I have enjoyed catching up with families at Learning Conferences across the School over the last 10 days. These meetings provide an excellent opportunity for parents and teachers to get to know the girls better as learners and I hope you have found them productive.

We are fortunate to have staff at Lowther Hall who genuinely enjoy teaching the girls and who are highly invested in their progress – I am sure that this was evident to you in your conversations. Taking up the opportunity to come and meet with a teacher, monitoring your daughter’s progress and her homework via the student planner, facilitating daily reading and ensuring homework time is device free are just some of the many ways that we appreciate your support as parents. Thank you! 

I also had the privilege of spending the first half of this week with the Year 7 girls and staff on camp. As usual, the girls threw themselves into the experience and enjoyed broadening their connections across the year level and challenging themselves in various activities. For some families, having their daughter go away on camp is very challenging and requires a great deal of trust. The personal growth for each student, however, is invaluable and often, when I sit with Year 12 students at the completion of their school journey, it is their camp and trip experiences which they identify as the most memorable and as having the most impact on them in terms of individual development. Next week I am looking forward to visiting the Year 4 girls (and their Year 8 mentors) on camp at Portsea, where I am sure I will see a similar level of enthusiasm and enjoyment amongst all participants. 

I would like to thank parents for putting their trust in the staff and for allowing and encouraging their daughters to embrace the camp experience. I would also like to acknowledge the fantastic work of teachers and other attending staff, who leave their own families and home commitments in order to support the students to have a memorable and positive experience during camp. We are very fortunate to be part of such a wonderful community!