Learning Across the
Senior School

Learning in the Senior School

Lumination Lab Opens

We are excited to launch our Lumination Virtual Reality Lab in the Junction Building on the Senior Campus. This space is designed to support student learning by giving them the opportunity to become immersed in an environment and experience their learning in three dimensions.

Our focus in Term 2 is training staff and identifying suitable learning opportunities that will benefit most from a virtual experience. Our technologies teachers are enthusiastically looking forward to working with students to immerse themselves in the three-dimensional environments that they create as part of their learning in that subject area.

Mr Tim Bond

Director of Learning Analytics and Technology

Generations in Jazz

It was worth the wait! After a three year gap, Loreto finally made it once again to the Annual Generations in Jazz Festival and had a tremendously successful trip. This national competition sees nearly 5000 students from all over Australia converge south of Mount Gambier to compete in either Stage Band or Vocal Ensemble awards. Covid cancelled this event in 2020 and 2021, and the event was run online in 2022. So to be there in person was a great feeling and the whole team were buzzing with excitement the entire weekend.

The trip was an eventful one with extreme weather (rain and hail), mud and cold temperatures as well as some dramas with the bus. But the girls were excellent ambassadors for Loreto the entire time away. The preparations for this event commence around 6 months prior with intensive rehearsals, workshops and individual study. We entered three vocal ensembles into the competition this year and the results were outstanding. To win FIRST PLACE in the highest division of a national competition is an incredible result that the girls can be very proud of. However, the scores of all three performances were equally incredible with only 2 points of difference to First Place for SVE1 and only 1 point the difference from First Place for SVE 2. The results were as follows:

Senior Vocal Quintet: FIRST PLACE - 'Division 1 Small Group’

Senior Vocal Ensemble 1: FOURTH PLACE - ‘Division 2 Large Ensemble’

Senior Vocal Ensemble 2: SECOND PLACE - ‘Division 3 Large Ensemble’

A huge thank you must go to the staff involved, Tim de Jong and Lisa Schulz, and especially to Vocal Director Stacey Theel for her hard work training the girls. We would also like to thank the parents and friends who made the trip down to support the girls. Now we start preparations for 2024!

Mr Tim de Jong

Leader of Music and Music Production

Cape York Immersion

Read below student reflections from the recent Loreto Cape York Immersion trip which was presented at this week's assembly:

My name is Meg and today I am joined with Lucy, Sophie, and Molly to reflect on our time on country up at Northern Queensland on Cape York Peninsula, in a small community known as Hope Vale Shire – home of the Guugu Yimithirr Warra Nation. All of the Immersion girls would agree that during our trip, we truly were culturally immersed and experienced things we wouldn’t normally. From swimming in a freshwater creek with local community kids, to touring aboriginal rock art and sacred sites, our trip was certainly one I will never forget.

Our trip began with a very dark, very early morning, at Adelaide airport. Naturally, we were expected to arrive two hours before our flight, which translated to 4.10am. The flight was very turbulent, made worse for the dozens of other passengers on the flight by 25 very excited and loud Loreto girls surrounding them. Nevertheless, we safely arrived at Cairns airport, and began our journey to our beloved Hope Vale. When you Google the community of Hope Vale, it will read this: “Hope Vale township is situated 46km northwest of Cooktown and is located in a valley surrounded by tropical native bushland, mountain ranges, pristine coastal and diverse flora and fauna. Hope Vale has a population of approximately 1300 people. Hope Vale is home to thirteen clan groups who mostly speak Guugu Yimithirr and other related languages, as well English.” However, Hope Vale certainly is not limited to this definition. We hope that by the end of our presentation, you too will feel as though you have visited this beautiful part of the planet.

After a 3-hour flight and 6-hour bus ride, we arrived in the first homeland, Guurrill. We met Lilli and Richard, the lovely and welcoming traditional owners, and set up camp for our 3-day stay. Throughout our stay, Richard taught us how to whip crack, joked with us around the fire, told sacred dreamtime stories, and even opened a fresh coconut for us to eat. Lilli taught us language, many songs, and dances and how to make her delicious banana fritters and scones.

Just a short walk through tall trees, long grass and a dirt trail was the creek. The creek lay just a few hundred metres from where our tents were pitched, and became our primary source of staying cool throughout the hot sunny days we stayed at Guriill. Upon our arrival to Guriill, Lily led us down to the creek where we had our first short refreshing swim. On day three of our stay we found ourselves playing for hours in the creek with some children from the next property over. It was so special to experience moments with these children who simply walked down the creeks banks to meet us, no context, no mission, and no parents. It was quite surprising to many of us that such young children were playing in the creek with no supervision, however, this was the norm for them. Another impressive quality some of the young children showed was their ability to whip crack. Many of us girls certainly couldn’t crack the whip, and often found ourselves whipping our backs and legs as we laughed through the pain. Although I’m sure these young children have had plenty of practice I was still very impressed. Another special member of the community we encountered was a man named Cyril. Cyril might’ve been one of the most interesting people I’ve ever encountered, and many of our hosts seemed to agree. Cyril joined us for our sausage sizzle in the town of Hope Vale, and spent the afternoon showing us his world class dancing abilities. Cyril has traveled all over the world, presenting his unique style of traditional Aboriginal dance. He continued to tell us many questionable stories about his travels.

