What a start to Term 2!
It was a joy see our students enliven our campus when they returned last week. It was also exciting to launch the 2023-2025 Strategic Plan with our community, which builds on Walford’s legacy of providing an outstanding, forward-thinking education for girls and young women, in a close-knit environment of moral courage, deep care and appropriate challenge. On Monday 24 April, staff began work on planning the implementation of the four strategic pillars of Big Hearts, Bright Minds, Bespoke Pathways, and Bold Futures, so that we can support each student to achieve her best, her way.
We welcomed teachers Gabriel Azpilcueta, Wendy Dowd, Duncan Fairweather, Emma Gibson and Lauren Rulfs, and new Chef Manager Anthoney Bignell-Burge; and we farewelled staff member Hayley Youels who has taken up the role of Enrolments Registrar at St Dominic’s Priory College.
On Anzac Day I attended the Unley RSL Anzac Day Dawn Service, accompanied by Head of Senior School Ms Georgie West and our School Captains. Captain Lara read the Lord’s Prayer and was later joined by Vice Captain Ava to lay a wreath on behalf of the School. Last Thursday we were able to honour Anzac Day in a whole school service.
Congratulations to the Student Council who raised $2745.85 for the GO Foundation through their Lent Campaign. They are additionally asking for gold coin donations to see if they can top this amount up to over $3000, which would provide scholarships for the primary schooling of two Indigenous students.
My best wishes go to the 41 students and four staff attending Generations in Jazz to compete in the Division 2 competition this weekend, and to our Year 10s who are on camp next week.
I look forward to connecting with our community at various times during this term’s event-packed calendar.
Deborah Netolicky
Principal
SACE Drama Update
Congratulations to the SACE Drama class on the production of Angela Betzien’s play, Girl Who Cried Wolf. We look forward to seeing what you create for your devised performance coming up in Term 3.
Performance rights for Girl Who Cried Wolf are exclusively licensed by Yellow Creative Management 1/348 Darling St, Balmain, NSW, 2041, www.yellowcreativemanagement.com
Year 9 Playwriting and Performance, 8.1 Drama and 8.2 Drama invite you to attend their production of Fight With All Your Might The Zombies of Tonight by Matthew Whittet on 31 May in Helen Reid Hall.
Alex Tracks has noticed all the kids in her neighbourhood have started walking to the beat of the same drum. When she discovers the reason why, she must draw on the skills of her quirky friends to save her town. Fight With All Your Might The Zombies of Tonight is a light hearted play that celebrates diversity and reminds us that if we bravely use our voice to stand up for what is right, anything is possible.
“It is a tale of zombies and bullies, portals and magic mirrors, helpful wolves that yell instructions and evil cats that steel tongues,” (Narrator, Fight With All Your Might The Zombies of Tonight, p.15).
All tickets are $10 and can be purchased from Humanitix: https://events.humanitix.com/year-8-9-drama-performance-2023
What’s Coming Up in Drama in 2023?
If you haven’t already had a look at the season of work being presented by Walford Drama students in 2023, make sure you take a moment to watch the trailer and mark the dates in your diaries so don’t miss out.
As we continually review our communications as a school, we are moving towards using the Walford app as the one source of truth and information for our parent community. Newsletter items have been appearing both in the emailed Newsletter link, and on the ‘News’ section of the app.
This will be the last Newsletter emailed to our community. In future, parents will receive both News (Newsletter style items) and Notices (information specific to their groups, such as children’s year levels) through the app, on a rolling basis.
While the Walford app enables the school to send push notifications to your phone, the style and frequency of these notifications is up to you. For more information about how to configure your notifications preferences, see this helpdesk article.
The Junior School will additionally continue to use Seesaw for communications with families, which can also be accessed via the SeeSaw app. For more information on how to get this setup please see the Seesaw section under School Services within the Walford app.
We will additionally publish news and articles on the website on a News webpage, for community and public audiences.
We are thrilled to let you know that we will commence works on Stages 2 and 3 of The Heart of Walford, commencing in December 2023. Take a look at this video showing a preview of the new development, which will extend the internal oasis we are creating in our urban campus. We are most grateful to the Walford community, the Parent-Teacher Association, Walford Old Scholars’ Association and the Walford Foundation for their support of the Walford Giving Days which have contributed towards Stages 1 and 2 of The Heart of Walford.
