From the School Captain

In light of International Women’s Day, the Albany Soroptimists have put out a call for items such as children’s clothing including sleepwear and underwear, lunchboxes and school bags as well as essential items such as toiletries and toiletry bags.

These will be put into care packages for women and families escaping domestic and family related violence within the Albany community.

Here at GSG we have volunteered to be a collection point and have boxes where any donated items can be placed, so if you wish to purchase and donate some items that would be very much appreciated.

If you have any queries or wish to talk further you are welcome to either contact myself at ellie.slatter@student.gsg.wa.edu.au or Janet at mc.smile@bigpond.com

Ellie Slatter | School Captain

From the Communication Prefect

International Women’s Day

On Tuesday 8 March we celebrated International Women’s Day with the campaign theme of “Break the Bias”.

Ellie Slatter and I were given the opportunity to listen in, through a virtual seminar, on the Women’s Leadership Forum which was held at the Oceans Church in Albany. This seminar provided a dedicated space to showcase commitment to women’s equality, launch new initiatives, celebrate women’s achievements, raise awareness, highlight gender equality gains and more.

The talk began with a speech from former GSG teacher Ms Barnard-Rae that outlined the progress and development of Australia achieving gender equality as a whole. She emphasized that no country has ever achieved gender equality and that Australia is way ahead of the game even though, at this rate, it is likely to take another 59 years to potentially reach. This means by the time Australia reaches gender equality, I will be 76. Wow. I will be 76 years of age before the women of our country reach gender equality and, Australia isn’t even the most concerning country in those statistics. She revealed that countries around the world will take roughly 257 years to reach gender equality. This means that girls must be born in the year 2279 to achieve the full scope of gender equality which is an insane amount of time to even think about. I found this very shocking but also had a sense of pride that my own country is definitely one of the best. She stated, “it is impossible to be a human being in this world and not be biased.” This means that being biased doesn’t make you a bad person or stick out from the rest of us but there are certainly right ways in which bias can be implemented.

The talk continued with panellists who were asked specific questions from the audience. A few sentences that stood out for me included:

“Don’t create stories for others, let others write stories for themselves.” Asha Bhat.

“None of us are as smart as all of us.”

“A wise man once said, I know nothing.”

We were also lucky enough to hear from two keynote speakers, Cara Peek (Yawuru/Bunuba woman, a successful lawyer and a diverse entrepreneurial leader) and Elizabeth Lang (speaker, author, and educator. She is the Founder and CEO of Diversity Focus).

Elizabeth focused her speech on natural universal needs such as belonging, being heard, being safe and being understood. She interacted with the audience, asking them questions about their own personal stories. This part really interested me. Women sitting in the crowd told stories about when they felt someone was being biased against them.

One woman’s story included “I don’t want to speak to you, I want to speak to a man,” when the lady was clearly the owner of the place. My realisation of the number of women who experience these types of interactions made me feel physically sick. Another woman spoke about her new initiative to purchase a brand-new car for herself. The salesperson questioned her on where her husband was and if he was coming in to look at the car. Why should she receive her husband’s feedback on a car that she wanted? Why do people of this society believe it is more reliable to speak to a man compared to a woman?

Sara, who was the last speaker of the day, mentioned concepts of sexual abuse and suicide while also informing the crowd that if we don’t feel uncomfortable by the end of her talk then she hasn’t done her job. She related our view of the world to that of a refractor lens testing device, used in optometry practices. If your eyes aren’t perfect and you look straight through this device, it will likely be blurry and you will find it difficult to see through. As the optometrist continues to place in new and more powerful lenses, you will begin to see clearer. She says that we don’t have a choice with our lenses but can create change to see more clearly. This made us reflect to ourselves, does the lens need to change? What can we change to allow us to see more clearly?

This seminar was an amazing experience for both of us. We don’t always stop and realise how many incredible and powerful women are right here in front of us.

On behalf of Ellie and myself, I would like to thank Mrs Turnor and the school for allowing us to be apart of this amazing day. Happy International Women’s Day!

Emma Taylor | Communication Prefect

Containers for Change

This week Containers for Change collected our containers from the big bins near the gym. 967 containers were collected adding almost $100 to our environment fund.

In total our we have raised close to $350!

Currently our Grounds team are planning to plant trees when the weather turns towards winter.

Families and students are encouraged to place their eligible containers from home in the bins near the gym to assist with our ability to green the school campus.

ABSTUDY Supplementation Allowance

Applications close 8 April

Secondary Assistance Scheme

Applications close 8 April

For Boarding Families

Please see information for 2022 Boarding Away from Home Allowance here

For details about the full range of Financial Allowances available to boarding families please see here

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