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2021 Term 1

  • Solving problems Kindy-style - What do you do when life doesn’t go to plan? Ms Bouterakos’s Kindergarten students have been learning all about problem-solving as part of their PYP Unit of Inquiry into Who we are.
  • A Little Bird Told Me - As the dawn chorus has filled the morning sky this term, our Kindergarten students have ventured outside, watching, observing and learning from nature as part of their latest PYP unit of inquiry into Sharing the Planet.
  • A new school year! - It may have been a bit of a soggy start to the new school year, but nothing could dampen the enthusiasm of our students as they arrived on campus this week. It was great to see so many happy faces!
  • A street-level view of Sydney - Our Year 10 Geography students visited Chippendale and Newtown last week to see if urban policy and development has helped to shape these areas in more human-centric ways.
  • Aesop’s Fables Year 1 style - What is a fable? Just ask Ms Christofa’s Year 1 students, who recently finished writing and creating their own fables, videoing their own dramatic performances for their peers to enjoy!
  • All hail our intrepid Bronze DOE students - During the holidays, 16 Bronze Duke of Edinburgh students headed out to Kangaroo Valley for a camping and canoeing adventure led by Year 8 Coordinator (Acting), Ms Robyn Waine.
  • And the ‘Woscar’ goes to… - The House Drama Competition is a perennial favourite of the first term at º«¹úAV. This year, in lieu of live performances in the Big Gym, we’ve introduced the inaugural º«¹úAV House Drama Short Film Festival.
  • Being Fashion Forward - If creativity is important to you, the fashion industry may be a great career option. So said three of our alumnae, when they spoke to students about their careers in fashion at our latest Twilights Insight session.
  • Beware Pad Thai that glitters - Not all Pad Thais are created equal. Just ask Ms Jalili’s Year 10 Food Technology students who have been road-testing some of the packet mixes, sauces, frozen meals and café-made Pad Thais on the market.
  • Blog: Be like Thor - On Tuesday, Nashara in Year 10 spoke to everyone at our Principal’s Assembly about the importance of keeping a positive mindset until the end of term, despite the challenges.
  • Blog: Be yourself! - Our School Captain, Georgia kicked off the first Assembly for Term 1 by urging everyone to channel their inner Tigger and ‘make the ordinary extraordinary’!
  • Blog: Brothers in Arms - This week, Caroline, one of the Debating Captains and Senior Cadet Leaders for 2020/2021 used the seminal Dire Straits song, Brothers in Arms to illustrate how she makes the ordinary, extraordinary!
  • Blog: Community Matters - Some things are obvious: don't be ignorant, don't be hateful, don't discriminate; be inclusive and show respect. These rules apply to us all. Mya (Year 12) points out why this is so important.
  • Blog: Confronting the Headlines - This week at our Principal’s Assembly, Jemima in Year 10 spoke about the never-ending cycle of bad news and how we can control our reaction to it.
  • Blog: Extraordinary Leadership - On Tuesday, our Senior School Student Leadership team for 2020/2021, Georgia, Charlie and Maddy gave their final speech at Senior School Assembly as the new Student Leadership Team for 2021/2022 was announced.
  • Blog: Holidays, Lockdown and Grimes - Amelie, one of our Vice Captains for 2021/2022, welcomed everyone back to Term 4, with her unique take on life, lockdown and holidays (and Grimes’ outfit at the Met Gala). Read on!
  • Blog: Remembrance Day - Lest We Forget - This week in our Principal’s Assembly, Eliza in Year 10 gave this powerful and moving speech about the meaning of Remembrance Day, explaining why it personally resonates with her.
  • Blog: Lest we forget - º«¹úAV marked Anzac Day with our Cadets laying a wreath at the Cenotaph and Year 11 students, Constance, Bella and Kate, speaking movingly at Assembly about the contribution of the Royal Australian Air Force.
  • Blog: Life without a theme - This week, Karoy (Year 11), one of our Community and Service-Learning Captains for 2021/2022 spoke to us at our Principal’s Assembly about embracing the freedom to be who she wants to be!
