Around the Grounds

Music, Sport and Debating

Music Notes

Stepping outside your comfort zone is where musical growth happens. When you only play songs you already know, you reinforce old skills instead of building new ones. A growth mindset in music means seeing hard tasks, like a fast rhythm, a tricky vocal line, or a new style, as steps in learning rather than proof that you lack talent.

Psychologist Carol Dweck created the concept of a growth mindset. It is the belief that skills improve through practice, effort, and feedback. In music, this idea turns frustration into curiosity. Instead of thinking, "I cannot play this," you think, "I cannot play this yet."

Leaving your musical comfort zone forces your brain to adapt. That might mean playing for an audience, trying a new genre, or playing with better musicians. The initial discomfort just shows that you are learning. By seeing mistakes as part of practice rather than failure, you gain more creative freedom and steady technical progress.

Mr Francis Blakiston 

Head of Music

Upcoming Music Dates

Recital – Thursday 20 August

This is our first rehearsal for the term, with so many students preparing for an AMEB exam, this is an important step in the process of preparing for it.

Victorian School Music Festival – Tuesday 25 August

Senior Concert Band will be performing at the Victorian School Music Festival on Tuesday 25 August. They have been working very hard and are looking forward to performing.

For those wanting to see the band in action, you’ll be able to watch on the live stream of the event. Click the button below. 

Music Gala – Tuesday 8 September

This will sure be a wonderful celebration of Music at St Catherine’s as well as honouring the 130th anniversary of St Catherine’s. Tickets are now on sale. 

Sport News

GSV Preliminary Carnival 

On Thursday 18 August, 60 St Catherine’s girls took to Lakeside Stadium to compete in our final-ever GSV Preliminary Carnival.

A huge congratulations to every student who competed. We are incredibly proud of the way our athletes represented St Catherine’s, not only through their performances but also through the way they supported, encouraged and celebrated one another throughout the day.

As a team, we finished 6th overall and 2nd for population, which is an outstanding result. Even more excitingly, we have secured Division 2 for the second year in a row!

We will now turn our attention to the GSV Championships on Wednesday 26 August, where our Division 2 team will compete at Lakeside Stadium.

A huge well done to everyone involved.

Ms Nana Owusu-Afriyie

Head of Athletics

Debating and Public Speaking 

House Debating 

The House Debating Competition is a much-anticipated event on the School calendar and this year’s Heats were hotly contested. 12 debates took place in Years 7 to 12, with each House selecting three speakers to represent their House Tutor Group. House debaters need not be part of the Co-curricular Debating program, so House events provide a great opportunity for students to challenge themselves in a new skill. Each House presented highly engaging and persuasive debates on the below topics, with Best Speakers coming from across the Houses. Davis House and Holmes Kilbride House currently hold the lead with four winning debates each. Preparation is now underway for the Finals debates, which will be held on Monday 7 September. We look forward to seeing the trademark House spirit in the House Debating Finals.

Junior DAV Debating

Teams have been formed for the Year 7 and 8 DAV Junior Debating Program and the debaters are keenly awaiting the announcement of topics in this week’s meeting. A total of 34 debaters will compete in the Interschool Competition, which will take place during September and October at St Kevin’s College. The Junior program is designed to offer training and low-stakes debates to encourage novice debaters to move out of their comfort zone and develop skills and confidence. A highlight of this program is the mentoring the debaters receive, not only from the DAV trainers but from our Year 11 debaters who meet regularly with the Year 7 and 8 debaters to provide advice and speech preparation.

British Parliamentary Debating

The Intermediate British Parliamentary debaters will represent St Catherine’s on Sunday 23 August and the Senior teams on Sunday 13 September. This competition involves the formidable challenge of adopting a new style of debating. Four teams of two speakers debate a motion; two teams debate in the affirmative role as the Government and two debate in the negative role as the Opposition. The adjudicator ranks teams in the debate from first to fourth. Students participate in a training session before taking part in a three-round tournament of debates followed by a grand final. The British Parliamentary Competition offers students the opportunity to develop new skills and take risks in a friendly and competitive environment.

Public Speaking

August has also been a busy month for Public Speaking competitions.  Five Year 7 and 8 students were excellent ambassadors for the school at the Junior DAV Public Speaking Competition on Sunday 16 August. Each of the five students prepared four to five-minute persuasive speeches on set topics. We look forward to the upcoming SDTAV Public Speaking event on Sunday 30 August, where students in the 15 Years and Over section will face the additional challenge of preparing for an impromptu topic in just two minutes.

Ms Merran O’Connor

Head of Debating and Public Speaking