TERM 4 - WEEK 4 NOVEMBER 2020

Time flies faster than a weaver’s shuttle.

Visit the Parent Portal to edit your profile, view the calendar and view parent notices.

Have you ever felt anxious? Has your daughter? Has that anxiety consumed your daughter so much so that she has become almost paralysed – she feels that she just can’t move; or she can’t do the task; or she can’t go to …; she just can’t do anything; especially the thing about which she is anxious?

At Abbotsleigh we have a well-developed Wellbeing program that aims to equip our girls with the essential lifelong skills needed for learning and flourishing. Together with our Wellbeing Framework and our Tutor and PDHPE programs, one of the strategies we employ to help build the wellbeing skillset for the girls is to engage high calibre ‘wellbeing’ speakers and organisations to present to the students.  

We also aim to equip parents with solid, evidence-based information to ensure that there is a shared understanding and a shared language between school and parents. To this end, we are also committed to providing wellbeing education, for our parent community.  

On Monday evening this week, the APA hosted guest speaker, psychologist and author Karen Young, to help us navigate what has become a big issue in our 21st century world. The information Karen shared was steeped in research, experience and tremendous expertise, and one of the first things she did was to dispel the myth that anxiety is a 21st century issue – actually, it is a human issue that has been around as long as humans have lived on this earth. She also dispelled the myth that if a child is anxious – it is the parents’ fault! 

The

ShuttleFROM THE HEADMISTRESS

Let’s Celebrate: Our Stories, Our Spirit, Our StrengthLook Up – Look OutMrs Megan Krimmer Headmistress

IN THIS ISSUE

Headmistress

Chaplain

Community

Junior School

Senior School

As Karen Young states: “Anxiety is a really normal human experience. Sometimes it can become too big, and when children get caught in the tail whip of anxiety, it can swipe their belief in themselves, their engagement with the world, and the glistening unfolding of their potential – but it doesn’t have to be this way.” Source: Hey Sigmund blog

Throughout her talk, Karen consistently demonstrated that our children are strong, creative, intelligent and brave. When in the grip of anxiety, it is strength and courage that we need to help them turn to. It was so helpful to learn strategies that can help us assist our girls.

“Anxiety is manageable, and any important adult in the life of a child has a profound capacity to strengthen children and teens against anxiety and towards courage and resilience. With all anxiety, comes opportunities to strengthen children and teens with a mindset, skills and qualities that will lead them towards deeply fulfilling, brave, and whole-hearted living.” Source: Hey Sigmund blog

In helping our children, Karen emphasised that avoidance is the number one thing that we must avoid! If we allow our child to avoid the situation/event/task that is causing them to feel anxious, the fear of that ‘thing’ will only grow. Helping a child through their fear is not easy, but with small steps, and sometimes ‘taking one step forward and two steps backwards’, it is ‘doable’.  

TERM 4 - WEEK 4 NOVEMBER 2020

ChaplainAbbotsleigh Christmas CarolsRev Jenni Stoddart Chaplain

“The everlasting light The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight”

Thursday 26 November 2020 6.30-7.30 pm

Join us at a virtual Christmas Carol Service for the Abbotsleigh community

Parents, students, Old Girls, staff and families are invited to join us as the Christmas story is presented in word and song by Abbotsleigh students. Join us around your dinner table for a live streamed event. Why not invite another Abbotsleigh family to join you and share a meal together?

As we travel through the Christmas story we will invite you to light four advent candles. You can purchase a candle pack or use some that you have at home. All proceeds from

our candle packs will be given to the Abbotsleigh Student COVID-19 Assistance Fund.

Candle packs are $8 and include four candles, a decoration and a Christmas message.

Click here to register (and purchase your candle pack) and you will be sent the Zoom link prior to the event.

This is a free Abbotsleigh community event, but we invite those who are able to give generously to the Abbotsleigh Student COVID-19 Assistance Fund.

As a school we also believe it is important for parents to seek professional support for their daughter if anxiety is interfering with her daily functioning or causing distress. It is always better to seek early intervention and advice than waiting until there is a bigger problem.  