  • Blog: Make it extraordinary! - This week in our Principal’s Assembly, Charlie, one of our Vice Captains for 2020/2021, spoke about some of the opportunities she has taken to push herself outside her comfort zone.
  • Blog: My everyday hero - Often it is the day-to-day heroes in our lives that inspire us. As Molly (Year 12) explained in our Principal’s Assembly this week, sometimes we don’t appreciate their legacy at the time.
  • Blog: Own Your Story - Albus Dumbledore was a wise protector and mentor for Harry Potter. But as our School Captain, Emily reminds us, he also knew the value of making good choices!
  • Blog: Own your strengths - Sometimes, as in the case of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, your biggest strength can be something you’ve overlooked, says Astrid, one of º«¹úAV’s Wellbeing Captains for 2020/2021.
  • Blog: Shout out to the Cohort - At Assembly this week, Jes, one of the º«¹úAV Service and Community Captains for 2020/2021, gave a rap about the importance of a cohort in making the º«¹úAV experience extraordinary.
  • Blog: Time waits for nobody, even Alex - This week, Alex, one of our Community and Service Captains for 2021/2022, talks about the notion of time… which has proved somewhat elusive to her in the past.
  • Blog: What’s Up º«¹úAV - This week at our Principal’s Assembly, our new Student Leadership Team for 2021/2022, Emily, Amelie and Kate, launched their new Prefect initiative: What’s Up º«¹úAV.
  • Celebrating our Women of Spirit - In what was a joyous occasion, the º«¹úAV Alumnae Association held the 11th Women of Spirit Breakfast at Luna Park last Friday, with Professor Jane McAdam (1992PY) as guest speaker.
  • Celebrating The International Day of the Girl - This week, º«¹úAV marked the International Day of the Girl Child with an inspirational presentation by Lexi, Karoy, Alex and Ruby.
  • Conquering da Vinci Decathlon 2021 - Students from Year 5 to Year 9 recently competed in the 2021 virtual da Vinci Decathlon, using their creativity and intellect to tackle this challenging competition, run in the spirit of an Olympic Decathlon.
  • Cultivating empathy: Year 2 - Empathy lies at the heart of what it means to be human, as Ms Peck’s Year 2 students are discovering in their first PYP Unit of Inquiry for 2021, Who We Are.
  • Defending º«¹úAV from COVID Zombies! - The threat of a COVID Zombie apocalypse was enough to inspire Dr Thompson’s Year 10 STEMinists to build catapults capable of defending themselves and their fellow students!
  • Doing School º«¹úAVly - For Ms Peck’s Year 2 students, it’s been fascinating to see how different communities around the globe do school, how education in Australia has changed over time, and how º«¹úAV itself has changed too.
  • Dr Andrew Yip talks Ancient History - Last week, History Teacher, Mr Hollis invited Dr Andrew Yip to give a lecture to our Year 11 Ancient History students about his work in historical exploration, excavation and vital restoration projects.
  • Everybody Dance Now! - So, Mr Fares, you think you can dance, said Year 2. Yes, said º«¹úAV’s Head of Dance when he came to talk to Ms Peck’s students about why dance is his chosen form of self-expression.
  • Face Your Fears - For Abbey in Year 11, determination and letting go of fear have helped her to overcome challenges in life. That and watching J.K. Rowling’s powerful graduation speech at Havard University.
  • Finger food with flair - Forget fancy canapés and hors d’oeuvres! When you want a bite-sized morsel to serve up at a function, look no further than our Year 10 Food Technology students’ Moroccan Lamb Cigars.
  • For the love of books - On Friday we celebrated Book Week Activity Day, with our Library staff bringing º«¹úAV’s rich connections with reading to life through author visits, writing competitions and a dress up parade.
  • Giving History a Voice - Our Year 10 History students had a moving incursion via Zoom with the Sydney Jewish Museum this week, where they gained insight into Holocaust history from a deeply personal perspective.