The results of last term’s uniform survey are in. More than 70% of respondents think our academic uniform would benefit from review, and 60% of respondents think our sports uniform would benefit from review.
Aesthetics and practicality were the top two criteria valued by those who responded, reflected in one respondent’s comment that the uniform should be “stylish but practical”. Practicality was commented on as practical for washing, ironing and care, and also for activities such as play, movement, and to address sensory needs. One student commented that the uniform “could be more comfortable for girls that are all shapes and sizes, and more modern so girls don’t always have to sit with their legs crossed.” There were several suggestions made for options of shorts and culottes.
Lemon yellow shirts, PE shorts and itchy fabrics emerged through the survey comments as things respondent do not like about our uniform. Ties and tartan were divisive, with some in favour of these, and others not. The Walford crest and palette of Walford blues, including royal blue and pale blue, were commented on regularly as a positive aspect of the uniform.
Several people commented that they would prefer a ‘mix and match’ uniform that students could choose from regardless of term or season, allowing flexibility of student choice. Cost also came up, with the suggestion that a streamlined transeasonal wardrobe would allow parents to purchase fewer items. One parent commented that the uniform should be “a more modern reflection of what smartly dressed young women wear in everyday life” and another suggested that the uniform be “modern and empowering”.
Thank you to the 348 people who responded to the survey. These results mean that we will progress to a review of the school uniform. We will engage a supplier to work alongside us to review our uniform history and design possible options informed by tradition and ongoing community feedback. The process of design, prototyping and consultation will include the formation of a Uniform Review Committee and the use of focus groups to generate feedback along the way.
Our hope would be that a new uniform would be launched around Term 3 of 2024, with a staged rollout process for current students to begin from 2025.
Written by award winning composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice, this iconic musical follows Jesus’ betrayal and crucifixion as seen through the eyes of his disciple, Judas.
The story, told entirely through song, will be performed by senior students (Years 8 to 12), with fantastic choreography and an 11-piece live orchestra. Featuring all the classics including, “Superstar”, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” and “Gethsemane”, this arena-style performance will be a great night out!
When: Wednesday 7 June – Saturday 10 June
Time: 7pm – 9.30pm (approximately)
Where: Memorial Hall, St Peter’s College
Tickets: Adults $37.50, Concession (students, pension and concession card holders) $22.50
Book tickets here and support the performers from Walford Anglican School for Girls and St Peter’s College
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
Music by ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER
Lyrics by TIM RICE
TM© 1996 The Really Useful Group Limited
BY ARRANGEMENT WITH ORiGiN™ THEATRICAL ON BEHALF OF THE REALLY USEFUL GROUP LIMITED
Party. Gath. Gatho. Get together.
If your daughter isn’t attending these yet, she may well be in the future. Celebrating and spending time with friends is fun, and these social events are part of many of our lives. These events are more fun for parents when the teenagers socialising do so safely.
Centred around their harm minimisation approach, Encounter Youth delivered a considered and informative session on drug and alcohol safety for young people at Walford last week. Their key takeaway message to our daughters was: “Look after yourself. Look after your mates. It’s your choice”. The students were educated about the risks associated with alcohol consumption as well as e-cigarettes or vapes. The presenters also shared some statistics about alcohol consumption in young people, noting that healthy lifestyle trends have contributed to lowered consumption rates in adolescents, thus prompting use of the terms “your choice”, as many young people are choosing not to drink.
The seminar for Year 9 students, “Know your limits”, covered the developing identities of adolescents, the choices they may be faced with, and what actions to take if there is an emergency.
At the parent information session that evening, the following suggested actions for parents were discussed:
- Talk to your daughter. What is she worried about? What are you worried about? How can you work together to agree on an approach?
- Educate yourself. Again, talk to your daughter about what she knows about drugs, vapes and alcohol. What are the laws? What are the risks?
- Support your daughter to develop “graceful exits” to use in situations that may arise. What strategies can she use to keep safe and exit situations in which she feels uncomfortable?
Encounter Youth has some excellent parent resources, including a party safe checklist. These can be found at https://www.encounteryouth.com.au/parent-resources/ . Other useful resources for young people and parents can be located at https://adf.org.au/ .
