11 October was the International Day of the Girl, a date that we certainly are excited to recognise at Lowther Hall. Of course, being a girls’ school, every day at Lowther Hall is the day of the girl, but the date provides an opportunity to reflect on some of the benefits of being part of a girls’ school community.

Term 4 has started very positively, with the return of our Year 12 students to face to face classes and the start of the processes by which we recognise and farewell the class of 2021.

It was a wonderful start to Term 4 today with our annual Prep and Year 12 Gift Exchange ritual! Our Prep girls made flowers and video messages for each Year 12 student, who will in turn present cards and sunflower seeds to each Prep. This ceremony symbolises the growth we anticipate for each girl as she journeys through school at Lowther Hall.

Congratulations to our senior STEM team who have won 1st place in the online state finals of the Tournament of Minds competition! They proceed now to the national finals. Well done, girls!

​Congratulations to our Director of Physical Education and Sport, Mrs Vicki Hoban who has won the AFL Secondary School Ambassador Award for Victoria, in the Toyota AFL National Volunteer Awards!

Today marks the final day of term and we finished in our usual manner by gathering (virtually of course) all girls from Kindergarten to Year 12 for the end of term assembly. This is a special time for us to celebrate the fact that we are a Kindergarten to Year 12 community, all together on one campus, and I usually delight in watching the older girls respond to the young voices of the girls in Blinkbonnie House as they all sing the School Song together.

Despite the disappointing news that lockdown and as a result, remote learning, is to continue to the end of term, the publication of the 2021 National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results this week provided reassurance that the global COVID-19 pandemic has had no significant impact on students’ literacy and numeracy achievement at Lowther Hall.

​What a fantastic Lowther Literary Festival last week! Students across the School were visited (virtually) by authors and illustrators who delivered talks, workshops and Q&A’s.

Despite not being physically present, it has been a busy and exciting week at Lowther Hall. Staff and students alike have been buzzing with the excitement generated by the Lowther Literary Festival and we have been privileged to have a number of author visits and special events to inspire and foster a love of reading within our community.

On Monday 23 August, Samantha Ratnam, leader of the Victorian Greens Party, came in for a lunchtime Q&A session with the girls in alignment with the Prefects’ Term 3 focus of Environmental Awareness. Samantha is an avid advocate for the environment and social justice and her passion for these topics was inspiring and thought provoking for many of the girls who attended the session.