  • Happy 135th Birthday º«¹úAV! - On the last day of Term 2, the º«¹úAV community came together for Foundation Day to mark the School’s 135th birthday, made extra special with a heartfelt speech from alumna, Emily Scott (2009PY).
  • Help write each other’s story - For Maddie in Year 11, lockdown has been a time to reflect on who matters in her life and why. It’s made her realise how lucky she is to be surrounded by family and friends who value her for who she is.
  • Hola from º«¹úAV to Mexico - A chance reconnection with one of Ms Varela’s old school friends in Mexico led to our Year 8 Spanish students having a conversation in Spanish with 12 Mexican students via Zoom.
  • Hola from Year 10 to Woodstock - This term, Ms Varela and Mr Miller challenged their Year 10 Spanish students to create a bilingual picture book for – and about ¬– a student (K to 2) with whom they’d been paired.
  • Hooke Face Mask Fundraiser - They’ve become part of our everyday routines, so Hooke House has come up with a fantastic – and very timely – fundraising initiative for the Kids Cancer Centre, with custom-designed, House-themed face masks.
  • It’s A Bug’s Life for Year 4 - Sir David Attenborough would be proud of our Year 4 students, as they excitedly explored the gardens of the School campus last week, as part of their latest PYP Unit of Inquiry into How the World Works.
  • It’s All About Me - Last week, Kindergarten were VERY excited to present their ‘All about me’ bags to the rest of their peers in Woodstock. But the most exciting bit? When Dr Scott came to visit and told them all about her!
  • IWD: We choose to challenge - To celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) this week, students found different ways to ‘Choose to challenge’, including an IWD lunch with Grace Tame, speaking at Assembly and selling IWD ribbons.
  • Junior School Retreat Days - For many of our Junior School students, the past week has been an opportunity to recharge minds, body and soul, with a 2-Day Retreat for Year 3 and Year 4, and a Kindergarten to Year 2 Retreat Day.
  • Junior School Swimming Carnival - There’s nothing like the sheer joy of a º«¹úAV Carnival and this year’s Junior School Swimming Carnival was no exception. It was a joyous cacophony of colour, camaraderie, and great swimming!
  • Justice is served for Year 12 - Ms Isbel’s Year 12 Legal Studies students have been exploring the complexities of bail. As they’ve discovered, there are lots of grey areas to consider when it comes to an application.
  • Language skills flourish - There’s a reason that Spanish is growing in popularity as a language and that’s partly down to its cultural appeal – music, movies, food and dance! It’s prompted our Year 10 Spanish students to hone their speaking skills.
  • Languages Day at º«¹úAV - Last Friday was Languages Day for Year 8 and a chance to participate in lots of fun, intercultural activities while experiencing different cultures and practising their language skills.
  • Let’s talk Media, Fashion and PR - Our latest Twilight Alumnae Insights session was a fascinating window into the world of media, fashion and public relations, with lots of great advice for our students as they prepare for life beyond º«¹úAV.
  • May the Force be with Year 2 - Year 2 have unleashed their scientific creativity in their latest PYP unit of inquiry into How the World Works, looking at the central idea: understanding forces can aid us in creating useful products.
  • Meeting The Happiest Man on Earth - For Year 10, meeting Holocaust survivor Eddie Jaku at the Sydney Jewish Museum this week was inspirational. Despite the horrors of Auschwitz, he told them he’s the happiest man on Earth.
  • Molly makes a difference - This term, Molly (Year 12) received the 2020 º«¹úAV Alumnae Spirit Award for her outstanding fundraising efforts in support of last summer’s bushfires and the Black Lives Matter movement.
  • Nurturing tomorrow’s leaders - Next year, our Year 5 students will be the leaders of Junior School. This week, they attended a leadership workshop facilitated by the team from Unleashing Personal Potential (UPP).
  • Oh, the stories we tell! - Over the last term, Kindergarten have been working on the PYP unit of inquiry ‘How We Express Ourselves’, exploring the central idea ‘Stories can be told in many ways for different reasons’.