If you have any concerns about your daughter or you need the support of the School, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your daughter’s Mentor or to me.
Alice Speirs
Acting Head of Middle School
Term 2 is well underway and we are all working very hard in our units of inquiry. The Junior School students are learning within many of the transdisciplinary themes this term, including Where we are in place and time, How the world works and Sharing the planet. It has been wonderful to see provocation tables in Years 1 and 2, experiencing an amazing Year 5 camp in Sovereign Hill and wonderful transdisciplinary links from our specialist areas.
This year we have been working as a Junior School to prepare the documentation for our International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme evaluation which will be occurring in Term 3. This will be a virtual visit from the IB over 3 days, 21 – 23 August and provides an important opportunity for us to showcase our learning in the ELC and Junior School, and to reflect on best practice within the framework.
As part of this process, I welcome Walford parents to join a small working party to discuss the IB PYP framework and its implementation in the Junior School. We will meet once this term – date and time to be confirmed. I would welcome anyone who is interested in being part of this conversation to join in.
Please send me an email if you would be willing to be part of this discussion.
As a Junior School staff, we have been working on further developing our assessment and reporting process, including digital portfolios and our semester reports. We will soon be consulting with the parent community to receive feedback about this.
Annabel Howard
PYP Coordinator
A Remarkable Woman and a Life-changing Scholarship
On Thursday 25 May, Walford Anglican School for Girls hosted an Evening with the Governor. Our special guests were Her Excellency, The Honourable Frances Adamson AC, Governor of South Australia, and her husband Mr Rod Bunten. In attendance were Mr Peter Hastings Chair of the Walford Council of Governors, members of the School Council, old scholars, parents, staff, friends of Walford, and Walford students.
In Walford’s 130th birthday year, we enjoyed welcoming Her Excellency back to her school. I am new to South Australia, having arrived here from Western Australia in January, and I have quickly become inspired by and, in fact, in awe of, Her Excellency – the Governor of South Australia, and a Walford old scholar who completed Year 12 at Walford in 1978, graduating as Science Dux and Vice-President of the Student Representative Council. Her Excellency’s mother, the Honourable Jennifer Cashmore, former South Australian Liberal MP, Minister for Tourism, and Minister for Health—was also a Walford old scholar only the third woman in the state to be elected to the House of Assembly.
Her Excellency was repeatedly ranked as one of South Australia’s most influential people before her appointment as the 36th Governor of South Australia. During her Bachelor of Economics, she was the University of Adelaide’s first female captain of the boat club in its 103-year history and went on to join the Commonwealth Department of Foreign Affairs. She worked as a Foreign Diplomat in Hong Kong, headed the Australian Commerce and Industry Office in Taipei, and later served as Australia’s Ambassador to China. Earlier in her career she served twice in the Australian High Commission in London. In 2016, Her Excellency was appointed Head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. She has also been International Adviser to the Prime Minister and Chief of Staff to the Foreign Minister and Defence Minister. She is clearly a remarkable woman, exemplary leader, and an inspiration.
I particularly admire Her Excellency’s service to international diplomacy and democracy; her commitment to excellence and equity in education for all; and her deep respect for Kaurna language, people and country, and other South Australian Aboriginal lands. In many of her roles she has been the first woman, a literal trail blazer who has created a path along which others might follow, or she has opened a door for the first time so that other women may later more easily walk through it. I think of our, and the kind of courage and truth it must take to forge such a career grounded in deep service, while also living a rich family life.
An Evening with the Governor included an Acknowledgement of Country by Junior School leader Phoebe, a brief video showcasing our school, and a superb violin solo by Annabelle (accompanied by Jamie Cock). Her Excellency addressed the audience, after which I was privileged to have an informal conversation with Her Excellency during which she answered questions from me and from the audience, including from students. The Governor spoke about her experience of the Coronation of His Majesty Charles III, and how Walford crossed her mind as she sat in Westminster Abbey; about the resonance of the Walford School motto, Virtute et Veritate (With Moral Courage and Truth), throughout her life and career; and about the importance of inclusion, social justice, and gender equity. It was interesting to hear about challenges she has faced, inspiration she has drawn, and that there is a distant family connection between Her Excellency’s family of Adamsons, and Lydia Adamson, the founding Principal of Walford. The Vote of Thanks was given by our School Captain Lara and Vice Captain Ava, who escorted Her Excellency and the official party to and from the event.
