​This week, I have enjoyed sharing with staff and students some of my holiday adventures. This most recent break took me to Exmouth, a couple of flying hours north of Perth, where I enjoyed snorkelling and swimming with humpback whales. As a person who really only became a competent swimmer as an adult, jumping off the back of a boat into the ocean to encounter an enormous wild animal was daunting to say the least.

It is hard to believe we are already at the end of term – there has been so much packed into the last 8 weeks and now, here we are! I have taken great delight in seeing the girls throw themselves into their learning, a variety of activities, camps, sporting competitions and this week, the Annual Music Concert.

A highlight of my week was a visit to Bush Kinder with our youngest Blinkbonnie girls! Each Thursday during Term 4, the girls have headed out to an area of bushy parkland on the Maribyrnong River, where they have been able to explore an environment full of plants and animals which provoke all sorts of adventures!

As I write this week’s blog, I am sitting in my office decked out as a zebra from the final pages of Graeme Base’s beautifully illustrated book, Animalia, having just attended the Lowther Hall Literary Festival Assembly.

One of the great things about being away, is coming home. You return to the places and people that are familiar and dear, but (usually!) you come back enriched by whatever experiences you have had while you have been away.

Last Saturday I enjoyed reconnecting with Old Grammarians from the last 40 years as they celebrated their 10, 20, 25, 30 and 40 year reunions. These events always give me pause to reflect on the many ways in which the school has progressed and changed over that time.

This week Senior School students have voted for the Prefect Body of 2023, with election results announced on Friday afternoon. This process is one of many that reflects our school value: Respectful Relationships that give rise to everyone having a voice.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week all Lowther Hall staff came together for a time of professional learning and preparation for the return of the girls in Term 3.

It is not unusual to see a rainbow as you move around the Lowther Hall campus. The Noelene Horton Centre, where the girls in Raymond House and Senior School have their Science classes, was specifically designed so that at various points, the glass in the building would refract the light coming through and create rainbows on the walls and floors.

Today marks the beginning of Reconciliation Week and I was delighted to share celebrations with girls across the School today at both the Senior School and Raymond House assemblies.