  • Operation Jersey Drop Off - Our Junior School and Year 6 parents have been keeping a big secret. This week, all was revealed with a secret mission to deliver the Year 6 jerseys in time for students to receive them at our Principal’s Assembly on Tuesday!
  • Own your voice - If you find it difficult to speak up, you’re not alone, says Alexis in Year 11. Even if you feel your ideas aren’t worthy or you will be judged, you can get better by changing your mindset.
  • Pink Lady Socks save lives - PDHPE Teacher, Ms Chrissie GrÏ‹n was in Year 6 when her mum died of breast cancer. Last Saturday, she organised for every girl representing º«¹úAV at sport to wear Pink Lady socks in support of the PLAY4BCNA campaign.
  • Project Inertia Workshop - Last Friday our Year 9 Visual Arts and Photography and Digital Media students attended a fantastic all-day immersive workshop with Australian contemporary artist, Janet Tavener.
  • Psychology: Olympics Unleashed - What does it take to be an Olympian? As former Olympic rower, Tom Laurich told our Year 10 Psychology students on Friday, it takes years of training and determination with no guarantees!
  • Reading the Menu at the Genre Café - Fancy flowers. Tablecloths. A menu to serve all tastes. And a highly knowledgeable Maître d' (Librarian Teacher Ms Porter). What’s not to love about the Junior School’s Genre Café!
  • Roll on Year 9 PASS - Lawn bowls has a reputation for being a genteel sport, generally played by older people clad in white. However, as our Year 9 PASS students demonstrated, lawn bowls is how the youth of today roll!
  • Science Week: Mad Scientists Unite - We may have been on lockdown during Science Week, but thanks to our Science Department, we didn’t have to put our pursuit of knowledge on hold, with lots of fun, daily challenges and even a Mad Scientist Dress Up Day.
  • Senior College’s Law and Order Incursion - It’s not every day that our Year 11 and Year 12 Legal Studies students get to meet three titans of the Law, but last week they met the former Director of Public Prosecutions, a Supreme Court Judge and a leading barrister.
  • Sisterly Bonds - One of the most popular articles from last year’s Ut Prosim magazine featured two alumnae, sisters, Audrey and Daphne Raymond. We recently caught up with Daphne to see how she was faring.
  • Stitching º«¹úAV’s family tree - Our Junior School has been busy making bunting that represents each girl’s family tree. Every triangle will form part of a Junior School Family Tree Bunting to be exhibited at the School.
  • Student Blog: Caring for one another - On Tuesday, Amelie, one of our new Vice Captains for 2021/2022, spoke at the Principal’s Assembly about the importance of caring for friends and finding new ways to occupy ourselves.
  • Student Blog: Flatten the FOMO curve - This week, Kate, our second Vice Captain for 2021/2022, introduced a novel concept at our Principal’s Assembly. How about we focus on the positives in our lives and stop with the FOMO!
  • Student Blog: Stay strong º«¹úAV - In this week’s Principal’s Assembly, Emily, our new School Captain for 2021/2022, urged the º«¹úAV community to be resilient and to stay active.
  • Blog: The Wisdom of Wikihow - Maddy, one of º«¹úAV’s School Vice Captains for 2020/2021, spoke at our Principal’s Assembly this week about the wisdom of Wikihow, and how it can help to bring this year’s Prefect initiative to life.
  • Sustainability Champions - Sustainability is high on the agenda for Ms Peck’s Year 2 students. For their Sharing the Planet unit of inquiry, they’re exploring the central idea: We are responsible for sharing and sustaining Earth’s resources.
  • Swim Squads with a difference - What to do when you’re Head Swim Coach and you can’t physically train your squad on site? Well, Mr Creighton devised some very creative solutions to the challenges of lockdown. Read on!
  • Swimmers make a splash at CIS - º«¹úAV competed in the CIS Swimming Championships at Homebush this week. Head Swim Coach, Mr Michael Creighton was there to cheer on the students, who all performed incredibly well.