If you haven’t experienced the end-of-wet-season Northern Queensland climate, I will try to describe it. One minute we have clear, beautiful blue skies, with temperatures soaring past many we experience in the middle of Summer down here in Adelaide. Sweat dripping off our faces, caused by the heat, and most notably, the humidity. The next minute, sweat is no longer dripping off our faces, however, rain has replaced it. Almost like thousands of tiny bullets shooting from the sky at the speed of lightning, wet season in Northern Queensland is no joke. On one particular occasion, we were spending the afternoon basking in the sun by the creek. Mind you, all of our tents had been left open, to cool our sleeping spaces. What a rookie mistake. A torrential downpour began. We ran. Not fast enough. I can assure you; all our belongings were soaked. Our bedding, our clean clothes, the floors of our tent now a temporary swimming pool. The smell of wet dog remained with us until we were finally home and had properly showered. Nevertheless, resilience was built, and memories were made which we will forever cherish.

We farewelled our beloved Lili and Richard, and embarked on our journey to Tiitha Warra, also known as Elim Beach. Here, we met the traditional owners Robbie and Willy. They talked about many issues aboriginal people who live in rural communities face, and discussed topics such as the voice to parliament, changing the date of Australia Day, and ways that we can work together to close the gap. Although we faced some unfortunate weather, spirits remained high, even after snapped tent poles, flooded tents, wet clothes and bedding, and late-night storms. Highlights of the trip included creek swims every afternoon, late-night talks around the fire, swimming at Isabella Falls, the rock art tour, the coloured sand walk and spending a full day on the great barrier reef.

Something particularly important we need to reflect on following our trip, is the reason we truly ventured up to Northern Queensland. Believe it or not, it wasn’t to hear the words “capybara”, “Bingo” and “airport”, constantly throughout the trip. It wasn’t to have our tents and clothes drenched, to the point some were mouldy when we returned home. It wasn’t to snorkel the Barrier Reef and become fully fledged tourists. Rather, it was to develop a further understanding of Australia’s first nations people. Our eyes were opened to the issues many Aboriginal communities face, regarding drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, and general mischief. Our hosts at Elim Beach, Robbie and Willie, outlined to us the importance of education, in closing the gap. They described the cultural shift that needs to occur for further education in Indigenous communities, after all, majority of the mischief that occurs in these communities stems from the boredom of unemployment. The Immersion girls have a lot more to share on topics surrounding closing the gap, just ask any one of us and I am sure we will happily enlighten you to the best of our knowledge. We will also be sharing more of our cultural learnings at the Reconciliation Week assembly in Week 4.

Although the age ranges were mixed and we didn’t know each other very well to begin with, this trip has bonded us and we will share many memories, inside jokes, funny stories, and knowledge that we are forever grateful to have learnt. Thank you to Ms Kiosses Motlop, Ms San Miguel, and Ms Hains for coming with us on this adventure and taking time out of your own lives to make sure we were safe, healthy and had a great trip. We all really appreciate it. We hope to be able to share everything we learnt with the college and wider community so that we can work together to expand our understanding and make a positive step forward.

Year 11 Food and Hospitality

This week, the Stage 1 Food and Hospitality class transformed into an Uber Eats restaurant. Students designed an Uber Eats business and catered for their peers. Meals were delivered in record time and suited the brief to contain healthy, seasonal ingredients. Issues such as the use of packaging and food waste were explored, as well as extensive project management to order and cost the meal service. Congratulations Year 11, the meals were reviewed with 5 stars!

Ms Kelly Bregantic

Leader of Technologies

Nuclear Decay in Year 9 Science

The Year 9 Science focus on ‘Nuclear Decay’ included reference to Marie Curie, helping to inspire our girls to consider Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields as future career pathways. A ‘breakout area’ alongside the Physics Laboratory showcases one of the many encouraging quotes from Madame Curie: "Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood."

As a result of Marie Curie’s remarkable accomplishments, dedication to research and her perseverance, generations of women have believed in themselves. (Ava Bellon)

She inspires you to always try your best to achieve what you desire even if people don't believe you can. (Amelia Correll)

Marie Curie did not let the restrictions placed on women stop her from following her passion for science. (Carla Griffiths)

Marie Curie showed that workinghard and not giving up can help accomplish life goals. (Albina Marino)

Mrs Patty Warrender