I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude to the staff, students and families of Shelford, for their support of the School and each other, at this most difficult of times.

I received a wonderful letter recently that I would like to share with you all:

'Today I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of art students taught by Deb Pettigrew ... we have an art gallery in Glenmore Road Paddington NSW.

I have never encountered such interesting and interested young minds with such beautiful manners. I very much enjoyed their company and conversation.

I certainly hope that these young ladies are typical of your students. Deb Pettigrew bought us together for a very charming interview. I have asked the girls to visit us when they come to Sydney. Congratulations.‘

I believe this is typical of our students. I hope that this particular group and their teacher, feel a sense of pride in the way that they represented themselves, their families and their school on this particular occasion and an understanding that this sort of behavior is noticed and appreciated by the wider community.

I have recently had a number of virtual ’Shelford Conversations‘ with our student leaders in the Junior and Senior schools in attendance, speaking to prospective families and answering questions. Our students are articulate, thoughtful, reflective and positive. They represent the School with pride and dignity and as I say to prospective families, are a wonderful example of the values of Shelford in action.

I am grateful every day to work with students and student leaders who are able to approach me and question, to wonder, to show a willingness to admit mistakes, see complexity in situations and feel gratitude for what they have. Above all else, I admire the kindness the students show to each other; and as we weather the last storms of this COVID era together, I will admit a little kindness, goes a long way!

This week, we are celebrating International Day of the Girl with a variety of activities for our Junior and Senior school students, designed by our student leaders, to encourage a day away from the usual curriculum and time away from screens.

International Day of the Girl is an international observance day declared by the United Nations. It is a day dedicated to girls’ growth throughout the world. It seeks to separate girls from women and deal specifically with the aspects of inequality that impact female children. In a global sense, the following could be viewed as key areas:

Education is essential to women’s futures, so we need to focus on keeping girls in school and providing access to learning throughout their lives.
Violence against women and girls spikes during crises. Focusing on communities to prevent violence and supporting survivors with safe spaces, medical attention, counselling and legal assistance is key.
We know that poor health undermines people’s potential, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Working to improve access to health care, especially for women and girls is an urgent need.
We know that economic support in emergencies provides women with choices and eases tensions over money, reducing violence at home. Cash assistance, job skills training and small business support, and helping establish women-led local savings and loan groups is imperative

When empowered, women and girls can be forceful agents of positive change, but they aren’t always heard and recognised as leaders, particularly in developing countries. Working to change harmful gender norms to create more equal communities and putting girls front and centre is a priority globally.

As part of the celebration, a theme is selected to highlight the need of the hour. This year, the theme has been set as ’Digital generation. Our generation’, acknowledging the growing digital world and how a digital gap can also widen the gender gap. There are still 2.2 billion people below 25 who do not have access to digital devices and it is believed that girls may be unequally represented in this sector. Universally, girls are still less likely to own devices, play with devices and pursue careers in skilled areas of digital technology. This year’s theme seeks to shine a light on this area of inequality.

We hope that our students learn a little, focus on the broader international aspects of the topic and have some fun on Wednesday in the break from the usual routines.

Katrina Brennan

Principal

School operations