  • Take the path less travelled - As Amelia in Year 11 knows, the different plot points of our lives are part of our narrative and shape who we are as people. Don’t worry about having it all worked out, but just enjoy the journey!
  • Tempus Fugit for Year 1 - Time, as Einstein once showed us, is a tricky concept to nail down. So, Ms Christofa’s Year 1 students donned their thinking caps and came up with sophisticated solutions to measure it.
  • The Adventures of Year 5 - Fields. Horses. Abseiling. Bushwalks. Mountain biking. Cabins. Kangaroos. Canoes. For our Year 5 students, this year’s camp at Attunga had it all. It was three days of fresh air and adventure.
  • The Art of speaking up: Festival of Speech - º«¹úAV’s entrants to the Festival of Speech made an overwhelmingly positive impression with their critical thinking, presentation and oratory skills last weekend.
  • The Joys of Teaching - Director of Student Opportunity and Career Education, Ms McFetridge recently hosted the fifth of º«¹úAV’s extremely popular Alumnae Twilight Insights sessions, this time featuring three Wenonians who have gone on to become teachers.
  • The Joys of Virtual Camp - What to do when you can’t go off on camp because you’re on lockdown? Have a virtual camp that’s what! And our Year 3 and Year 4 students loved every minute of it, pitching tents and cubbies inside and out!
  • The Players thrill º«¹úAV - This week, Bell Shakespeare’s The Players returned for 2021 with two of their most popular shows visiting º«¹úAV, bringing dynamic, entertaining and enriching Shakespeare performances to our Year 8 and Year 9 English students.
  • The Psychology of Younger Siblings - Ms Wenlock’s Year 9 Psychology students have been studying Child Psychology, using their younger siblings to test out the theories of renown Swiss clinical psychologist, Jean Piaget.
  • Time & Space: Dads and Daughters - Last week, our Year 8 dads had an opportunity to come together with their daughters at a seminar facilitated by Bill Jennings, which highlighted the important role they play in each other’s lives.
  • Tomb Explorer: Year 7 History-style - On Monday, º«¹úAV went all Indiana Jones with a visit from the History and Archaeology Department at Macquarie University, teaching Year 7 History students all about the fascinating civilisation that was ancient Egypt.
  • Toy Story - As Kindergarten will tell you, kids have always loved toys. They’ve been researching How The World Works, looking at the central idea: Toys allow us to explore and understand our world.
  • We believe we can fly - There are no such thing as ‘boys’ toys’. Just ask the members of º«¹úAV’s Drone Club, who along with our Robotics Club, are reaching for the skies when it comes to technology!
  • º«¹úAV at MUNA - António Guterres would have been very proud of our students last weekend, as they headed off to Epping Boys High to compete in the Model United Nations Assembly (MUNA).
  • º«¹úAV Boarders’ Amazing Race - Boarders enjoyed a fun first weekend back with a Brushes and Burgers Night, a collaborative meal – from shopping to cooking, everyone helped – and finished off with an Amazing Race.
  • º«¹úAV turns Green and Gold - Today, º«¹úAV turned Green and Gold, with everyone from Dr Scott to our students dressing up in support of the Australian Olympic Committee initiative to cheer on the Australian Olympic Team in Tokyo.
  • º«¹úAV’s Music Instrumental Weekend - How incredible it was to hear instruments playing all over º«¹úAV last weekend, as students in Year 3 to Year 12 were able to come together and make music for the first time in over a year.
  • When º«¹úAV met Yashiro - Last week, Dr Thompson’s Year 10 STEM students had an opportunity to talk to students at Yashiro High School in Nagano, Japan about their respective schools, cultures, and their STEM-related research.
  • Winangali inspires Year 4 - As part of their latest PYP unit of inquiry, Year 4 attended Winangali, a hands-on and thought-providing Indigenous Australian workshop at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
  • Year 10 market their wares - Running a small business is a lot harder than it looks. Just ask our Year 10 Commerce students, who have been putting their classroom theory into practice by launching a business and selling their wares at Market Day.