This event is one that reflects our School – while it was a formal and important occasion, it was also intimate, personal, and shared with our close-knit community. The buzz in the room after the event was testament to how energising it was for the audience to hear from Her Excellency. Our students, inspired, were flocking around the Governor to speak with and thank her during the reception that followed.
I was thrilled during the evening to announce, alongside Her Excellency, the establishment of a transformational scholarship. In this 130th year of our school, we are launching the establishment of a scholarship to which Her Excellency has generously offered her name: the Frances Adamson Scholarship. This scholarship—which has social justice, integrity and the empowerment of young women at its heart—will provide the dream of a Walford education, to courageous and compassionate young women, for whom this would otherwise not be possible. Applications will be invited from students who would not otherwise be able to attend Walford, including from students identifying as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, and of refugee status.
The scholarship will be open for applications in 2024 for commencement in 2025, for students entering the School in Years 9, 10 or 11. It is part of a suite of actions the School is taking as part of its Reconciliation Action Plan and the 2023-2025 Strategic Plan, focused on the strategic pillars of:
- Big Hearts: ensuring the wellbeing and belonging of all students in an inclusive diverse, connected community.
- Bright Minds: engaging all students through future-ready learning and teaching that inspires and empowers.
- Bespoke Pathways: enabling personalised excellence by supporting each student to achieve her best, her way.
- Bold Futures: ensured through opportunities to learn, lead, serve, and be the change we want to see in the world.
We will soon be able to share more details about this transformational scholarship, and how you might contribute. We are hoping to change some lives.
Dr Deborah Netolicky
Principal
Greetings to all Walford Mathematicians – that’s all of you in the Walford community!
I am so proud of our students and teachers for their passion, creativity and engaging approach to teaching, learning, activities, enrichment, care and support, which we do so well in Mathematics here at Walford. A fantastic example of this is having our very own Ms Joanne Maratos recognised in the Sunday Mail feature Australia’s Best Teachers – Congratulations Ms Maratos!
Thank-you to everyone who voted for the “Cake-ulator” entry in the Walford picnic cake competition. The standard of entries was incredibly high!
Warmest thanks to Christina Economos who purchased the Cake-ulator in the silent auction and then generously donated it back for the Walford staff to enjoy.
The following students are to be commended for their exceptional achievement in the Mathematical Association of South Australia Hamann School Mathematics Competition. This is a competition open to all
students in South Australia and is widely regarded as one of the most challenging competitions of the year. The following students will be presented with their awards at a special ceremony on 9th May. Congratulations!
| Student | MASA HSMC – Division | Award |
| Kate (Year 8) | Junior (Years 7&8) | Equal fifth place |
| Amanda (Year 8) | Junior (Years 7&8) | High Distinction |
| Madeline (Year 8) | Junior (Years 7&8) | High Distinction |
| Penny (Year 10) | Intermediate (Years 9&10) | High Distinction |
| Jingying (Year 11) | Senior (Years 11&12) | Distinction |
Catherine Quinn
Head of Mathematics
Emily Heading
Learning Leader; Health and Physical Education
During the past term in Science lessons the Year 5 students have been fortunate enough to have Ms Caruso lead us in some specific investigations and demonstrations that have highlighted the properties of light. The lessons are an important part of the Year 5 Australian Curriculum Physical Sciences, where we identify sources of light, recognise that light travels in a straight path and describes how shadows are formed and light can be reflected and refracted.
These lessons take place in the Ellen Benham Science Centre, so students have access and use of specialised equipment, under the guidance of Ms Caruso and Mrs Zirkel.
So far, the girls have investigated the physical science of light using ray boxes to see how light travels and is transmitted and reflected. Students also observed a demonstration using a Helium-Neon laser.
Our investigations will continue this term with the aim of designing and creating our own personalised lamp, using our knowledge of light and its properties.
Kathrin Zirkel (Year 5 Teacher)
Maria Caruso (Head of Science)
Stephen Rate
Year 10 Geography Teacher
Laela
Year 10 Student
The Year 8 Digital and Design Technologies classes have been researching different cultural good luck symbols from around the world. Their job was to design a cookie cutter that represented their chosen good luck symbol from around the world and create a cookie box for them to go in.