I would like to thank Mrs Liz Cannon, our School Psychologist and Director of Wellbeing for organising, and Ms Ambereen Qureshi, President of the APA, and the APA very much for sponsoring this important parent seminar. I am very grateful, too, to Karen Young who has made her notes available to parents. This information has kindly been made available to Abbotsleigh parents only. Please do not share this document. Thank you to all parents who were able to join us – your daughters will benefit from the valuable things we all learned on Monday evening.

We look forward to the great seminars that have been organised for 2021.

APA Parent Seminar with Karen Young (via Zoom)Strengthening Children Against Anxiety

TERM 4 - WEEK 4 NOVEMBER 2020

Community

Mrs Heidi Grout Community Relations Manager

Take the pressure off last minute Christmas shopping by ordering your Christmas pudding and cake today!

The Pudding Lane multi-award winning puddings are proudly handmade in Newcastle, NSW, using the finest 100% Australian vine fruits and selected ingredients.

Puddings: $47 each

• Classic Christmas: 1 kg round pudding

• Gluten free: 1 kg round pudding

• Date and toffee log: 1 kg date and toffee log pudding

• Triple chocolate log: 1 kg triple chocolate log pudding

Christmas cake: $52 each

• 1.4 kg Christmas cake

Click here to place your order by Monday 9 November for delivery during week commencing Monday 23 November.

Junior School orders will be delivered to your daughter’s classroom.

Senior School orders will be available for collection, by your daughter/s at Reception.

Funds raised will be put towards the support of APA Parent Seminars.

APA Christmas pudding and cake fundraiser

A celebration of boarding marking Abbotsleigh’s 135th anniversary.Alongside more than 100 seasonal recipes, this cookbook features stunning photography and personal anecdotes that beautifully share where boarders call home.

events.humanitix.com/2020-seasoned-boarder-cookbook

Pre-order your copy now!

TERM 4 - WEEK 4 NOVEMBER 2020

Junior School

Active fun for allMs Sally Ruston Head of Junior School

What a plethora of physical activities our Junior School girls are enjoying this semester, and how we have come to value the importance of engaging and collaborating with peers after our complete shutdown in Term 2! From all our children from Transition and Early Learning to Year 2 engaging in the intensive swim week last week to impressive new skills being demonstrated on bikes by our Year 2 and 5 girls, and on surfboards by our Stage 3 girls, we have certainly seen our girls engaging with robust determination and with a great sense of fun.

Surf Education

All our girls in Years 5 and 6 will have spent time at Manly Beach participating in the Surf Educate program that is designed to ensure that our girls develop an informed and healthy respect for the ocean. Great fun is had at the beach as the girls learn about how to identify and navigate rips while also learning how to ride a surfboard.

Infants Swimming Carnival

Monday 16 November will see the running of our Infants Swimming Carnival in our wonderful Aquatic Centre. All girls across K-2 will be involved in freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly races over varying distances. The girls also take part in water safety activities and fun relays.

This event will build on the success the girls from Transition to Year 2 have built in swimming skills and confidence last week in the intensive swimming program.

Bike Ed

The Year 2 girls have shown significant development in their cycling skills and confidence on the bike. The girls have learned important safety skills such as pedestrian awareness, stopping and signalling and have been participating in a variety of cycling skill challenges. This year’s program has seen the girls bringing their own bikes to school and thus greater confidence and success has eventuated as many have practised riding during breaktimes. We have implemented this program as we have progressively seen a decline in our girls’ ability to ride bikes. Yet such wonderful fitness, agility, spatial awareness and coordination result as each girl learns to navigate her bike, taking calculated risks in measuring speed and distance.

To maintain this skill set, all girls in Year 5 have participated in the CARES bike safety program at St Ives Showground. The girls proudly told of how they navigated streets with real traffic lights and avoided collisions with each other. To build competency, confidence and skill in this safe and enabling environment has certainly been a most valuable experiential learning opportunity.

Playground games

The basketball courts have been used extensively by the Primary girls to hone their shooting and riding skills. Basketballs, scooters and skateboards have prolificated during play time. Such good fun activities build cardio fitness, gross motor and games skills. The term will conclude with the traditional pool party for the winning house in the Spell-a-thon competition. What a great way to give service by raising funds for St Jude’s as well as improving spelling skills and finding joy by celebrating with a physical activity!