  • Year 10 take on the sausage roll - Last week, Ms Jalili’s Year 10 Food Technology students took on the culinary challenge of creating the perfect meat-free sausage roll. They were so good, even the carnivores loved them!
  • Year 11’s Art and Soul - In uncertain times like these, putting the creative lens on our surroundings is a great way of keeping our spirits alive and our feelings united, as Ms Sinclair and Ms Carson’s Year 11 students have discovered.
  • Year 3 create an ecosystem - Last term, Year 3 conducted an ‘ecosystem in a bottle’ experiment to find out what living things need to survive. They were very excited to return to School this week to see if anything had grown.
  • Year 3 hold out for a hero - We all need someone we look up to, a fact our Year 3 students highlighted to their parents this week when they presented their role model of choice at the Snapshot into Learning exhibition.
  • Year 3 Save the Planet - When it comes to living more sustainably, it’s not governments that are leading the charge – it’s our young people! And this term, Year 3 are exploring different ways we can be kinder to the planet.
  • Year 5 pitch to NASA - When Year 5 received a letter from NASA this week, informing them that a planet would be eliminated from the Solar System, they had to mount a persuasive argument to protect their chosen planet!
  • Year 5 Poetry Winners - Three of Mrs Burkett’s Year 5 students entered a poetry competition, were listed as finalists and now their poems are being included in a poetry book. You can read Emma, Sienna and Cassie’s poems here.
  • Year 5’s Australian Museum - This term, our Year 5 students have been delving back into Australian history, exploring the people, ideas and products that have helped to shape our history and change our society in different ways.
  • Year 6 explore systems - Last week, Year 6 compared the leaderships qualities of people like Donald Trump, the Queen and Quentin Bryce, as part of their latest PYP unit of inquiry into How We Organise Ourselves.
  • Year 6 slow down fast fashion - As part of their latest Unit of Inquiry, Year 6 have been exploring the negative impacts of fast fashion, researching how the industry can move towards a more sustainable, ethical future.
  • Year 8 Geography visit Warragamba Dam - There was water, water everywhere for our Year 8 Geography students as they visited the spectacular Warragamba Dam as part of their studies into Water in the World.
  • Year 8 play Game of Thrones - Last week, º«¹úAV’s Year 8 History students journeyed back in time to the Middle Ages, with a fun, hands-on incursion, with lots of opportunities to wield swords, lances and longbows.
  • Year 8 pop and lock for PDHPE Day - On Wednesday, our Year 8 students enjoyed an action-packed PDHPE Day focusing on healthy bodies and healthy minds, with aqua aerobics, hip hop, cardio, cooking and more.
  • Year 8 recreate the Bayeux Tapestry - It could be described as one of the world’s first comic strips. The 70-metre-long Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered retelling of the Norman invasion of 1066. And now our Year 8 History students have recreated it.
  • Year 8 Science tackle the Final Frontier - Our Year 8 Science students recently attended a fascinating seminar with Annie Handmer, a PhD student who is researching Australia’s space science projects. It sparked some big questions.
  • Year 9 ‘entrenched’ in WW1 - As our Year 9 History students discovered last week, life in the trenches during World War 1 was a nightmarish test of human endurance as soldiers battled death in appalling conditions.
  • Year 9 discover a whole new ball game - As part of their latest unit, Technology, Participation and Performance, Ms McFetridge’s Year 9 PASS students were excited to discover all sorts of old family sporting equipment and clothing.
  • Year 9’s Midsummer Night’s Dream - There was woodland wooing, ricocheting relationships and impish merrymaking aplenty when our Year 9 Drama students directed their very own productions of Shakespeare’s comedy.
  • Year 9’s Philosophy Fridays - I think, therefore I am. As René Descartes knew, philosophy has always steered humanity’s curiosity and Mr Rigg’s Year 9 Philosophy students are proof that no question is too big or small for them to ponder.