We trialled the cookie cutters with different types of cookie dough and found sugar cookies worked best for the detailed designs that they created. Here, Maddie, Harriet and Micaela are pictured with their final products!
Charlie Zammit
Year 8 Digital and Design Technologies Teacher
Revitalising Walford’s Early Learning Places and Spaces
It is with much anticipation that over the past six months the Walford Early Learning Centre’s outdoor play and learning spaces have been redesigned and rejuvenated. As part of these capital works projects, ELC Director Charmaine Brooks and her team have closely observed, listened to, and documented children’s play and interactions with the environment, alongside the opportunity to include parent consultation, throughout this reenergising process. This is certainly an exciting time moving forward for our Early Learning Centre, as part of the Walford community.
At the beginning of 2023, our outdoor learning spaces between our ELC buildings received a refreshing make over, to include purpose-built decking, natural grass and an extended sandpit, to better define the learning spaces and intentionally enhance the opportunities for zones of play and creativity.
This week we celebrate the opening of the play area at the front of the Walford ELC. This space has also been redeveloped to enable an enriched flow between indoor and outdoor play, alongside the priority of connecting our youngest learners with the natural world, throughout their early learning day.
This purpose-built space includes opportunities for gross and fine motor development, play, exploration, and collaboration. Educators carefully connect and provide scaffolding alongside young children’s play, in alignment with the Early Years Learning Framework and IB PYP conceptual Units of Inquiry, as these frameworks underpin the learning journeys that take place in our centre.
The Future of Learning Environments, Play, and a Renewed Sense of Flow
It is well researched and widely practiced, that human relationships engage and nurture early learners. Educators in early years settings undoubtably facilitate a sense of belonging and emotional security and this is experienced and felt deeply amongst our ELC and wider school community. Routines and rituals of the early learning day, emphasise self-regulation and encourage flexibility in thinking, as these will be the necessary foundations for later schooling and life.
It is equally important that we give emphasis to the physical environments in which young children explore and learn within – and increasingly, how children transition and move between these environments. We identify that play does not just happen – it is the way in which the spaces and learning provocations are designed, and the intentionality as to how materials and provocations are prepared, that will impact optimal learner engagement and enable educators to scaffold next steps for a personalised early learning experiences and enriched play.
The natural world and taking responsibility for a sustainable, natural world is becoming an increased focus of the practices in our Early Learning Centre. This provides a sense of calm and connection for young children; particularly as we navigate being part of busy households, increasing influenced by digitisation. Open-ended materials, manipulatives, attractive spaces, creativity, and imagination are prioritised and the removal of tasks with pre-determined end-products, are minimised. Carefully selected plantings have also been added, to enhance the visual and sensory appeal of our recently upgraded spaces and ELC children engage with the much-loved garden beds for their own short- and long-term projects.
As a professional learning community, our ELC educators are currently working on both streamlining and enhancing the documentation of the happenings and the rich conversations between educators and learners. This includes continuous feedback with families, showcasing the ways in which young children can competently express themselves using language, materials, images, and media, as they engage in our indoor and outdoor environments.
We are embarking on exciting times for early learning at Walford. As we continue to develop and work with our evolving learning spaces, the role of the educators and co-educators will also continue to evolve. There is renewed potential to draw on the strong relationships that are the foundation of our centre, as we further mentor our ELC children about their place in our learning environment, with strengthened intention, energy, and flow.
Mrs Kate Barber
Head of Junior School
Walford’s Early Learning Centre offers the childcare subsidy and is ideally located, near the Adelaide CBD, coastal suburbs and Adelaide Hills. We offer a rigorous early years program, with an emphasis on nurturing child-to-educator relationships and the opportunity for connections with natural world, in a predominantly urban setting. Playgroup is facilitated weekly, with an emphasis on connection, friendship and support for families.
Walford’s ELC offerings, include our 3-4 year-old program, with a minimum required enrolment of 2 days per week and our 4-5 year-old program, with a minimum required enrolment of 3 days per week. Both programs are closely connected with the Walford Junior School.
A Mid-Year Reception class is offered to girls beginning in Term 3 each year, who are continuing to Reception at school in the following year.
Extended before and after school hours are also offered, as part of the ELC, providing the opportunity of flexibility within a 7.30am – 6pm day.