AbbKart Derby

All girls in Year 6 built prototypes and then collaborated in teams to build a fully operational billycart this term. The finale for this event was the derby held on Tuesday on our properly formed racetrack. With Year 5 regularly showing their appreciation with Mexican waves and great cheering, each team competed with a racing start down the hill and then negotiated three changeover points to ensure that all team members enjoyed the thrill and challenge of navigating their cart around the track. Music played loudly and cheers rained out as Mr Guirreri called each race. The championship race was won by ‘Flying Colours’, a team made up of Cate Atkinson, Cecilia He, Yvonne Hsiao and Emily Wu. The afternoon was then spent with Year 6 girls sharing their digital diaries and prototypes with the Year 5 girls. Such great learning all round.

TERM 4 - WEEK 4 NOVEMBER 2020

Term 4 IPSHA Saturday SportMs Sally Ruston Head of Junior School

Somewhat astonishingly, this term we have the greatest number of girls ever participating in Saturday Sport. There are 18 basketball teams, six cricket teams (a 50% increase on last year) and multiple tennis and Hot Shot players. To have so many girls participating every Saturday morning shows great commitment to and a love of sport. As usual, Abbotsleigh girls are displaying resilience and wonderful team spirit to earn their victories.

Since IPSHA sporting opportunities are offered to all Year 3 girls, we are continuing to roll out our internal Year 2 Saturday Sport program which commenced last term. This term the girls are engaging in soccer and minkey sessions. I delighted in coaching the girls early each Saturday morning last term in netball and AFL as their skills grew and their joy in small successes became infectious. This program will ensure that these girls are ready to participate in the Term 1 program of soccer offered to all girls from Year 3-6 next year.

Information regarding IPSHA Saturday Sport for Term 1 2021 will be distributed to all girls in Years 2-5 in the coming weeks. The sports on offer in Term 1 are football (soccer) for all girls in Years 3-6, flippa ball (Years 5 and 6) and water polo (Years 5 and 6). We encourage you to consider registering your daughter – it is a great opportunity for skill development and lots of fun in a team environment.

What a wonderful array of physical and sporting endeavours our girls have access to! We warmly thank Paul Guirreri for his strong leadership of the PDHPE Department. The passionate commitment, dedication and expertise of Paul, Georgia Scott and Michelle Penn have seen our girls achieving such impressive outcomes in sport.

TERM 4 - WEEK 4 NOVEMBER 2020

Virtual book fair in Palmer LibraryMrs Helen Futcher Junior School Librarian

A ‘virtual’ book fair is currently taking place in Palmer Library and will continue until the end of Week 5. For girls looking for great reads to consume over this Christmas break, the opportunity to purchase selected books is an exciting one. Books are being displayed in the library at the following times:

• Before school: 8-8.15 am

• Lunchtime: 1-1.30 pm

• After school: 3-4 pm

Order forms are available at the Palmer Library for the girls to take home to finalise ordering with their parents.

1. To purchase books please visit the Abbotsleigh book fair site or Gleebooks.

2. Select the ‘Children’ tab, pick the schools option and scroll down to click on the Abbotsleigh Book Fair 2020 panel to purchase your books.

3. At the checkout, add the coupon code ABBOTSLEIGH2020

4. Please ensure that you have added your child’s name and class in the ‘ORDER NOTES’ box and then complete the purchase.

Thank you for participating in this year’s fair.

Transition and Kindergarten play sessionsMrs Peita van Bussel Transition to Year 2 Coordinator

It is with great excitement that we will be welcoming our 2021 Transition and Kindergarten girls to a play morning over the next six weeks. Our current Transition and Kindergarten students are looking forward to acting as buddies and helping the new girls. 

Following the enthusiasm that our new students displayed on the orientation morning during Week 4, we anticipate many will want to extend their stay when it is time to go home. It was an absolute pleasure to watch the girls interact with each other and to hear them ask their parents if they could stay a bit longer. The play mornings are designed to ensure that all new girls are comfortable and familiar with their surroundings and ready to begin their journey at Abbotsleigh in 2021.

Student Representative Council roundup for 2020Miss Brittany Black Year 3 Coordinator

Every term, Junior School girls from all years, ranging from Kindergarten to Year 6, participate in SRC. Each class elects two peers to represent them at the Student Representative Council (SRC) meetings, which occur weekly in stage groups. These SRC meetings are often led by the School Captains, Mackenzie Luu and Georgia Wood. There is always a wide range of suggestions, from new activities to ideas about how we can improve the environment.

