Friday 18 June
6.30pm
Little Bang Brewery
25 Henry Street, Stepney

Platters will be ordered for the evening at a cost of $10 per person with all drinks to be paid for individually.

RSVP to Sharee Redic on 0407 722 660 or via email by Thursday 3 June.
Please note to keep cash to a minimum on the night on receipt of your RSVP please pay the $10 into a nominated account.  Payment details to be sent separately.

Mums Night
Saturday 26 June
6.00pm
Part Time Lover
Pilgrim Lane, Adelaide City

$65 per person includes Feed Me option (catering to food allergies) with all drinks to be paid for individually.

RSVP to Sharee Redic on 0407 722 660 or via email by Friday 4 June.
Please note to keep cash to a minimum on the night on receipt of your RSVP please pay the $65 into a nominated account. Payment details to be sent separately.