Additionally, this year the SRC has been very busy collaborating with classes to make suggestions about how to improve the school uniform and provide feedback on the Junior School cross country event. Ms Ruston works through the suggestions with the School Captains and discusses with them how to make the ideas become reality.

At each SRC meeting, all the classes bring multiple suggestions to share with the group. The SRC then discusses them with each other and gets creative trying to refine the ideas. This year the girls of SRC have managed to reinstate some much-loved canteen menu items while also encouraging healthy eating initiatives. The girls have also worked with Mr G to gain lunchtime access to various sport equipment.

Mackenzie and Georgia are to be congratulated on their enthusiastic and supportive chairing of the SRC meetings throughout the year. We also thank all SRC Representatives who have taken time out of their busy schedules to bring suggestions to the SRC meetings and run class meetings.

TERM 4 - WEEK 4 NOVEMBER 2020

Year 3 sensory walkMiss Brittany Black Year 3 Coordinator

Year 3 girls were thrilled to arrive at school on Wednesday morning and find a ‘sensory walk’ set up on the playground and in their classrooms. With excitement bubbling, the girls were eager to start. The path of obstacles was a feast for the senses. Girls enjoyed the opportunity to listen to magical soundscapes, feel various materials and smell a selection of essential oils. Inspired by the experience, girls were keen to employ newly learnt writing skills and capture their ideas in free verse poetry.

Such a world comes in: Far world of the sky to breathe in through your nose Near world you feel underfoot as you walk on the land Through your eyes and your ears and your mouth and your brilliant brain Such a world comes in

Jenny Joseph (1932-2018)

Fundraiser successMiss Susanna Matters Year 6 Coordinator

Year 6 students would like to extend their gratitude to the Junior School community who so generously supported their 2020 fundraiser, Happily Ever Crafter. More than $550 was raised from gold coin donations which will be put towards the Year 6 gift to the School. Happily Ever Crafter was truly a demonstration of creativity and it was joyous to see so many girls and staff embracing the imaginative spirit of the day, as seen in these delightful photos.

TERM 4 - WEEK 4 NOVEMBER 2020

Senior School

Abbotsleigh girls giving backMrs Carmen Gaspersic Deputy Head of Junior School

It was delightful to hear from the Kids Giving Back charity, notifying us of the wonderful contributions that two of our Abbotsleigh students have made to their organisation. 

Congratulations to Hannah Yap (5D) and Emma Yap (Year 9), who have been recognised for their enthusiastic support of such a worthy cause. 

Kids Giving Back is a charity that provides meaningful, hands on experiences for children and young people to give back to others. The charity arranges opportunities for children to provide assistance and support via preparation of meals for the homeless, packing of care packs and creating resources, as well as packing and delivering hampers for people experiencing food scarcity. 

Hannah and Emma's contributions have had a direct impact on those that need it most, and we are proud of their compassion and willingness to serve and support others in the wider community.

Student successMrs Carmen Gaspersic Deputy Head of Junior School

Congratulations to Valerie Chung in 5L. Valerie's dance group competed in the Energy Express Eisteddfod last Saturday and won first place in the 10/U Jazz section. The girls were delighted to be able to perform their well-rehearsed dance during such a difficult year. One spectator per dancer was allowed at the venue during the competition.

Black holes and girl powerAbby Kidston and Anousheh Moonen STEAM Prefects 2020/2021

Welcome to our new STEAM column!

As the inaugural STEAM Prefects, we are very excited to introduce regular STEAM sections with all the latest STEAMy news and facts, where you will never fail to find delight!

Like all Abbotsleigh girls, we're sure, we are obsessed with black holes. What could possibly be cooler than a region of spacetime where the gravity is so strong that even light cannot escape from its clutches? And that's why we were super excited when this year's Physics Nobel Prizes were announced.

This year, three scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for their work with black holes and space: Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez

Penrose was awarded the prize for the discovery that Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity points to the formation of black holes, which is pretty crazy!

Genzel and Ghez were jointly awarded the prize for their study of the centre of the galaxy. Their research suggests there are four million solar masses bunched up at the centre of the Milky Way,

in an area no bigger than our solar system. Their discovery gives us the most convincing evidence to date of a black hole at the centre of our universe – currently the only known explanation for this phenomenon.

Perhaps most pertinent to us Abbotsleigh girls is Andrea Ghez's award. As only the fourth woman to ever be awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics, she is certainly a role model and a science superstar! She pushed through many challenges to get this far – at first, no one even thought her experiments would work!

TERM 4 - WEEK 4 NOVEMBER 2020

And finally, another win for women in STEAM: the Nobel Prize for Chemistry this year was awarded to two women – Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna for discovering CRISPR/cas9 genetic scissors, which can be used for genome editing. This discovery is contributing to cancer therapy and has the potential to provide a cure for genetically inherited diseases

At Abbotsleigh, we have some great opportunities to engage in similar kinds of out-of-the-box thinking, such as the Year 9 student research project which can be submitted to the CSIRO, and Extension Science in Year 12. We hope that everyone can look up to Andrea's achievements and maybe one day, win a Nobel Prize too.

Click here for the full list of Nobel prizes.

Year 10 Self Defence DayMiss Isobel Royston Dean of Senior College Archdale

On Wednesday 4 November the Year 10 girls participated in the Year 10 Self Defence Day. This full day program has been a regular part of the Abbotsleigh Pastoral Care program for many years. The program is conducted by Mr Brent Sanders, a former police officer who specialised in assault crimes. In the 12 years since leaving the police force, he has taught thousands of young women in schools and universities across Australia how to stay safe for life.

The girls enjoyed the course and found it is both fun and informative. The afternoon session provided the opportunity for the girls to develop self defence skills. They thanked Brent Saunders for his presentation and acknowledged the valuable skills they learnt from him.

Excellent AMEB music exam results for Abbotsleigh studentsMs Louise Keller Music Teacher and Head of Strings

Congratulations to the following girls who were recently awarded their Certificate of Music (CMusA), Associate of Music (AMusA) or Licentiate of Music (LMusA) degrees on their specific instruments. These exams require much practice and the Abbotsleigh girls exemplify incredible talent, artistry and musicianship in achieving such excellent results.

In a year of COVID, this level of focus, determination and persistence is particularly impressive. Congratulations again to these talented  girls.

• Alyssa Sor (Year 8): CMusA on the violin

• Emily Sor (Year 8): CMusA on the violin

• Anica Wong (Year 8): LMusA on violin

• Isabella Sun (Year 8): LMusA with distinction on violin

• Meredith Wang (Year 9): AMusA on the violin

• Rachel Ee (Year 10): AMusA on piano

• Annabella Chen (Year 11): LMusA on the viola

• Annabelle Lo (Year 11): AMusA on piano

TERM 4 - WEEK 4 NOVEMBER 2020

Career Focus SessionsMrs Marg Selby Careers Advisor and Exchange Coordinator

This week we held our remaining two focus evenings for the year and we were lucky to be able to hear from former students who are now working overseas or in rural and regional areas, thanks to the magic of Zoom! The Term 4 sessions focused on Business and Design and attracted very pleasing audiences. The panellists in both sessions represented a wide variety of professional backgrounds between them and so they were able to describe a diverse range of opportunities to our girls. They had done courses at a wide array of places and all had been successful in their careers.

Some knew the exact pathway they wanted to follow when they left school and others chose to study a broad course and leave their career planning until they had learned more about life and what it had to offer through their tertiary education.

They gave a plethora of good advice about their careers areas, but also offered some sound common sense about things they had learned along the way. One sagely commented that if she had had her heart set on one goal only, she might never have been able to move into the area of work that now brings her so much fulfilment, because it did not exist when she was a student!

Most of the panellists commented that in some ways, this COVID-19 interrupted year had been a great learning experience for us all. It has not only taught some valuable life lessons like resilience and flexibility, but it has also stimulated inventive and creative new ways of doing things, which will ultimately be beneficial to the workplace over time.

They also reflected on how nothing they had learnt in the past is ever wasted. It may not be related to their core daily work, but the skills and knowledge taken away from all the courses they have taken has been useful in different ways and at different times.

For other careers news, please visit the Careers page on AbbNet.

Careers Focus Sessions

Senior School 02 9473 7777 Junior School 02 9473 7700 www.abbotsleigh.nsw.edu.au

An Anglican Pre K-12 Day and Boarding School for Girls